I have a 3712 and am planning an inverter install. I currently have 2 6v's but would like to increase that to 4 (you all know where this is going don't you). The problem is the storage area for the batteries is tight. Even if a person could squeeze two more batteries between the bottom row and the hydraulic pump, I doubt that the tray is designed to hold that much weight.
I'm wondering what you guys have done to get around this limitation. I know there is the front storage compartment and I know that this area is somewhat protected from the generator but I worry about heat.
I recall somebody here put a battery box in the front compartment to hold either 2 or 4 batteries. Heat was an issue, but so was the venting around the generator area and the leaching into the bedroom. Thus why he used a marine battery box that was vented. I'll see if I can find that post, it was from a year or more ago.
Getting there may be half the fun, but I'll keep enjoying the other half too! Have you checked out the new RV.net Blogs?
I had the dealer install 2 more 12v in the front compartment. Placed in battery boxes vented to the outside, placed as far from the generator as possible. Works great, no problems.
In my '07 3814, I replaced the 2 - 12v batteries with 2 - 6v t-105 trojans, plus added 2 more t-105s just on the other side of the divider, in the front compartment. The whole area is "in contact" with outside air, so it vents ok except when I leave my boost charger on when I park it in the barn.
It's not too hard to access the filler caps in either location, since you do have to add water on a regular basis. I set my twin-tank (Emglo nailing gun) compressor next to the extra batteries, with the compressor closest to the generator.
I also wired in an 1800 watt Xantrex inverter in the "carpeted" storage cubby (front right corner, closest to the the batteries) and wired it into one side of the electrical panel. I fished the control wire (telephone wire) up thru the bathroom pocket door wall and set the control panel to the right of the Raptor panel.
I had planned to add a marine battery switch to separate each pair of 6v batteries, but just wired them all together due to time constraints (back then...). Still works great!
Also, can you elaborate a little on how you connected the inverter to half of your panel? I was thinking about a sub panel but if these can be split ...
Own a 3712TS. Dealer Repleaced stock 12v with 6v at time or Pick-Up. They also installed (I am not that crazy about doing electrical) the top of the line Xantrex 2000W "True, Sine Wave" Inverter (The big Yellow One) and added an additional Breaker Panel. It is awesome.
Then recently a Local Service shop installed 2 additional 6v in the front compartment in the those cute little plastic battery boxes furthest from Gen. I run all kinds of******while dry camping with no problems. Also had a decent size (6ft x 2ft approx) solar panel. You can watch and run stuff all day of inverter with just your solar panel recharging. Gets a little dicey when the wife fires up the hair dryer I installed or run the coffee pot (those things draw some amps). Otherwise, pure awesome. Spend the money on the top of the line inverter. Theo
On my 05 3612 I have tried a couple of things....First I put 4 12v batteries in the main battery compartment by making a saddle to fit over the existing two 12v batteries....It worked fairly good but was very hard to service because everything was so tight.....I have since removed the 12v's and made a bracket so that I could install 2 6v golf cart batteries in the main compartment.....I installed 4 more batteries in the front compartment next to the genny...they are not in boxes but in a metal frame....I drilled three large holes in the bottom of the compartment and installed a large vent on the door that vents both the batteries and the genny compartment. I now have a large battery bank that along with two large solar panels and the 3000 watt inverter lets me almost never start the gen set.
I also added two more T105s in my front comparment, in a nice box. Works great. My inverter, which is an AMS full sinewave unit (1500W I think), is mounted in the pass-through storage. I haven't wired it to the breaker system yet, just need to get around to it. There's room for a breaker in there. Up on the roof I have a pair of 120 watt solar panels. The charge controller is an SCI 16A unit mounted in the wall above the Raptor control panel. I had initially installed a Xantrex setup, but it was defective and wasn't charging the batteries properly, so I gave up, returned it, and went back to the SCI that I've had for several years.
Never thought to take any. For me, it's just a black box that holds the two batterys end to end (so it's like 2' long by 10" deep by 14" tall, approximately), with a black lid. Then I stack wooden blocks in ahead of it for putting under the landing gear and stuff.
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