Slee dual batteries don't fit right? (1 Viewer)

[ekolpack]

Bought the Slee dual battery tray for my TLC200. Slee website recommends a Group 35 battery for their tray, but when installing said battery, there's a decent amount of "slop"....a good 3/4" both width and length wise, which probably equates to a decent amount of capacity and cranking amps lost to wasted space. It seems like I should be able to fit a bigger battery in there. Or perhaps there's a different tray that uses the space a little more efficiently and accommodates a larger battery?

The smaller than ideal second battery size wouldn't be that big of a deal on it's own, but I'm doing the KISS dual battery setup, which requires two matching batteries. So a small second battery means a small primary battery as well....so I need to get this secondary battery as large as possible. Any advice on this? Thanks fellas!

 

[Julian73]

The Slee tray is nice but not perfect. I don't know why it has to be 5 lbs of SS ballast when aluminum of similar thickness or SS of half the thickness would be just fine for the loads. I think some people are cutting off the outer "wall" to accommodate longer batteries as the spaces exists for another 3/4 - 1" or so.

 

[ekolpack]

The Slee tray is nice but not perfect. I don't k now why to is a 5 lbs of SS ballast when aluminum of similar thickness would be just fine for the loads. I think so people are cutting off the outer "wall" to accommodate longer batteries as the spaces exists for another 3/4 - 1" or so.

Yeah I just went out and checked. In addition to the 3/4" or so of "slop" inside the tray itself, there's a good 3/4" all around the tray that isn't utilized. Also there's a little nut holding the top DRL resistor screw that unnecessarily sucks up about another 1/4" of width. The inside dimensions of the Slee tray are just a hair over 9.75" wide (L to R) x 7.5" deep (front to back) not counting wasted length from the nut.

I looked at size charts for different batteries. Unfortunately, even if the tray was a little bigger, there's not many other better options than a group 35. If it was a little longer you could fit a group 24, but they are usually rated less in both CA and capacity than G35. Longer could also fit a Group 74, but they are super rare, can't even find one. It'd also fit a Group 28 battery, but again, super rare, and also about 1" taller, which might be a problem for hood clearance??

So yeah, pretty lame, but even with all the wasted space in the tray, and even if the tray was a good 1/2" larger all around, there STILL wouldn't be any real better options than the Group 35's. Even though there's a lot more room depth-wise, there aren't any batteries in this size range that are much deeper than a Group 25. And although you could probably gain an inch or so length-wise, that's not enough to bump up to something like a Group 27 that'll actually be a real increase in performance. An Interstate G27 = 1000CA and 140aH capacity while an Interstate G35 = 800CA and 100aH. Doubling this for dual batts, the G27 would be quite a step up (2000CA/280aH vs 1600CA/200aH). Of course CA is WAY overkill in any of these scenarios, so not really worth considering, but 280aH vs. 200aH is almost 50% more capacity, that's not trivial.

You could probably fit a Group 27 in the second spot if you moved the PS reservoir altogether, cut a little part of the plastic intake/airbox bracket, and found a creative way to mount the DRL resistor (zip ties?). But I have neither the time or inclination to do that, at least at this point.

 

[Fisher23]

The Group 34, which is larger, also fits in there.

 

[ekolpack]

The Group 34, which is larger, also fits in there.

Aha! Good call! Although it's 10 1/4" long, so it wouldn't fit in without modification (Slee tray is about 9.7" length interior). But there's a good 3/4" of room on the DRL resistor side to extent it out a bit. I might just do that! Hack off that end, bolt on some angle iron to extend it out about 5/8", and slap a Group 24 in there. A G24 is the same footprint as 34 but about 1" taller....still PLENTY of clearance before hood (see pics with 2" duct tape roll sitting on top of current Group 35 which is 8.875" tall)....there's easily 10", maybe even 11" of clearance in there. I'd still probably get terminal covers to be extra safe, but if you get to the point where bare metal is touching that + post, you've likely got much bigger problems than battery arcing.

A flooded LA Interstate Group 24 is 130aH, which is damn close to the 140 of the G27 target. An AGM interstate G24 is exactly 140aH, and deep cycle. I know deep cycle aren't meant to deliver fast, high current draw for starting, but there'd be two of them in parallel with 1/0awg between. They're rated for 550CCA and 690CA, so two could deliver 1100CA and 1380CCA, which seems likely more than enough, even for AGM marine to crank over an LC. Watcha think? Would this be a problem? Any battery experts care to weigh in?

If this worked, it'd not only deliver an amazing 280aH capacity, but it'd be deep cycle, so without damaging the batteries, you could actually get closer to the full capacity before needing a recharge.

