Is the wood under the batteries necessary?

[Photoman]

The boards under the batteries in the battery tray are pretty much disintegrated.  Is it necessary that they set on boards?  There would be more clearance to get the batteries out without sliding the tray out if they weren't setting on boards.  Photoman   

[denisondc]

Sent: 11/20/2003

The best thing for the bottom of that tray would be a piece of stainless steel. The advantage to the wooden board is that your positive battery cables can be left dangling off the battery terminal without contacting anything conductive. denison

[Oz]

I found that the wood under my batteries were rotted too.  I thought about it and I replaced them with slightly thinner boards.  I chose boards instead of one piece of plywood for two reasons:  One, I'm deathly afraid of electrical shocks, sparks... anything and if I had a metal base, oh I know exactly what would happen... just like Denison was talking about so, I wanted wood for insulation from the metal.  Two, I used thinner boards to add just a little more clearance since the compartment isn't very tall to begin with and so that moisture could run down or air out better through the gaps between the boards.

[doylexl]

I don't think the batteries have to be on wood but they do need to be on something nonductive like rubber or fiberglass or plastic or even wood so that there is no connection from the positive post to the negative post and moisture from the batteries venting will carry a small amount of current and cause the batteries to discharge prematurely.

Some people say that batteries should not sit directly on concrete for the same reason. Batteries will vent gases when they are being charged and the metal parts around the battery area will corrode if they are not kept painted. You could use rhino liner if space is an issue such as on an rv. In the old days people would put a penny on top of the battery so it would corrode instead of the battery post's.

[Froggy1936]

As far as sitting batteries on concrete it no longer applys (was a problem before plastic cases Hard rubber was slightly porus)  And for a base a rubber house mat cut to size is very good for insulation and vibration (shock absorbing) Also another mat just laying on top of batterys would insulate from short curcuit in case of roll over accident eliminating instant fire !  As most house batterys are not bolted down !

[ClydesdaleKevin]

I lined my battery compartment with rubber horse stall matting.  Super cheap by the foot at Tractor Supply.  3/8 inch thick, protects the batteries from road vibration, and protects the steel compartment floor from battery acid.  Good cheap way to do it.

Kev

[vincewarde]

My 78 Tiffin came with a pull out metal battery tray.  I "de-rusted" it and then painted it with "tool dip" to protect the metal.  I then installed the biggest battery that would fit