Battery Relocation - RV-Dreams Community Forum

MaryBee · RV-Dreams Family Member

Battery Relocation

Technomadia · RV-Dreams Family Member

I can share with you some of the considerations we had when choosing which bay to make our battery bay on our bus conversion:

- Making sure you have the proper wiring sizes for the length of run you'll need to get to your various supporting equipment - chargers, breakers, panels, inverter, etc. A change in distance to any of these can affect the wiring needed.

- Ventilation. If you're using wet/flooded cells - they need proper ventilation that your garage area might not have been designed for. If using AGM or Lithium Ion, this is not a concern.

- Placement. Check to see if there is anything else of concern in your garage area that might make storing your batteries there a safety concern. Such as, LPG tanks nearby that might need additional isolation.

- Weight distribution. Check to see how shifting the weight of your bank will impact your various ratings for axle load, tongue/hitch weight, etc. I'm not familiar with the construction of 5th Wheels, so perhaps others can chime in on what the specific concerns might be (if any) with this.

Best wishes,
- Cherie

The Bear II · RV-Dreams Family Member

Most of the solar setups I've seen the batteries are placed in the basement storage compartment. Usually a false wall is used to separate the batteries from the rest of the storage. We have two separate compartments built into the basement storage area with vented doors to the outside of the 5th wheel. 2 batteries in each compartment, one set on each side of the 5th wheel for weight balance. The compartments are completely sealed so no fumes or liquids can get into the basement compartment. Access to the batteries is through the vented doors from the outside of the 5th wheel.