Installing house battery under sofa - 1993 - with slide out
Posted: Sun May 29, 2011 7:41 pm
Thought you might like to see how I solved the access problem for the lead acid deep cycle battery under my sofa. There was a battery there when I bought this 190, but it was not sealed. So, for a little under $100, I got a sealed battery box and 10" drawer slides from Amazon.com. The aluminum sealed battery box is for NHRA drag cars with batteries behind the firewall. It just fits in the space between the sofa drawer, the generator and the converter. I made 1"x 2" drawer slide brackets that screw to the floor with 4 screws/bracket. I used the old oak door from our 1991 190 that I had removed above the fridge to install a microwave. The vent hose is at the top left of the box in the last picture. The last picture shows the vent hose going through a grommet on top of the generator box right next to the outside wall. It hangs down about 2" inside the generator compartment, very close to the vent louvers.
That picture also shows a sheet metal strap I made to hold the wires on top of the generator box instead of behind the box. Now I can add water to the battery just by sliding it out from under the sofa. I do need to add a latch to the drawer, and am currently investigating several ways to do that.
If you have an AGM battery, all you would need would be the drawer slides and a way to mount a cover onto the battery.
That picture also shows a sheet metal strap I made to hold the wires on top of the generator box instead of behind the box. Now I can add water to the battery just by sliding it out from under the sofa. I do need to add a latch to the drawer, and am currently investigating several ways to do that.
If you have an AGM battery, all you would need would be the drawer slides and a way to mount a cover onto the battery.
