Battery Leaked in front Boot

Craig1 · Guru

Battery Leaked in front Boot

Whenarewethere · Guru

Put rust converter on it even though you don't have rust. Primer. Undercoat. Topcoat & again. Do it in less humid weather. Shake paint cans for 2 minutes, I have used a few thousand of them. Let paint go off between coats, at lease an hour, go & do something else!

Once you have finished painting let it harden for a week before you sit or fasten anything to the surface. Paint needs the time for the solvents to fully evaporate.

Do not touch paint surface with fingers between coats, it leaves grease, it you do use some Lighter Fuel to wipe surface clean.

Use activated carbon face mask. Mask off surrounding areas even if it is to stop fine spray getting on other things. Vacuum out everything before you start painting.

Spray left to right or right to left. NOT back & forth, you quickly put on too much paint in a less controlled process. If spray cans are a bit cold warm them up in a bucket of water. Test spray each can first between coats.

Preparation & patience!

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Hi Craig,
I'd be tempted to clean the metal down, thoroughly wash it & let dry. Clean off any white powder/corrosion with steel wool, wet and dry paper & rewash, finishing with a coat of "Coldgalv" or similar product.

Either treatment would be sufficient BUT don't replace the battery with a fluid electrolyte type - use either Gel or AGM. Is the boot ventilated through the floor to let any fumes escape?

Your "monkeys" must have done a reasonable job in preventing a 30kg battery from breaking loose with just tek screws - or did some of them go into the chassis?

Craig1 · Guru

Thanks, , just 4 smallish screws( 15mm long) through sheet metal into ply subfloor by the look. No chance of going anywhere with other gear beside it. But I must say 18'6 Paramount Classic Pop Top rides beautifully. Could almost do the Rolls Royce trick of a " glass of water " sitting on the table or engine. Vent is above battery about 200mm away. A separate floor drain on opposite side of boot, 1500mm away. So maybe not so good, as a strong smell when opening this morning. Looks like a max of 20 kg from their chart.

swamp · Senior Member

Hi
Technically as long as the boot is not connected to the main cabin all is good . BUT practically fitting a battery to an enclosed space ,it should be enclosed and ducted to exterior .
Any ways as u have found out a wet lead acid battery is a physical issue for humans and the structure of your van . A wet battery fumes alot when charge cycled , the fumes get access to everything steel . Corrosion everywhere !!
An AGM batterry is a far better solution .

Baking soda the corrosion
sand //scotch brite the surface and zinc paint use CRC ZINC IT. cheap stuff is hopeless

or use rust convertor and follow procedure

valiant81 · Guru

Hi Craig; While shopping for a new AGM battery it might be worth replacing the solar controler while you are at it. It may have spat the dummy and caused your old battery to turn it's toes up ( over charging the battery ).

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

KBS or Por 15 coating . But if its out of site ? Just a spray with diff oil etc ? It soaks into joints paint wont penetrate.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Buy Australian http://www.kbs-coatings.com.au/contact-us/

Craig1 · Guru

Well, finally all done. Good job it's in the backyard. Once I scrubbed the affected area with hot water and bicarb it was pretty good. Only slight dulling of galv finish. I had some Dulux metal undercoat which said it was fine for this surface. It uses thinners as a base/clean up. Then followed with two top coats of metal finish, also thinners base. All over four days to allow for good dry time.
Then made a base of pvc planks which have lots of raised sections, so allow for minimal contact with paint and hopefully good air circulation. New battery box with a Full River AGM , 120 AH and a CCA of up to 900. But bloody heavy at 38 kg. If it ever has to come out it will be a crane job. Old lead acid was only 22kg.

Whenarewethere · Guru

38kg, getting soft are we! Bags of cement use to be 40kg & didn't have handles!

Craig1 · Guru

Hey when,
WHEN I was in my late twenties, I had to unload many semi loads of cement, at one stage by hand out of the back of a semi tipper. pick up 40kg bags off the floor and carry them 30 odd feet and stack onto a pallet at the tailgate. No wonder we all have crook backs.

T1 Terry · Guru

They don't make light weight lead, so at 38kg you would have bought a real 120Ah AGM battery. I often have a laugh when I see 100Ah batteries that weigh 28kg or less, it takes 32kg of lead to make a 100Ah deep cycles lead acid battery, no matter what method they use to contain the electrolyte, if the battery weighs less than 32kg then it isn't really a lead acid 100Ah battery.
A 100Ah lithium battery suitable for RV house battery use weighs 16kg, if it weighs less than that it is either one of the chemistries that do catch fire, or it isn't really a 100Ah battery.
One of the tricks used is to discharge the battery at a much slower rate, standard for a lead acid deep cycle battery is the C20 rate, the capacity divided by 20 hrs, 5 amp load for 20 hrs from a 100Ah deep cycle battery. The tricksters use a C100 discharge rate, 100Ah divided by 100 hrs, a 1 amp load for 100 hrs discharge, what use would that be as a method of measurement.
The standard for lithium house batteries is 0.5CA also written as C2 rate, the capacity over 2 hrs or 50 amp load for 2 hrs from a 100Ah battery. This is to show both its strength and capacity, a C20 rate would be meaningless for a lithium battery because it wouldn't represent the ability to deliver a high load when needed. Tested at the C20 rate, a 100Ah quality lithium battery would deliver 160Ah or more before it was discharged completely. They are not designed to be discharged this way, but rather to 100% of their capacity, not to 10v or some silly figure. The result caused by discharging to 10v is very short cycle life.

T1 Terry

Craig1 · Guru

I promise I saw 38kg mentioned somewhere . But it is still very heavy.

T1 Terry · Guru

That is a very good link Craig, it shows the maximum current (amps) that can be drawn from a new fully charged 120Ah and for how long before it drops below 12v. It also shows the loss in the expected time the battery can deliver a high current, 6 amps for 20 hrs, but only 30 mins at 120 amps. Very few seem to understand that.

T1 Terry