battery tray insert

[chin_k]

What do you guys used to pad the batteries in the tray? Since the battery is smaller than the tray, there is a piece of wood that the previous owner used to keep the batteries in the outer left corner. The wood has some rot, and the battery acid seems to be soaked into it. I can easily make another one but want to know if any of you have a better alternative. The first change I am going to do is to keep the batteries in the center of the tray. The clamp that hold them down is digging into the case right now since the left one is right against the tray lip where the clamp is. Another thing is that I have these foam that I can easily cut with a pair of scissors. Don't know if that can be used instead of wood.... it may give the batteries a bit of cushion, and I don't know if that is good for the batteries if I go driving on rough road.

[Blue~Go]

I started to reply, but then realized I should ask if you are speaking of the start or house batteries? You used singular once and then plural so I can't tell for sure!

My Chinook came to me with some batteries the grandkids had thrown in to sell Grampa's pride and joy, so they were all wrong. The start battery was a Group 24, which was too tall and didn't fit the Ford tray correctly. I replaced with the specified Group 65 Ford start battery which fits perfectly so that solved that - in case that's your problem.

The house sliding tray had only one battery so there was a bunch of wood and straps - very unofficial. I removed that tray and moved the house bank elsewhere so no help there.

But I'm sure someone has the stock house setup in the tray and can help if it's the house batts.

(Oh, but reading further I wouldn't use foam. I don't know of any that wouldn't compress and get loose with batteries. Things I have used are wood, fiberglass angle, threaded rod, heavy rubber (high durometer). A plastic like Starboard might work as a spacer in some situations. Definitely don't want them able to move around on washboard road or in an accident (this is where fusing is also important in case movement causes a short).

[chin_k]

I meant coach batteries. I will stay with either wood or hard plastic then.

[Kirah]

FWIW, my tray has no blocks or padding. There is a strap that hooks into the tray and hold the batteries down tight.

[chin_k]

The strap that comes with rig is like 1.5 inch wide. It is very strong material, but I don't think it will stop the batteries from banging against each other when the rig is moving. I have gap all around the batteries if I put them in the middle of the tray. Considering the weight and the amount of energy it has (kinetic, electrical, and chemical), I want to make sure it is as secure as possible.

[Blue~Go]

Okay, I understand better now. I think you are right to consider it. I have seen many battery hold down implementations that would not survive the least problem (mostly in boats, because that's what I look at). Teeny weeny straps, little pointy screws, plastic buckles, and lots of room to build momentum before stopping (if they do stop), etc. (Chinook's straps were better than that by far.)

There are lots of ways, but one way that can work is something like threaded rod on either side (not touching them) down through the floor and backed up underneath; then a hardwood or fiberglass board across the top of both, fastened to the rods (make sure metal cannot get to the posts). (This is kind of a variation on the Ford start battery method which I have seen on a lot of cars too.)

Straps can be strong too, but I wonder if battery acid spills on them (if flooded cells) plus sometimes they allow for wiggle room (but not always). I've also seen fiberglass angle around the top edges with rod, but that depends on the shape of the top of the batteries.

My tray came with a strap that had built in "hooks" that fit into channels in the tray, as I remember it. I probably would have come up with something better if I'd kept my batteries there. My one battery was just basically lying in there when I bought it (it wasn't used that way; relatives threw the batteries in to sell it).

Between them a hard foam might be fine. If it's large enough it won't compress and would be vertical anyway. You are right to consider it at any rate - batteries are big and heavy and full of power.

[Astrodokk]

Mine have the tight strap that is so secure that I couldn’t move those batteries at all by hand. The batteries have a kind of plastic bumper build into the bodies so that there is no “gap” separation to speak of. They seem to take up all the space on the tray as well, so no room to move around or slide.
Also I find that all those cables attached are so stiff that they give a certain firmness to the whole unit.

[Roly]

I just installed a new pair of VMax 125 AH group 31 AGM batteries in the drawer of my 1998 Premier. They fit well with a wood spacer at the back and in between. The latter space is where a 500 amp shunt for the Bogart monitor sits. Now to troubleshoot my 200 amp solar panels...

The fillers of wood existed in the battery compartments of several nuke submarines I worked on as a marine electrician years ago. Those were timbers of durable wood, and were called dunnage. The batteries were individual 2 volt cells about two feet square and four or more feet high. Each weighed about as much as an air cooled VW. There were a lot of them in there, and one had to crawl around on top of them to service them, safety precautions in place.

Roly