 

[ekolpack]

Pics showing clearance with duct tape for reference....

 

[82SC]

Or this

Will post details soon. But finally fired it up.
Dual battery. Doing a 100Ah LiFePO4 with high and low temp cutoff and Bluetooth monitoring.

 

[ekolpack]

Or this

View attachment 3302357

View attachment 3302358

That's what I'm thinking....that tab/angle/bracket thing on the right side where the DRL resistor mounts could easily be removed.....but then where are you sticking the DRL resistor? Seems like you could just velcro or ziptie it to just about anything....it's just a resistor, no moving parts....as long as it's in a place where heat can dissipate. Where did you put yours? Thanks!!

 

[82SC]

I had a metal shop cut the bracket on that side and elongate the holes so I could slide it over.

Mounting the power steering reservoir is the main issue. I left the electrical connectors in place. No need to move.

SDHQ has a more elaborate bracket that gets the PS reservoir out of the way and you could probably slide it over even more to fit a 27 or 31 if you ambitious.

I even looked into converting the coolant reservoir to the Diesel engine type to really move the PS over but that was very involved.

 

[ekolpack]

I had a metal shop cut the bracket on that side and elongate the holes so I could slide it over.

Mounting the power steering reservoir is the main issue. I left the electrical connectors in place. No need to move.

SDHQ has a more elaborate bracket that gets the PS reservoir out of the way and you could probably slide it over even more to fit a 27 or 31 if you ambitious.

I even looked into converting the coolant reservoir to the Diesel engine type to really move the PS over but that was very involved.

Ah yup, okay I see what's going on there now. And yeah, the PS steering reservoir is really the only thing preventing a G27 from wedging in there. It looks like you also cut a notch in the little plastic bracket on the airbox/intake (upper right corner of your second pic)?

 

[82SC]

Yup. Sharp eye. Flush cut saw. 2 minutes.

 

[ekolpack]

Yup. Sharp eye. Flush cut saw. 2 minutes.

*deleted due to inaccurate measurements*

 

[sdnative]

View attachment 3302357

Is that Kaon bracket this one?

Battery Fuse Bracket for 200mm Toyota Battery

Our battery fuse bracket, which is available online at Kaon, will ensure the security of your 200mm Toyota battery.

www.kaon.com.au

Do you know if it will fit on the DS primary battery?

 

[Julian73]

Okay, we're starting to get somewhere. I looks like there's not much room to move left without completely relocating that PS reservoir. Not sure how SDHQ does it, but I don't see any way to get any more than about 1/4" more room without completely relocating that reservoir......UNLESS.....you chop off a little unused tab on the radiator support bracket (see pics). Then you could gain about 1" on the left while, and by cutting that little notch in the airbox, and mounting the DRL resistor wherever (side of airbox?), you gain about 1.5" on the right, so 2.5" total, which should be enough to fit a 12" long G27 with a bit of wiggle room. Honestly, you might be able to get away with only partially cutting that little tab on the radiator support (cut half off?). It doesn't look like it's used for anything, so can't imagine it'd create any kind of issue, especially if it's not cut all the way off....which might be better since sliding it over the full 1" might make it tough to remove the cap on the PS reservoir (you can see the other tab, which IS used would get in the way). Hmmmmmm, might give that a try. Even 2.25" gained should be enough to barely fit a G27 in there. I'll probably just drill new holes instead of trying to elongate the existing ones.

You said this Slee tray is made out of SS? That'll be a bitch to drill.....ugh.

View attachment 3302492

SDHQ does it with their PS reservoir replacement. Yes the Slee tray is a relatively thick SS

 

[Markuson]

Bought the Slee dual battery tray for my TLC200. Slee website recommends a Group 35 battery for their tray, but when installing said battery, there's a decent amount of "slop"....a good 3/4" both width and length wise, which probably equates to a decent amount of capacity and cranking amps lost to wasted space. It seems like I should be able to fit a bigger battery in there. Or perhaps there's a different tray that uses the space a little more efficiently and accommodates a larger battery?

The smaller than ideal second battery size wouldn't be that big of a deal on it's own, but I'm doing the KISS dual battery setup, which requires two matching batteries. So a small second battery means a small primary battery as well....so I need to get this secondary battery as large as possible. Any advice on this? Thanks fellas!

View attachment 3300803

That “Slop” is sometimes helpful once you start routing various heavy gauge wires and significant power connectors. The ability to shift the battery a bit in various directions can be helpful.

