Reinforced Battery box, 31 marine battery and Victron Bluetooth monitor install.

Norsman

Planning a few upgrades this month. After a year of ownership I noticed my outback propane and battery box was just sitting there and not even tightened down and I could lift it up almost an inch. My new battery is about 25 lbs heavier so I decided to enroll a friend to weld in some support angle iron. 

Before


During




I’ll be reinstalling the box, a sewer hose tube, battery and victron this week. More to come...

Norsman

I’m thinking of drilling a hole in the floor just in front of the left fender to get the Victron wire into the camper. I would then mount the monitor above the Aldi controller. I would seal the hole up well. I’m open to other suggestions.

Sharon_is_SAM

@Norsman, the factory installed our Victron and brought it in under the battery cut off switch up through the wall next to the shower, and mounted the display above our counter on the shower wall.  We have the shunt available via an access panel in the lower cabinet.

Norsman

SAM said:

@Norsman, the factory installed our Victron and brought it in under the battery cut off switch up through the wall next to the shower, and mounted the display above our counter on the shower wall.  We have the shunt available via an access panel in the lower cabinet.

This sounds much better but I’m not sure I can access all that now that the camper construction is complete. I can’t seem to find any hardware to make a nice waterproof seal or whole through the camper to allow a single wire to go through either... anyone have any suggestions? I was just going to fill the whole with silicone.

Do you happen to have any pictures of this install?

jkjenn

Try a search for marine pass through.

Adam_Hough

You need to get a pass through port:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/eDBKpXa4TPb3Wtkh1
https://photos.app.goo.gl/bL0mkFPrAei15Y2u2
I filled the port with some cauk when I was finished running my solar power cables through it and sealed around it with cauk as well when I installed it.

dragonsdofly

@Adam_Hough, welcome to the forum, the t@b family and congratulations on your trailer! Noticed this was you first post.

Sharon_is_SAM

@Norsman, here are some pics.  You can see the single loom coming out from the front underside and the access via the shower wall panel.  Wish I had our TaB here, I could provide a better shot.  

Norsman

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Seeing all these good ideas I decided to wait until I could get one of those marine pass throughs to do it right. So in the meantime I mounted the shunt and display in a somewhat waterproof box in the diamond plate tub. 

I think I’ll do a little more research and add some flexible solar panels to the roof with a nice solar controller. See pics...



I tested my goal zero briefcase 100 watt solar panel and the goal zero charge controller and discovered this is for charging only and doesn’t really supply the full power for use in the camper. I could run the fantastic fan at the first setting with the solar panel but anything else created a slight negative discharge state or current of a few amps. I need a real solar panel controller but I’m not sure how to hook that up to the goal zero solar panel yet.

The Bluetooth option is great... I can see in real-time how many amps I’m using and how long the battery will last in hours and minutes as I turn things on. I discovered that the water pump used the most energy. I haven’t turned the fridge on with this yet.

Speaking of battery, I fit a 31M marine battery in a box with room to spare. If interested, here is the link to the battery. https://www.batteriesplus.com/battery/marine-and-boat/deep-cycle/bci-group-31m/sli31agmdpm

I wish it where two 6 volt batteries.


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Norsman

Next project is a small sway control bar. We welded this on to my hitch, now to install the trailer side. I have had issues with sway and I’ve lowered the hitch as much as possible to create more tongue weight.

Sharon_is_SAM

@Norsman, is the Tab still level?  The way to prevent sway is to add weight with a level Tab.

Ratkity

@Norsman, is that a trick of the camera and the welded ball smaller, and you are using a friction sway bar?

The reason I ask is that I have an extra friction sway bar and also a small ball with plate (so you don't have to weld) that can be added to another hitch. I'm looking to send it to a good home (no charge). V, should I have said something under For Sale? I'm Spring Cleaning and have way too many hitches than a person needs.

Verna

@Ratkity, yes, you would get more exposure in the camping equipment category. 

Norsman

Ratkity said:

@Norsman, is that a trick of the camera and the welded ball smaller, and you are using a friction sway bar?

The reason I ask is that I have an extra friction sway bar and also a small ball with plate (so you don't have to weld) that can be added to another hitch. I'm looking to send it to a good home (no charge). V, should I have said something under For Sale? I'm Spring Cleaning and have way too many hitches than a person needs.

Yes, it is a smaller ball used with a friction sway bar. Now that I have this set up I will will not need another. But, thank you for the offer. They are fairly cheap $40-60. I picked mine up from Fleet Farm, Curt is the brand.