Battery tray for a D40

Hi all,

After your thoughts and opinions...I'm considering buying a Piranha battery tray for the new D40. The Piranha tray bolts to the chassis underneath the tray on the drivers side. It tucks out of the way nicely and is a good alternative to installing a 2nd battery in the tray.

My dilemma is this; when i'm up north next and decided to cross a creek or river and the level of the water is higher than that of the battery what will happen? Will it short out and fry the car electrics or do nothing?

I'm sure you'll agree this has a bearing on where the battery will or should go.

The photo's below show where the battery sits within the chassis and what the tray looks like.

Thanks in advance.

That's a small battery. surely it wouldn't be hard to mount it in the engine bay or in the tray.

It wouldn't take up much room where ever it went.

It would have to sit under water for a while before it would cause too much of a problem.

It is a small battery but they are bloody expensive. I'm thinking of modifying it to accept a std AGP battery instead. There is a 10kg and $100 difference.

The tray option is the easy way but i think i'd rather put it somewhere out of the way. The under tray option is ideal and means no drilling 12mm holes through the tray for the battery cables.

As long as it's a sealed battery water crossings won't worry it or the car electrics, 12v isn't high enough voltage to conduct current in water, even in salt water you would only get a few milliamp of current between the posts, the main thing is to keep the top of the battery clean, don't stick one under there and forget about it, over time you will get that white oxide piling up on the battery if it is left wet and dirty all the time, which will lead to corroding other things out, starting with the battery tray itself.

Battery Terminal Protector is what we used to use on the trucks. leaves like a wax coat over the terminals. I use it in my Nav a no white crap building up on it.

Vaseline does the same thing, stops the Sulphation.

Laith said:

That's a small battery. surely it wouldn't be hard to mount it in the engine bay or in the tray.

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I can't see it happening in a D40, I had a hard enough time trying to find a spot for my isolator let alone a battery.

I can't see why under the tub would be an issue, I would just make sure you can get to it to put it on a charger or hook stuff up if you ned to. I have a Ctek charger that I put mine on every few weeks to give it a good charge up.

Matt76 said:

I can't see it happening in a D40, I had a hard enough time trying to find a spot for my isolator let alone a battery.

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I agree, originally I put it on the firewall and made it moveable if I needed to get to the fuses and stuff under it but in the end I took it off the firewall, stuck a self resetting fuse in its place and mounted the isolator in the only other place it would fit, on the battery mount. Battery is in the tub where it;s easy got at and never going to get wet or bashed.

Finding a spot for the dual battery and isolator in a D40 is pain in the arse! I fitted a 105 Ah battery in a box on the rear wheel arch. Yes it takes up valuable room but the positive is I got easy access to power outlets in the rear. I mounted the isolator where the crank battery is earthed.

Different parts to mine Bosshog but pretty much the same locations. My Isolator is a flat pack and sits on the bracket it was provided with and the bracket mounts to the same bolt as yours.

My battery is on the other side of the tub because I ran my extra cables internally down the passenger side. Currently my battery and tool box run along the width of the tub between the wheel arches and can have stuff stacked on them but I am considering remodelling mine to make a complete box down the passenger side of the tub for tools and battery.

No matter how you do it the battery is always going to take up space somewhere as to how valuable that space is is up to each person but it doesn't take long to get used to it and pack around it once it's been mounted. The one thing that is certain is that in a D40 you wont get much of a battery under the hood.

Hi Krafty,

An old thread revisited as i pick up a nav next week and are looking at battery locations.

I think your idea of a "toolbox" or divider down the side following the wheelarch and battery box is good. Did you end up doing it? If so what material?


Cheers,

Hargs'

I haven't done it yet but my idea is kind of based around what Matt76 has already done and he's got pics in his build thread, although the pics are only of the finished product.

When I do get around to it will probably just be 0.6mm gal sheeting with some strengthening with whatever steel is laying around the shed. Still haven't decided if it's going to be a one piece build or two tool boxes attached together, initial planning was one sheet cut and bend as required but time is not really on my side at the moment so I'm not sure what's going to get done.

Thanks Krafty, yes time is always scarce.

The gal sheet sounds good, i may rivet or weld it to a piece of angle to screw in to the tub. May just put it in as a divider as it can follow the side of my "undertray tank" which i have pulled out of my Triton. I mount it in the tray with the angled end of the tank following the wheelarch profile, it should be that width as well.

Will check out matts thread as well.



Cheers,

Hargs'

I've done the measurements and worked out my sizes (I just have to find the diagrams now) and I will get one 6x4 sheet of gal and make as much of it out of one piece as I can. I have a bender at my disposal but I'm not sure I will bother because the bender is 20ks from the old mans shed.

I'll get 2 sides and a bottom in one piece, then with the off cuts I'll make 2 ends and a fill for the bit at the wheel arch. (I may also cut the ends and bend them as a part of the single large piece too I'm not sure yet). Then the left over will make two lids that open up so I can access the boxes from the side window while keeping the battery compartment and the tools separate. I'll use some sort of light steel on the sides and the bottom etc for internal bracing then I will wire up a volt/amp meter, the fridge power point and maybe a cig lighter or two to the rear facing panel so they can always be accessed and then I might even paint it.

Not sure how I am going to mount it yet, I'm looking into options which don't mean screwing into the tub, but at the end of the day it's a ute tub, it's already got dirt, mud stones and probably cow shit in it so a few more holes isn't going to make a difference so it will depend what is the easiest option.

Hey Boss Hog,
Where did you get the battery box mount thats bolted to your tray as I want to do the same.

Cheers
Sixpac