How much weight at stock battery tray location?

[NickinCO]

How much weight in batteries have you installed in the stock battery location without reinforcement? Wondering if it can handle two 115lb batteries? Looking to go cheaper now- I'm thinking about two Trojan LP16's. I had to scrap my lithium plans after incurring a major dog vet bill . Everyone buy pet insurance.... I learned the hard way!

[Yoda]

How much weight in batteries have you installed in the stock battery location without reinforcement? Wondering if it can handle two 115lb batteries? Looking to go cheaper now- I'm thinking about two Trojan LP16's. I had to scrap my lithium plans after incurring a major dog vet bill . Everyone buy pet insurance.... I learned the hard way!

Let me put it this way. Dealer installed two Std group 27 deep cycle batterys. They caused the front bay floor pan to buckle and pull away from the front cross member. I had to reinforce the floor by adding an L channel below from front cross brace to rear cross brace and securing the front lip to the front cross member. I posted a thread on my repair, but cant remember if it is here or at the other place. I also had one of the saddle boxes fail under weight too.

I would reinforce before putting that much weight there.

Keith

[ncitro]

NickinCO I agree with Yoda. When I first got my rig I put four 6V Golf Cart batteries in mine and was immediately uncomfortable with the bowing of the pan there. I also ran a L channel across the pan. I also had some Unistrut and brackets laying around, and ran that vertically inside the bay connecting the pan to the upper fame inside the compartment in a few places. I then had that to mount my inverter and later charge controller to which kept them off the back wall. Later when I updated the system with lithium and switched out the inverter to a Multiplus I took down the Unistrut and mounted everything to a piece of plywood I put on the back wall. The only thing sitting on the pan is my six Lion energy batteries, but I still kept the pan reinforced with the L channel below.

[Country Campers]

Having that much weight on the 2 angles that are welded to the tongue of a TT is quite a bit. I personally would want that reinforced somehow or a box placed on top of the a-frame.

Brian

[Cate&Rob]

Plywood is actually a very good reinforcement material. It is relatively easy to work with and should be fitted tightly to the walls where it will be sitting on the floor pan at it's supported perimeter. The strongest material would be "marine grade" plywood. Many thin layer, no voids in interior layers and waterproof glue. Use a double layer of plywood (2 x 1/2" maybe?) if you want even more strength.

Edit: Whoops . . . I was thinking 5th wheel front compartment when I wrote this, but the rationale could be applied to a TT installation.

Rob

[ncitro]

Same, I was thinking fifth wheel as well. That said I would still reinforce it.

[NickinCO]

Thanks everyone, I will see what kind of reinforcement I can come up with.

[Bob R]

[Bob R]

I plan on placing my Bluetti ep500 on this tomorrow with my son and it weighs 167 pounds... if it bows the bottom panel at all I will put a jack under it and attach an L bracket underneath.

[NickinCO]

I bit the bullet and ended up buying an SOK Lithium that weighs 48lb instead of 240+ 6v's

[TravelHabit]

I'm running across the same concern for a different reason (I'm going to move my propane tanks back 12" to this location). I elected to screw in PT 2x4s custom cut to each L channel. That provides significant vertical support and rigidity. Haven't decided whether I will also add L brackets screwed to the A-frame and lumber since I think the weld may be sufficient.

[NickinCO]

I'll try and post some photos if I get it done tomorrow but I ended up trimming the propane tank cover and moving them as far forward as possible. I'm assuming I'm going to mount larger tanks in the future and use a soft cover anyways. This gave me enough room to fit a big enough waterproof dewalt tool box that is also lockable behind it. It's big enough to hold two SOK 206Ah batteries (the marine versions) along with a Victron smart shunt. The box has a hundred pound rating. I ended up taking the wheels off it, trimming the wheel mounts off, and removing the roller handle. I mounted 3/4" plywood on the top of frame behind the propane tanks (that I'll probably reinforce with a couple straps) and mount the dewalt box to it. I'm not sure how yet but I'm thinking I will put a piece of thin-ish gauge steel into the bottom of it and drill holes to bolt it onto the plywood. I mounted two 4 post distribution blocks underneath the plywood so there is only two cables going into the battery box. The batteries should fit tight enough that they will be secure with a couple pieces of foam that they were shipped with. As of right now I only have one battery, plan on testing out my needs this week in my driveway before ordering the second. I'm about $150 all in.

[NickinCO]

I ended up mostly finishing the install last night with a headlamp since the weather today is going to be crap. Nothing other than the wood to the frame is secured yet but everything is setup. I need to add some wire loom and fashion a little bit of a weather shield for the hole that enters the battery box but otherwise I'm very happy with how it turned out. The only thing I would have done differently if I did it again is put the hole for the wires in the bottom of the box so no wires are visible giving the illusion of a tool box. Otherwise the box is extremely sturdy, will hold two SOK206's on their side, and still have a little room for a battery monitor, heat pads if you need them, etc.

[Country Campers]

Is the plywood sitting on the frame rails or on the original battery angles? If on the original battery angles please make sure that they are welded securely to the frame, I seen where the welds broke and the battery and box was dangling.

Brian

[NickinCO]

Is the plywood sitting on the frame rails or on the original battery angles? If on the original battery angles please make sure that they are welded securely to the frame, I seen where the welds broke and the battery and box was dangling.

Brian

Lol that would be pretty dumb wouldn't it! The goal was to get away from the cheap looking battery angled steel. This is mounted on top of the frame rails It's attached with 4 #12 2" self tapping screws and will be reinforced with a 1" webbing cam strap on each side.

It's all removed right now as I ended up ordering a second battery. I trimmed a 1/2" piece of plywood that fits tightly inside the box. Both batteries will be strapped to the plywood and then the plywood will be bolted down onto the wood that is attached to the frame rails.