Battery Hold-Downs

[Bill Lampkin]

I just had the opportunity to replace my house batteries (no available AC power at storage site). No issues, other than neither the coach or house batteries had any kind of hold down, they just sit on an angle iron tray. Straps are the easiest answer, but I wonder what the OE used?
 Anyone know Beaver's 'better idea' on battery hold downs?
2005 Beaver Patriot Thunder Lexington 40'

[LaMonte Monnell]

My batteries in my 2001 Contessa have no straps or hold down brackets either. I just figure with the weight and how they fit they will never bounce out.

[Gerald Farris]

Bill,
Your batteries never had hold downs installed. The manufacturer did not see the need since the slide try is of sufficient depth to keep them in place.

Gerald 

[Bill Lampkin]

Thanks guys, "If it ain't broke..."

[Bill Sprague]

My Bend built '04 Monterey had nylon straps with plastic buckles that went from one tray rail across to the other.

[Bryan Schmidt]

Same with our 05 Monterey.  2 battery straps, one front and rear of the slide out tray, but ours used metal buckles (which sucked up corrosion like a wet sponge) till they were replaced after the 1st year we had the coach.

The battery strap Beaver selected back then was not a single continuous strap like that is used to secure a battery box to a frame, but was a 2 piece set up.   One end of each of the 2 straps had a sewn in loop and was secured to opposing sides of the slide out tray using something called Footman Loop..  The other end of one strap had the buckle/lockdown sewn onto it.  The other end of the other strap was free and that end was threaded thru the lockdown. 

I think the generic name of this type of 2 piece unit is called a Loop Strap, or somethings like that.

[Joel Ashley]

In an accident, I'd rather the batteries stay as stable as such a thing might allow.  So though tempted due to the corrosion issues the strapping infrastructure incessantly presents, I try to maintain the tie-downs rather than forgo them.  Several of the original metal strap brackets disintegrated, so a few years ago I decided to go without the hard-to-access brackets and screws inside the slide tray, and just used clevis pins as shown in the pix.

I still fight the darned buckles however, as no matter high-end metal or plastic, the acidic gases stream down the straps and eat the buckles away.  I finally just inured myself to replacing plastic ones every so often... they are quite inexpensive at my local hardware store.

Joel

[Bryan Schmidt]

Joel:

Read your other recent reply on using clovis pins as strap hold downs instead of the orig, slide out, frame mounted, screwed in, Footman's Loop and I couldn't just picture it. 

Now with your above pics, I now clearly understand what you were describing and it was a sudden "duh" moment for me..... Slap me upside the head..  This will save me hrs every year/other year replacing the corroded screws and footman loops, which of course required pulling all 6 batteries out of the slide out tray in order to get access to the slide out frame footman loop screws..    That is why I never have much corrosion built up on my battery terminals 'cause I regularly had to pull all the batteries out of the slide tray, at least every other year.     

My lower-back and shoulders thank you personally for your creative and low cost suggestion...

[Joel Ashley]

I misspoke... that is not a clevis pin, it is called a "hairpin".  My local ACE had drawerfuls of various sizes.  Too small and the pin can slip loose through the slot;  too large and it's prong won't fit through the loop.  A clevis is the cylindrical shaft that goes through something such as a hitch, and the hairpin goes through a hole in the shaft's end as a keeper to hold it in place, or it can screw through a shackle like holds our rock guards' hanger chains.

Though the hairpin doesn't seem to corrode, the slot area the strap loop feeds through and the old screw holes still do.  I slopped POR-15 paint wherever bare metal was and in the holes, but even then corrosion is recurrent.  Even spraying CorrosionX on the areas is unreliable.  The acid corrosiveness is insipid.

I just have to keep watching for it, but when it's down alongside the batteries it's hard to get at without going through disconnecting and removing batteries.  One of my old metal brackets is stuck in place down by a chassis battery causing "bloom", because it's little lag screws wouldn't come out.  I need to cut it out one of these days, and POR-15 over it.

It's fortunate they put the slots where they did, whatever the reason, so the strap end loops can be tucked through.

Joel