Benefit to battery under passenger seat

[Chrishall888]

Hi Folk,
I’ll shortly be heading down the leisure battery route, to enable diesel heater, lights and additional rear sockets etc.
I see most people mount the battery under the drivers seat.
Is there a main reason for this?
We’ve got a captain seat up front, and I’m looking at the possible routings for cabling. The simplest route from the starter battery would appear to place under the passenger seat?
Thanks!

 

[Ads_Essex]

Hi Folk,
I’ll shortly be heading down the leisure battery route, to enable diesel heater, lights and additional rear sockets etc.
I see most people mount the battery under the drivers seat.
Is there a main reason for this?
We’ve got a captain seat up front, and I’m looking at the possible routings for cabling. The simplest route from the starter battery would appear to place under the passenger seat?
Thanks!

For me… my LB us under the drivers seat, as mine is a camper and I wanted to be able to get to the camper electrics easily and so I installed them underneath the pax seat (otherwise the furniture is in the way).
There is one large (and perhaps a smaller) grommet underneath both seat bases that will give you an inhibited cable run up in to the engine bay.
I was lucky that my Eu5 had spare clips free (which I guess was for AdBlue pipes) that allowed me to clip the cable in.

 

[roadtripper]

Both are pretty much used, the factory fit option goes under the passenger seat.

There tends to be more factory electrics under the passenger seat so if the drivers seat is free that can be easier to retro fit, especially if choosing a larger battery.

There are cable routes to both seats from the front and across between the two so you can be pretty flexible where you put things.

 

[Chrishall888]

For me… my LB us under the drivers seat, as mine is a camper and I wanted to be able to get to the camper electrics easily and so I installed them underneath the pax seat (otherwise the furniture is in the way).
There is one large (and perhaps a smaller) grommet underneath both seat bases that will give you an inhibited cable run up in to the engine bay.
I was lucky that my Eu5 had spare clips free (which I guess was for AdBlue pipes) that allowed me to clip the cable in.

Thanks @Ads_Essex ours too is a euro5, so that may work well.
I was planning on lifting the front mat and routing through the bulkhead grommet, but perhaps don’t need to if what you’re saying is an option.
I presume you then routed cabling to and from the driver and passenger side beneath the mat?

Both are pretty much used, the factory fit option goes under the passenger seat.

There tends to be more factory electrics under the passenger seat so if the drivers seat is free that can be easier to retro fit, especially if choosing a larger battery.

There are cable routes to both seats from the front and across between the two so you can be pretty flexible where you put things.

Awesome thanks.
I spotted this morning that kiravans do a nice battery clamp, but planning on measuring up first as space seems a little tight either way

 

[Ads_Essex]

Thanks @Ads_Essex ours too is a euro5, so that may work well.
I was planning on lifting the front mat and routing through the bulkhead grommet, but perhaps don’t need to if what you’re saying is an option.
I presume you then routed cabling to and from the driver and passenger side beneath the mat?

i actually ran it underneath the van using these two grommets, encasing the cables in conduit. This allows future cables to be ran between the two without needing the remove bases and lift the floor, as well as removing the worry that constant footfall will cause any wiring damage.
That being said, there are cables running underneath the rubber floor that seem to hold up well (I recently had some floor up for another reason and the cable was fine) so I just went over cautious.
But yes, nothing ran up through the bulkhead with mine.

I spotted this morning that kiravans do a nice battery clamp, but planning on measuring up first as space seems a little tight either way

Yes, it’s tight once you start aging components like fuse-boxes and consumer units.
If you’ve got all your bits, loosely fit them and see what works. You’ll likely end up using sheet timber or metal to affix items to, as the bases do have some holes but they inevitably never line up with what you have to bolt down!

 

[Chrishall888]

Sounds great. I’ll go investigate but happy I’m not missing something daft!
Cheers for the help

 

[Ads_Essex]

These threads may help with the build:

Show us your Driver/Pax Seat Leisure Battery setups

I have no idea how this lot is going to fit under the seat along with the biggest battery I can get my hands on OK, so I only need the DC-DC and 240 breaker under there, picture for sheer pleasure of seeing all that wonderful Victron kit together:D As I see it there needs to be a plate made...

www.t6forum.com

and this is you’re feeling brave:

Underseat install mk2 roamer

So I figured out that I'd like to keep track of this as I go along. It's not a full build thread which I will probably tag this into. However I decided when I paid out last year to do a freshen up of my electric install. When I initially did the van last year I ran out of time and the most...

www.t6forum.com

 

[t6blo]

Never thoughts about using those two grommets @Ads_Essex
Is there a splash shield or diesel tank in the way underneath? Or can you readily access them both from underneath?

 

[Ads_Essex]

Never thoughts about using those two grommets @Ads_Essex
Is there a splash shield or diesel tank in the way underneath? Or can you readily access them both from underneath?

Heat shield mate. There’s room to manoeuvre though.



Nearside possibly has the AdBlue tank if you’re Eu6 and a heater on the offside if you’ve got a factory fit jobbie -

 

[evy]

Can anyone tell me what size battery or any specific ones that fit under the drivers seat please ?

 

[roadtripper]

Welcome to the forum Evy. It somewhat depends on what you have under there already and what you want to do with it

I'd suggest starting a thread with some pictures of your van and what you have already and what you want to do and folks will chip in with advice

 

[evy]

Welcome to the forum Evy. It somewhat depends on what you have under there already and what you want to do with it

I'd suggest starting a thread with some pictures of your van and what you have already and what you want to do and folks will chip in with advice

Thanks for getting back to me.
It is empty under there but yes. I will get some photos and have a think.
I’m looking to just install a leisure battery to power lights and some usb charging ports for a day van conversion.
Cheers

 

[t6blo]

Thanks for getting back to me.
It is empty under there but yes. I will get some photos and have a think.
I’m looking to just install a leisure battery to power lights and some usb charging ports for a day van conversion.
Cheers

Welcome @evy

You need to decide what battery technology you want to go for - lead acid, AGM or lithium.

There are many threads on here with helpful info, but it is regarded that AGM is a good option and lithium is the better option (albeit more expensive).

Renogy, Fogstar and Roamer all appear to be reputable brands for lithium - I recently bought a Fogstar Drift 105ah battery and it fits on its side under the drivers seat with room for the dc-dc battery charger too.

 

[evy]

Thanks for your help, it’s appreciated
Bit of a mine field out there isn’t it

 

[Matt-T68]

I went under the passenger seat. Wanted the space under the drivers seat for air out let for heater. I did mount the DC-DC under there though. Dead easy cable run through the bulkhead grommet

 

[Grim Reaper]

I fitted my battery, DC-DC charger and fuse box under the passenger seat, used the existing channels to route the feed from the starter battery through the grommet in the bulkhead under the scuttle and down following the channel marked, covered it with an aluminium plate to protect it once in place. I did keep the battery upright though, which meant having to raise the seats to ensure nothing touched with the captain seat rotation.

 

[IanEx]

Bear in mind that you might want to fit a swivel base one day.

I had an Enduroline AGM battery (354 x 175 x 190) under the passenger seat with a DC to DC charger mounted in front of it. All good until I decided to fit a swivel base as most use the recess in the seat base for the swivel mechanism. I tried a couple before finding a CTA one that just cleared the battery underneath.

I've got a 230Ah LiFePO battery now and even the CTA swivel wouldn't clear that so it's under the driver's seat and a ton of rewiring had to be done to move it.

 

[Chrishall888]

Luckily we have a swivel already, so I can eye it up before mounting everything.
I’ll bare it in mind though, for when I go to refit the seat and find it doesn’t fit haha