House battery mounting in HJ45 Troopy question

[RufusTheDufus]

I thought about posting this in the Expedition area but figured I'd try here first.

I'd like to mount two or possibly four AGM deep cycle batteries outside of the engine and passenger compartment on my HJ45. I plan to use them as "house" batteries for an Engel and an inverter.

I assume lots of other people have done this in the past so I'm looking for suggestions as to what works or doesn't work. Photos would be awesome too.

I have a long range tank under the truck that takes up a good chunk of the area next to and above the rear drive shaft.

I'm going to be mounting the spare tire on a swing out rack above the rear bumper so I'll have all that space available underneath where the spare usually mounts. I'm also considering sticking the batteries up under the long wheel wells. (I could fab up some battery trays/mounts as part of a bolt on slider or something along those lines.)

 

[Mtbcoach]

I've found that "fat 50" ammo cans are almost a perfect fit for the Optima batteries (D34/78, 35) with enough space to run cables to them on the inside of the ammo can. I've got a couple of them installed on my ExPed trailer and as a my second battery on my FJC...

 

[2manycruisers]

Under the wheel wells in front of the rear axle is a doable place. I've seen a pop-top troopy that had one in the rear fender accessed from the inside opposite the "pocket". I'm not crazy about mounting them where they are hard to see and harder to access; I'd consider making an access door in the outside quarter if I put them in front of the axle under the wheel wells. But my water tanks go there.

 

[RufusTheDufus]

I'm thinking I might try to mount a couple in front of the rear axle on the passenger side (RHD). An Access panel is a good idea but I think I'd rather build it into the inner wheel well than cut a hole in the body panels.

 

[82cruiser]

Any progress on this? Also looking for a good solution.

I'm thinking about installing two batteries on the frame/in the wheel well/ just in front of the rear wheels.

 

[RufusTheDufus]

I ended up going with air locking diffs and decided I'd also like a pump and air tank. So I installed the pump in front of one rear wheel accessible from inside the vehicle. The air tank is mounted under the fender in front of the other rear wheel. You can see a few photos in this post

 

[82cruiser]

Thanks for the link. That's looks great and good idea creating an access panel for the pump. Lots of usable space under the wheel wells.

 

[RufusTheDufus]

I put a lot of thought into locations for batteries. I couldn't come up with something that I thought would be reliable and easily serviceable. I wanted to have an access panel so connections could be made/inspected from inside the vehicle. But the battery mounts would have to attach to the frame for strength. (I assumed the fender wouldn't handle the weight of a battery hanging off if it for very long.) I couldn't come up with a way fro the enclosure to be watertight and deal with body/frame flex.

I did get rid of the stock fuel tank because of the dual transfer case setup. I'm considering putting a battery in that location to help with starting and running the winch.

 

[CycloSteve]

Ruff-Stuff makes an excellent Odyssey/DieHard battery-mount which I used with my 45, and also have Optima ones. Though not a Troopie, the frame mount location might also work for you folks, US drivers side. The battery box and compressor are hard-mounted to the frame, while the air tank is mounted to the bed.



Steve

 

[82cruiser]

Cool setup Steve and thanks for posting.

That may work well in a dry environment but the components wouldn't last long in the New England rust belt. If it's not sealed up good, the salt around here will corrode everything in no time.