Thread: Defender - 2nd battery (again!!)

Piece of timber in the well and then a sheet of 'fibro' over the lot to create a flat floor.


Martyn

Yep a piece of timber in the hollow and i made a new battery clamp out of abit of althread with angle iron welded on the ends to stop the batterys sliding apart

i saw a battery holder made up from rhs on a site in the last month or so, was going to go back looking for it shortly and copy it for mine as it looked the goods and i am slowly getting to the point of needing one...

Didn't put anything in the well to fit mine, and they are mounted Nth - Sth as per pics.

I haven't finished this project yet, but here is a photo of the mock up. I used a simple piece of 2x4 to level the floor and support the batteries. I plan to mount them parallel to the frame using the original hold down bar turned 90 degrees, and two new holes in the bottom of the box for the rods. Again, haven't completed, but they fit nicely (two Optima's) with a Ready Air Compressor mounted in there as well. This would be under the Drivers seat in my NAS 90..

Just got halfway through mine today. So far, I've levelled the lowered centre section with a couple of bits of wood to make a flat floor, twisted the original battery through 90 degrees to sit across ways right at the front of the recess, and then put the second deep cycle battery next to it in the same direction.

By keeping both the the front as much as possible, and choosing the aux battery carefully, I have enough height - just!

Tomorrow I have to source a way of holding them down, but as I seem to have a bit more room than I thought, I might manage to use one bar across both with new holes in the floor for the rods and no battery tray. Pics to follow....

Once I'm happy with the setup, I'll pull it all out, mount the extra relays properly and use hippo liner in there to get a decent finish...but don't want to do that until I know I won't change the layout - which I might do when I get a new starting battery.

Now trying to work out the best way to run the fridge wires to the back along the chassis, and where to poke them back through the floor in the rear.

Originally Posted by Lionel

Is this the common procedure, or have people used the commercially available (& expensive ) Defender battery cradles?

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Lionel

Hey Lionel,

I forgot to mention, there is a USA company called NorthWest Power Products that makes a dual battery tray and isolator kit for the Defender. it fits under the seat and holds two Optima batteries, and comes with the company's relay isolator system. It is pricey, and I have no idea what it would cost to ship, but it is a preengineered solution if that is what you are looking for. Check it out..

http://www.wranglernw.com/pc-6372-84...1993-1997.aspx

You should be able to get a battery tray as a standard LR part... As that's what I have in my truck.

I also have 3x batteries mounted.

The SLI battery mounted E-W in the front & 2x Deep cycle mounted N-S behind. The 2x deep cycle are wired in parallel and the whole lot is on a split charge.

M