How to Attach Battery Box To a Trailer (Mounting Tips)
RVs and trailers need good solid batteries. Those batteries need good and solid protection if they are going to work right. Having properly mounted battery boxes provides the protection your batteries need. This helps them last a lot longer.
You can use self-tapping screws, and with the weight of the batteries, the battery box should stay in place. However, those self-tapping screws should be tough, strong, and long enough to provide a great hold.
To learn more about securing your battery box to the tongue of your trailer, just continue to read our article. It has that information to help you secure your battery box and make sure it remains where you put it.
How To Attach Battery Box To Trailer
The first step is to find the most solid area on the tongue of your trailer. One that will allow you to work on the batteries if you need to but strong enough to hold the weight without problems.
Then measure your box and the tongue area to make sure the former will sit properly on the latter. For added support and keep the box from moving. Weld some angle iron pieces on the front and the back of the tongue where the box will sit. Fit the box inside to make sure you got the measurement correct.
Then open the box and use some long self-tapping screws to secure the box to the metal. 4 should do it but 6 will be better. Once those are in place, use bungee cords instead of straps. The latter does not hold that well in high winds.
That is the basic way to attach a battery box. You can get more creative and use a sheet of plywood to make a platform for your box to sit on. It is up to you how elaborate you want to get as you know the type of winds you will be traveling through.
RV Frame Mount Battery Box
There are a lot of good choices for this type of battery box. The best one would be the aluminum diamond sheet-designed box. It provides heavy-duty protection for your batteries and makes sure that it mounts to your frame with little hassle.
These boxes come designed ready to bolt to your tongue or frame and can be secured with minimal lag bolts. Plus, they are versatile as they will mount to a variety of trailers and other RV vehicles.
But if you do not want to have the box where it can be seen. Torklift has designed a hidden battery box with supports that hook over the top of your frame. This box can fit wherever there is room and is called a no-drill battery box.
The design simply hooks over the top of your frame and holds the battery in place. It will work with Group 24, 27, and 31 sized batteries whether they are AGM, Gel, Acid sealed, and so on batteries.
This battery box is American-made and comes with a lifetime warranty. The benefits of using this option do not stop at providing you with more tongue space to use for other cargo needs.
Dual Battery Box For Trailer Tongue
Most battery boxes are designed to hold specific Group sized batteries. In the ads that we saw, they would say, holds Group 27 or holds Group 24 batteries so you do have to be careful which type of batteries the box you are interested in holds.
There are smaller battery boxes that will hold one 12-volt battery or 2 6-volt models. The size for two 12-volt batteries will be a lot larger and you would need to measure how much space you have to work with.
The ones made with diamond plate aluminum sheets seem to be the best design and construction materials when you want to hold more than one battery. They are solid, look okay, and can easily bolt to your tongue with ease.
There are several different types of these battery boxes and some have decorative exteriors so you can enhance the look of your trailer. The key to going double is to make sure your tongue can hold the extra weight.
If the dimensions are not right, you can always add a platform to hold the box and secure the box to the platform while securing the platform to your tongue.
Mounting a Battery Box
This is really not a difficult project to do. It is basic handyman work that takes a little knowledge of screws, bolts, and being able to handle power tools. Some owners did not like the idea of using self-tapping screws. They said they were too weak to do a good job.
Others disagreed and simply said you go to larger self-tapping screws. This is okay but we prefer the lag bolt security method as that makes sure your battery box is not going anywhere.
The real problem you may face will be the cover on the plastic options. These straps are said to be very weak and do not stand up to tough winds. You may want to think of using something better than the straps that come with the box or you may be like one owner who never saw his cover again.
It isn’t just the box that needs to be secured. The cover needs to be protected as well. There are lots of options at your disposal to do this.
Some Final Words
Attaching a battery box is not that hard. It is a bit time-consuming as you have to find the right materials and decide if you are going to weld, bolt or screw the box or its holder into place.
There are plenty of commercially made battery boxes that will work for you. You just have to make sure the cover is really secure and will not fly off in high winds as you travel.
