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Battery Rules and Regulation!


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Hi Crew!

Does anyone know of any specific rules or regulations regarding the battery placement in boats? Is there a specified location and or container that batteries must be installed by law? I under stand there is favored spots and favored enclosures but I was looking to see if there was an actual law in place... I was told that my stacked battery rack was not legal, yet i can not find any laws against the stacking of batteries. Im located in CA! Thanks team!

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Good question.

As far as I know (which isn't much) there is no law on placement.

Of course, you'd want it in a batt. box and need to be wary of hydrogen gas if it's a lead wet cell.

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Federal regs state that the positive terminal must be covered and the battery securely anchored in tray or vented closed container. Some states have regs that both terminals must be covered. My guess is that a stacked array of batteries is unsafe and unsmart but from everything I've read and studied, I've never heard of a reg that makes it illegal. With that said, I've also never ever heard of it being done ever by anyone. Is it that way from the factory???

Any failure to a mount can cause the battery to move around. That's true of batteries side by side as well as over under, but seems much more likely in an over/under. If batteries can move, they can short across the posts. If they can short, they can start a fire. Fires in boats are much worse than fires in cars. In a boat, you can't just stand off to the side on the shoulder and watch it burn.

Just my opinion though.

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That's really cool! Never seen anything like that. Are those gel cell? And are they designed to be stacked? Like with indents and tabs? I still think you need to have the positives covered.

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I've never had a problem with mine, 3 years counting...

P1050303.jpg

Dude all your energy is going to leak out of those batteries laying them that way. Try putting them upside down :thumbup:

Nice set up!!

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It is a federal regulation that you have to have the positive properly covered and protected. It is a state reg in most states that you also have to have the negative covered.

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Where do you get those positive terminal voltage reading connectors? Cost?

The big yellow S on them means Stinger. Check your local car audio specialty shop. Some are available with plastic covers to comply with regulations. I can't tell if these have them on or not.

www.stingerelectronics.com

BTW chadwick, that is pretty clean. Nice battery hold down.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Thanks guys. The whole system worked out great. I built it a few years ago and it has absolutely rocked. I meant to make a thread on here with a bunch of pictures, but spent too much time on the water :rockon:

Yes, those are stinger battery clamps. They work well and look sweet, BUT had some problem with the set screws stripping out (farrrr too easily). Got some replacements and I barely screwed them down. They are still nice and tight and make a good connection.

There are acrylic (plastic) covers over the positive terminals, but come to think of it I'm not sure if the threaded studs are covered... probably a good idea!

The sides are not indented for stacking, in fact the shape of them makes it difficult to stack and sit on each other properly. There is actually a shim inbetween the two batteries. You cant see it, even from up close, but its there. It provides a flat surface for the top battery to sit on and corrects the angle so they both look flat and square from the front.

Boat is for sale. PM me for more pictures if interested.

Edited by chadwick02
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