Thursday, September 8, 2011

Mounting The Batteries

I needed a good way to hold 20 batteries securely in the truck without them bouncing all around.

I recently acquired a 230Amp welder off of ksl for $120. It even came with 40 lbs of welding rod and a welding hood. Nice!
I bought some angled and flat pieces of steel and starting cutting them up to make a battery tray that would hold 4 golf cart batteries in the front of the engine compartment.

I welded the pieces together, grinded them smooth, primed them and painted them. The angled edges hold the batteries fairly securely and prevent them from shifting around. A foam piece pressed against the hood of the truck finishes off the mount.  Here's a video of me cutting and welding the battery tray.  





I made two more battery trays, each can hold 8 batteries. 


These larger trays mount in the front of the truck bed close to the cab.

I went to Costco to price out golf cart batteries. You can buy Trojan batteries for $149 each plus core charge. Costco had an equivalent capacity battery for only $79. I bought 14 of them on the spot and another 6 a week later.  I found a 50 foot length of 00 welding cable on Ebay for $155, and built up all the cables needed to connect all 20 golf cart batteries in series.  



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