Mounting 2nd battery - D2 rear storage bin?

**knp** · 16th September 2008, 08:29 PM

Made a battery mount in the back of the disco in the LHS storage bin and have a 92Ah AGM in there (Hawker SBS C11 264H x 395L x 105W). The mount attaches to where the rear seats would be if it was a seven seater. All up it seems to work fine but the battery is now well and truly stuffed - bought 2nd hand a few years back.

Has anyone else done this? What battery did you use? Currently would like to find something around 120Ah capacity if possible and wondering if one of the Full River 120 (214H x 331L x 175W) or similar clones will fit? Saw a Remco RM12-105T (230H x 490L x 110W) but it is too long.

The SBSC11 is a very expensive battery to buy new and is not even on the radar for us. Anyone know of an alternative? Would prefer a 120Ah AGM so that it is same as camper battery and can be charged in parallel from the solar controller with minimum of fuss. That would give as a theoretical 240Ah of storage for longer stays with minimal sunshine.

The plan is to move the left wall of the shelf if I need more room. Am also thinking of perhaps making a completely new one out of aluminium now that I found the durafix rods.

Cheers

**feral** · 17th September 2008, 07:36 AM

Its all too easy

You can get a Fullriver HGL 120-12B to fit in the bin with the panel and lid in place. I have done this and you would not know that there is a battery stored i.e. it cannot be seen from prying eyes.

Works a treat with the Traxide controller. The battery price will make you wince since they have gone up by 40% over the last year.

Here is my setup....

Cheers.

**knp** · 17th September 2008, 07:56 AM

Originally Posted by feral

Its all too easy

You can get a Fullriver HGL 120-12B to fit in the bin with the panel and lid in place. I have done this and you would not know that there is a battery stored i.e. it cannot be seen from prying eyes.

Works a treat with the Traxide controller. The battery price will make you wince since they have gone up by 40% over the last year.

Here is my setup....

<-kersnip->

Cheers.

Hey feral that's a great setup and exactly what I want to do only on the other side. Thanks for the photo too.

What battery tray did you use and how is it tied down to the car please?

My battery just sits on a piece of 17mm ply that I profiled to suit the curve of the bin floor. The aluminium strap bolts to the existing seat mounts.

Would be good to get a better solution though.

Cheers
Peter

**feral** · 17th September 2008, 09:29 AM

Ok....

I used a large battery tray supplied by Repco. This has been attached to the wall of the bin using self tappers as there is the inner skin of the body. For the floor, the tray sits on two plastic blocks as the bin liner is slightly dished, as you have already found out. This has been self tapped to the floor.

One change I would recommend is to have a velco strap. The battery clamp that I use touches the bin wall and you have a sqeaky rub of plastics. I have a bit of foam there ATM but it causes the lid of the bin to be a tight fit but it still closes correctly.

The security of the battery was not a major concern as it is all enclosed in the storage bin. Although it is held in securely, the battery is well protected from any accident damage. With this location you would have to be in a major accident before the battery dislocates.

Cheers.

**LandyAndy** · 17th September 2008, 09:06 PM

Nice work guys.
My next D2 project is a fridge slide to suit 80lt engel plus drawers and battery to run the fridge.
Andrew

**5teve** · 17th September 2008, 10:09 PM

Feral, which traxide controller did you get? i bought 2 sc40's one for the boat and one for the car.. and car is next for dual battery now the boat is running nicely. i was wondering tho with something around the 120-180ah mark how much stress this will put on the sc40? as its rated to 30a continuous...

im also considering 2 x 120ah batteries to make the rear end balanced

so an c40 im guessing wont cut it..

nice install by the way

Thanks

Steve

**drivesafe** · 17th September 2008, 10:43 PM

Hi 5teve, the SC40 is actually rated at 45 amps for the first hour ( the limitation is the Circuit breaker ) but with what you are planning, an SC80 is designed for that sort of work.

I’m happy to replace the SC40 with an SC80 for the difference in price if you want one.

**5teve** · 17th September 2008, 11:30 PM

Thanks for the reply drivesafe..

very generous offer to replace it for the cost diference and i'll bear that in mind.. i guess it all comes down to how much the battery costs..

the sc40 is able to cope with charging large batteries is it? so if say i had a 150ah battery and zapped it down to 11v over a weekend, on engine start would the battery try and grab over the sc40's limit? i know on the boat i have a puny 27a alternator so im never going to hit that limit

Thanks

Steve

**drivesafe** · 18th September 2008, 12:56 AM

Hi Steve, it shouldn’t be a problem as the circuit breaker is going to limit the current if the battery tries to pull more than the SC40 is intended to take.

It’s not unusual to hear the circuit breaker cutting in and out until the initial current draw drops off.

Cheers.

**knp** · 18th September 2008, 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Nice work guys.
My next D2 project is a fridge slide to suit 80lt engel plus drawers and battery to run the fridge.
Andrew

If you're looking at a DIY jobby then a 8mm ply floor works well. The ready-cut sizes at Bunnings (1m x 1.5m I think) are almost the exact size to fit. You just need to trim the sides to fit around the wheel arches. Then use the tie down points (need longer bolts) to secure it. I made some spacers out of some scrap poly pipe so that the whole thing sat flush on the carpet and the ply didn't bend or sink into the carpet when the bolts where tightened. Used a black widow fridge slide - not as strong as the genuine Engel one but I believe it slides out further(?) - handy for fridge access if you build a shelf above and does the job nicely and is secure. Bolted the slide to the ply and then the ply to the floor. The trick was getting the slide straight and square and as close to the left side as possible as the wheel arches tend to waste a lot of room. This may not be an issue if you mount it on top of drawers though but then you raise the access height of the fridge too which was an issue for us. A full 40l engel is pretty heavy too and reckon a full 80l might be a 2 person lift?

I used the ply floor and spacers after originally trying to mount the slide straight on the carpet which is way too thick and interferes with the sliding once you screw it down. Got some extra holes in the floor due to this

Also decided to put the fridge on the left so I could leave the storage bin on the back door in place and also mount an extinguisher there. If you put it on the right then you may have to remove this bin so the fridge can slide out - perhaps not an issue if you want to put a drop down/fold out table on the inside of the back door.

Oh and don't forget to use some nickel anti-size or similar on the tiedown bolts.

HTH
Peter

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