Outer Limits 4x4 Board

As above is it acceptable/safe to have an auxiliary battery in the rear compartment of a wagon. Will only be running a fridge so it won't have much load on it. The battery I have is sealed maintance free.

Seem to remember even the maintenace free ones aren't safe to have inside. I remember Ruff re-telling a story on here where a mate of his passed out or something....

I told you Simmo!!! I think the sealed gel/agm batteries are alright for inside the cab but the sealed lead acid batteries aren't, the bloke at the battery shop told me that, so whether he was full of it or not I don't know.

Haha, I'm sure there are cars that come out of the factory with battery's in the cab, I'm not talking modern ones either.

Vans are but they are vented to the outside of the car. BMW's, VW's, Audi's etc are kept in the boot but we are talking behind the seats and parcel shelves so not in the cabin. Not one car on my yard has a battery open to the cabin.

I can't find what Ruff posted but there are threads in Auto-Electrical saying you can do it. But I think Ruff's story was the guy was in the car and passed out from the gasses even though it was in a sealed box, and he was lucky not to be driving it at the time. I remember thinking I must remember that. Could of been a year or more ago...

I was kinda hoping that since I wasn't cranking off it then the battery won't be working too hard and therefore won't be producing too much gas.

The problem with flooded batteries ( wet cell ) is that they emit hydrogen when they are being charged, this is an extemely flammable/explosive gas. If the battery is in a sealed box vented to the atmosphere outside of the vehicle then it is not a problem., but if it is not vented it can lead to an explosive mixture inside the vehicle. If for whatever reason you mount the battery inside the cabin area use an AGM or Gel cell battery as these do not produce hydrogen when being charged. 1 of the benefits of using this type of battery is that they can be mounted in any position, upside down on end does not matter.

Beetles had batteries under the rear seat, unvented ........ I would feel safer with a hell cell though

Don't some defenders have them under the seat

Tiny wrote:Beetles had batteries under the rear seat, unvented ........ I would feel safer with a hell cell though

Yep and my old lady had one when she was younger that burnt to the ground because the seat earthed the battery out so I would not be taking tips from vw

stilivn wrote:

Tiny wrote:Beetles had batteries under the rear seat, unvented ........ I would feel safer with a hell cell though

Yep and my old lady had one when she was younger that burnt to the ground because the seat earthed the battery out so I would not be taking tips from vw

Lol I burnt the fark out my knee once kneeling on the seat to get to the back........ I put some rubber over the battery after that

Tiny wrote:

stilivn wrote:

Tiny wrote:Beetles had batteries under the rear seat, unvented ........ I would feel safer with a hell cell though

Yep and my old lady had one when she was younger that burnt to the ground because the seat earthed the battery out so I would not be taking tips from vw

Lol I burnt the fark out my knee once kneeling on the seat to get to the back........ I put some rubber over the battery after that

Yup had an old krauty myself years ago..... I put a rubber doormat over it to save the burn factory from happening..... the only real downside I can see of a battery in the back is the wires to it from the alternator...... does anyone know what size you would need, surely not as heavy as starter motor batt...... I'm actually looking at doing the back batt myself......

My RR DAKAR has the battery behind the driver and there aren't any additional wires run from the alternator.

The charge ciruit goes back to the stater that then feeds the power to the battery via the starter cables. Just like all cars do.

The battery box is vented to atmosphere as it doesn't have a roof or doors!

RED60 wrote:does anyone know what size you would need, surely not as heavy as starter motor batt...... I'm actually looking at doing the back batt myself......

When I get round to doing the setup in mine It will be running 2 B+S cables (pretty much starter cable size) from the main batteries to the rear one, will also have an isolator to keep the starter battery separate.