Fitting a 2006 2350 with 6V Deep Cycle Batteries

'Liberated' this from another thread. Good Idea Jatrax! 

I currently have a single 12V battery on the drivers side, rather high up. Stock location for this year coach.

 

We 'boondocked' for our first festival (5 days) and just running the 'frige (on LP) and minimal lights we had to start the generator every day to charge the battery. It lasts maybe 3 days until too weak to start the generator.    So we ran the generator an hour a day as insurance. The coach battery is a newer (2016) group 31 truck battery, but NOT a deep cycle. Unfortunately the compartment for the group 31 is in is VERY tight to try to fit (2) 6V golf cart batteries. (plus the compartment is not vented... thought that was a must..)  I may try anyway. Probably just get a deep cycle group 31 for now.

Forward of the side door is a larger empty volume that I am looking at maybe mounting batteries. It would be a great place for them... low down and much closer to the front. I happen to have a spare 2000w inverter, so a 'house inverter' is not out of the question. We plan on ripping out the carpet anyway, so things will be MUCH easier to see then. We are thinking of putting in a 'wood look' floor in, so I am considering a nice access hatch inside to get to the batteries. Our coach came with the seat behind the passenger taken out, and the open floor suits our needs well.  A top access hatch would simplify mounting and wiring as well, being there would be no need for the battery tray to slide out.

The battery compartment in our location has a direct channel to the power distribution area by the fridge.  Keep that in-mind if placing your batteries forward of the main entry door.  Make sure you can safely run the two battery cables around the step and over the exhaust heat shield to the other side.

Having the batteries where you are considering would improve weight distribution, especially when considering where your fresh water tank is.  Like our 2007-2350, it is in the worst possible place, directly over the rear bumper and butted against the passenger side wall.  But having the tank there does give us both a huge outdoor storage compartment.  I don't know any other PC model (current or past) with an outdoor storage compartment that both Irene and I can fit inside.  Everything has it's trade-offs.

Good luck placing your twin batteries forward of the entry door.  If you decide to attack it, I'd love to see the results.

Many pictures will be taken.
Not sure if we have the same rear storage compartment, but I think I would be hard pressed to fit in there... much less accompanied by Mrs V.    Though now I will have to attempt it. 

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Are you guys getting off topic?  Grin

It's actually a good subject but will be lost in this thread.  Wish we had the ability to pull posts out and move them to a new thread.

And a few 'copy and paste' moves and here we are. GREAT idea.

Hi Volkemon,

Good idea moving this topic into it's own space.

I think your 2006 is identical to our 2007 with these model year deviations.

1) You have a single house battery located in the area under the coat closet.  That space is where our 2000 watt house inverter is.  Our two house batteries are below the floor, between the main entry door and rear tires.  Like yours, we have access from an exterior door.
2) You do not have a house inverter.
3) Your kitchen galley has a flip-up counter over the right side drawers.  Before reconfiguration, we had a cabinet door covering a slide-out butcher block cutting board and two drawers.
4) Your Ford dash board is a medium gray color, our 2007 dashboard is tan.
My point here is that your rig and our rig are extremely similar, so if you have some model year specific questions, I think I can help you fairly well.

So now to your lack of 12V power.

I believe you have the same florescent light fixtures we had.  They are 9-watt light fixtures which resonate and flicker when your battery is not fully charged.  As I did HERE you can cut your lighting power usage by 50% by converting the fixtures from florescent to LED in a very affordable manner.  Not just affordable, you reuse your original fixtures.  Replacing your fixtures will leave imprints and holes.  I advise to use every-other tri-LED circuit (12 circuits per fixture) which gets you to 50% power usage.  Your light-finish maple interior needs less light than our dark-finish cherry.

I also replaced all incandescent bulbs to LED for a greater reduction in power consumption, also covered in that thread.

Converting to 100% LED helped us with two house batteries.  You will notice the benefit even more.