Quote:
Originally Posted by jjbusch
Hi all. I have two of these mounted similarly under the barn doors holding AGM batteries, and am planning on moving the batteries indoors for two reasons.
First, and last significant issue is that they are a pain to drop and work on in an urgent situation. I learned this lesson the hard way in a campground in the Atacama desert where I didn't have access to a floor jack.
Second, and more importantly is the poor positioning of the boxes on the rail opposite the exhaust. If you are in cold climates or are always traveling 50mph+, the location and heat generated by the exhaust is not an issue... However, if your are ever planning on idling, traveling up long and steep mountain passes at expectedly low speeds, spend time in the southern part of the US (or anywhere in the tropics), or encounter stop and go traffic - you might want to reconsider positioning your batteries in this location. During our 8+ month trip through South America we toasted our batteries, I believe due to excessive heat production in this mounting position. Sometimes the battery monitor read over 140°. In veracruz state México, the batteries never dropped below 120°, even as I was traveling 50 mph. In fact, driving around Seattle in stop and go traffic causes my battery monitor's high temp alarm to trigger (alarm is set at 117°).
Considering that actively charging an AGM battery under high temperatures (120°+) can destroy the battery (and appears to have ruined $500 worth of batteries in my case), in retrospect I have realized that this is probably the worst place that I could have mounted my batteries.
As always YMMV.
-Jeff
|
Wow -- great point. Maybe a heat shield would help? You could certainly add one without having to drop the batteries.
I was going to place my house batteries in that location -- might do something different now. Perhaps driver side will be fine -- but I'll have to remove the rear AC/heat plumbing first I reckon.
Linear Mode
