Battery Relocation and Towing

After disassembling the battery box, I cleaned the batteries and placed them on the floor at the foot of the bed. Lengths of 1" x 2" were then screwed to the floor and bed box to keep the batteries from moving.

I also took this opportunity to reverse the positive and negative of the battery bank, and also to use different batteries as the "terminals" of the series/parallel string. Put another way, I shuffled the batteries.

The box is vented to the rear of the bus with a 12-volt muffin fan from Shaque du'Radio. A screened, 3" hole on the right side of the box allows fresh air entry. The hole where the wires enter/exit the box is sealed with spray-in foam.

Right now the battery vent fan is manually controlled with a toggle switch. Next week I'll add a voltage-sensing switch to turn on the fan only when the batteries are charging and generating oxygen & hydrogen.

I added gasket material to the sides of the box to ensure a nearly air-tight seal between the box and bus door.

I also installed a Class III Valley Industries hitch. This unit is bolted to the frame rails...thus the need to relocate the batteries.

Using the 2" x 2" x 3/16" angle iron from the deck support, I relocated the deck to a higher position, and installed a 48-gallon Action Packer box.
3/8" Grade 8 nuts & bolts fasten the parts together, and fasten everything to the bus bumper.

A small magnet makes it possible to collect of all of the metal shavings from the work area.

This is a mockup of the trailer in relation to the new deck. I'm not sure I need to use a hitch extension. It appears that the bus would have to be climbing a serious incline for the trailer to foul the deck.