Re: [VAC] Batteries and Jalousies

[Don Horn <donhorn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Leslie,

I had a battery box fabricated for my Avion out of stainless steel.  The old
box was made of fiberglass and was in pretty good shape, but too thin for
modern batteries.  (I threw it away, so don't bother to ask...).

The replacement is wider than the original, so two golf cart batteries fit
in it, and it just barely fits behind the LP tanks. The cost was $135, and
it was made by a local semi-retired sheet metal guy who used an odd sheet of
SS he had left over from some other job.  It's fairly heavy gauge, and a
pretty good grade, but not the best.  One problem I didn't notice right away
was the welding.  He said he was going to have it done by a welder who
specialized in stainless, but it looks like he got a spot welder who didn't
know what he was doing.  It looks sloppy around the edges (kind of burnt in
spots, and appears to be spot welded rather than rod-welded).  Be sure to
get someone who can lay a bead of stainless around the seams.   On the whole
though, it looks pretty good and works just fine so far.

It did take some attention to detail to make sure that the new batteries
fit, the access holes were in the right places and the new batteries didn't
interfere with access for the wiring.  Also had to make a template to drill
new screw holes to match the old ones.  Also, I glued a rubber stair tread
under the SS lid, to prevent shorting if the batteries happened to bounce
up.  I sill intend to put about a 110 amp fuse on the ground wire, just in
case there's a hard short before the fuses for the service circuits (it
needs to be rated that high because the tow vehicle alternator can put 70-80
amps or more into the charge line).

One of these days I'll post some photos of the new battery box on my web
site.  I'm only a couple of light years behind Jim D., Tom Patterson, et al,
in that regard.  

Don Horn
'63 Avion T-20