Battery Box Fix

[gklugie]

When I bought my new (16 year old) Roadtrek last month, it came with a rusted out battery box. I removed the damaged box by grinding down the pop rivets and carefully removing the unit. I had a new 18 gauge galvanized box fabricated at a metal shop in town for $54. I put double sided sealer tape down under the flange, and pop-riveted the new box in. New grommets were installed. After batteries were lowered, I put some additional silicone sealant around the grommet/cable penetrations for a better weatherproof seal.

oldbat1.JPGnewbat1.JPG


Howzatt?!?!?

[booster]

Ventilation?

[gklugie]

Dunno.

I have not been able to determine if there was any ventilation in the old box. It should be simple enough to add a few vent holes if needed. Booster, do you happen to know what is stock/required for this vintage setup?

[BBQ]

.

I can see the old box was naturally vented.

[booster]

Originally Posted by gklugie

Dunno.

I have not been able to determine if there was any ventilation in the old box. It should be simple enough to add a few vent holes if needed. Booster, do you happen to know what is stock/required for this vintage setup?

I don't, but some others here likely do. Aside from hazard with wet cells, not enough ventilation will greatly increase the corrosion and heat. It looks like an underfloor mounting, so best would always be to have it sealed to the coach, but more open to the outside air.

Galvanized will give some protection against corrosion, but not great against acid fumes or spills. Stainless is better, but still will corrode. When we had wet cells, I sprayed the inside of the battery box with 3M undercoating, which totally stopped the corroding, but you need to set the batteries on a piece of 4mil poly sheet to keep them from sticking. Wrap the poly up the sides a bit and it will even catch an acid spill. This is an old timer fix for preventing battery tray rust out from the 50s to 70, mostly, and works really well.