About a bigger battery… If you know of a larger capacity battery that utilizes that bit of extra space, let is know what model that is, as that would be news.

 

[ekolpack]

That “Slop” is sometimes helpful once you start routing various heavy gauge wires and significant power connectors. The ability to shift the battery a bit in various directions can be helpful.

About a bigger battery… If you know of a larger capacity battery that utilizes that bit of extra space, let is know what model that is, as that would be news.

Well yeah, that's the thing, even with the considerable "slop" inside the stock tray, there's not really any other bigger, readily available battery options than a Group 35 that will fit in the stock Slee tray. If Slee redesigned the thing to eek out every last bit of space, they could barely make it fit a Group 24 battery, which is close to a Group 27 in terms of CA and capacity....it'd be super tight though.

I went out and took more accurate measurements. My post above contained incorrect information so I deleted it. It's true that to get a 12" long Group 27 battery in there, you need to create 2.25" of extra length space over the 9.75" in the stock Slee tray, but there's just no way to do that without some kinda serious mods (ie. relocating PS reservoir, replace PS reservoir with something thinner, remove entire airbox mounting foot and subframe bracket on right side).

I think for most people (me included) the best option is as @82SC recommends. By chopping the DRL resistor side off entirely and cutting a little notch in the airbox foot, you gain about 1" on the right passenger side, which increases that 9.75" length capacity of the stock tray to 10.75". Now you just need to create 1/4" on the left drivers side to hit the 11" length of a G24 battery. Do this by elongating the mounting holes and sliding it left 1/4". The PS reservoir should just BARELY clear the little tab with the 10mm bolt on the radiator support and the 11" long Group 24 battery should just barely fit.

Seems like a PITA, but in KISS dual battery mode, this yields 260aH of capacity vs 200aH on the stock Slee Group 35 option. 30% more capacity is pretty substantial and worth the effort for me. It'd be a lot more work to get dual Group 27's in there, and you'd only get another 20aH (about 7.5% more) capacity than this relatively simple Group 24 option. Although elongating those mounting holes even 1/4" will be a BIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH with that thick stainless.....ugh.....not looking forward to that. Might start with a small drill bit, work my way up, then finish off with a very unlucky Dremel.

 

[TeCKis300]

Can't tell exactly how much room you need, but here's a quick and easy way to relocate the PS reservoir using a band clamp.

Having done a power steering relocation mod recently for a yet to be completed twinz project, thought this would be useful for others on how to create a simple and effective relocation bracket. I know others have needed to relocate the PS for other reasons, including fitting dual batts.

Here's the relocation position. This is probably as simple as it gets, as there's no need for any re-plumbing or cracking open the PS circuit for that matter. Plumbing elbows and clearance fits like a glove in this position while also maintaining rubber isolation. Using an unused mounting ear off the radiator.

View attachment 2558494


Remove PS tripod bracket from fender and PS resevoir.

Two major fab steps. One inner fender modification.
1) Modify bracket by cutting it in half, preserving this half of the bracket with one foot and the reservoir holder upright

View attachment 2558488

2) Create a band clamp with a mounting ear and hole large enough for an M8 bolt. I used a 4" band clamp I had around in the garage, but it was longer than I needed so possibly a 3" one could work? Best with a 4" as it's easy enough to cut off excess. Bend and fold a mounting ear into the band. Though want to mock and bend once so as not to fatigue break the strap. It should fold easily in a vice or pliers.

View attachment 2558493

3) Use aluminum stock to make a bracket extension from existing hole to partial tripod bracket. Or drill and tap hole directly in fender which should work. I mounted to flat stock that also integrates to the rest of my project.

View attachment 2558495

 

[Markuson]

Personally, I think
MAIN battery trays are largely unnecessary… because the space there is already flat. With just a good clamp, its gonna stay put. Just look at the OEM “tray,” which on my 2008 was just an exceeding thin, loose piece of flimsy plastic.

The *2nd battery tray is a different matter entirely because it has the not only create the surface, but also must help relocate a couple items ?though very doable through other basic means). But the main battery will happily sit without much fanfare in the stock position with just the top clamp and anchor.

 

[sdnative]

KISS dual battery = larger group 31 SLI + Lithium jump pack?

Seems trying to shoehorn a second group 27 or even group 24 is definitely not KISS (but I am following this thread with interest)

 

[tbisaacs]

Seems like a PITA, but in KISS dual battery mode, this yields 260aH of capacity vs 200aH on the stock Slee Group 35 option. 30% more capacity is pretty substantial and worth the effort for me.

Not *usable* capacity though - unless your secondary is lithium.