Chevy & GMC Vans

Haven't there been a few members who have relocated their batteries to the rear or elsewhere ?
Curious where they located the battery box. I'm having a problem finding a place under my van to move the battery to. Any pics ?

Bump this and if nothing,,we'll make a place one way or the other.

Larry, this for your A.C install, correct?

You plan on putting the unit behind your drivers seat in the floor right, and is it safe to assume you'll want to be charging your batt/s while driving? whats in the second row,bench,captains chair or nothing? if nothing or captains chair why not use this area dedicated to the unit and battery placement, get a couple of Optima yellow tops or similiar style batt and mount them behind the unit, they don't give off any gases so they'll be save to use inside the vehicle and easy to access if/when needed. This would keep it nice and short for your connection between batt and A.C unit and still wouldn't be too far from your alt for charging,you'd also be able to easily re-charge your batt's with shore power when needed as well,sorta keep it all in the 1 location there.

I've often thought about relocating the battery, I haven't really looked under the van for suitable spots though. My original plan was to cut a hole underneath the drivers seat and fab a sealed battery box there. Since batteries are pretty tall and I don't want anything sticking out like a sore thumb, it was going to be 1/2 in the van and 1/2 under the van. Sealed from the elements, but vented to the outside. Of course, since I haven't checked to see if it could be fit there, and I don't have any pictures, I suppose this post is worthless.. ](*,)
On the other hand, what's the interior of the van look like? Do you have a center console? if not, make a center console and build the battery box into that. You could run the wires thru the floor pan, or run them up to the fire wall and out to the engine compartment that way.

Larry, I've thought about relocating the battery in my 89. Haven't done any real investigation yet as to where the battery could fit, but I think the best location would be very near the passenger rear tire. My van doesn't have a posi rear axle and I've noticed that the passenger rear wheel has a tendency to break traction and spin before the driver's side does. So, I figure the passenger side would be a good place for some more weight.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Keith,,,only have the two front seats and no second row. My plan was to try and locate the AC unit behind and between the front seats. It looks like there may be enough room to cut floor and drop unit down and would be just above drive shaft and would have about 3 in. of unit above carpet level. The AC blows out the top not the front which allows more of the unit to be below floor level. As far as the battery box goes, after spending more time underneath,,it appears I'll have to weld a plate off one of the floor supports which will allow the battery to be removed. It looks like anywhere else the box is mounted would not leave room to remove battery unless the box is dropped down from floor support or possibly mount a plate to rocker on driver side opposite exhaust.
Have all the wiring, inverter and AC unit and battey box,,just gotta find a spot for battery. Ran in to this same location issue when installing oil filter relocation deal. You'd think there would be all kinds of room under these things.

Larry, where do you plan on housing the inverter? the reason I ask is that this needs to be related relatively close to the batt and inside the van to protect it from the elements (ideally)
Is your plan to try to keep the batt and inverter out of site ( as much as possible ) ?

Anyways ,I'm lookin forward to seeing you pull this off ( cause I knows ya can ) Stock A.C in vehicles is doomed to fail or be mighty expensive to repair/replace especially anywhere in the salt belt.
This idea of yours is gonna prove the "Purists" ( not mentioning Peter's name,lol ) that there is another way that this can be done which doesn't require tons of cash or bogus concerns about the environment. Keep us updated and start posting them pics.

P.S Ya know I luv's ya "smurf boy" LOL

My thoughts for the inverter location is around the step for the slider exit inside which will put it very close to the AC unit. The only two things I want to hide as much as possible is the battery and AC unit. I plan to drill a hole large enough for the two cables from the inverter to the battery to go through the back of slider step and another hole with rubber gromet for the AC power wire to come through and plug to inverter inside the van. By installing the inverter on the back of step, it'll be out of the weather as you mentioned. Since my slider is welded and filled,,will probably build a carpeted hinged top to cover the step area for a smoother and larger floor area and also hide inverter while I'm at it. Ya know,,instead of worrying about finding a place under the van for the battery box,,think it may fit in that same step area. Glad I read this post again.

Now for Peter,,I don't think there's anything that will convince Peter that this is anything other than total " Redneck"

To me, it's a very cheap way to have AC without all the expense and labor trying to keep one running properly plus for the guys who camp out in their van, a better way to stay cool. Of course there would need to be another battery installed for the camping mode and maybe a solar panel.

Told Susan I'd finish the kitchen this week and up coming weekend so this will be on hold a couple of weeks I'm afraid. At least I have all the supplies to complete now and will be ready for an all nighter after the kitchens done.

Now I get it, I had forgotten that your slider was welded

A kid I work with bought a 89 Toyota Vanwagon with a mid-engine and the battery is located in the floor behind the drivers seat. I grabbed a few pics if anyone is interested.

Great pictures 89 Astro Dan, random pictures of installs are always welcome because they help to spark ideas here, > even though they are from a totally different vehicle.

It`s All about sharing the technical info here with our fellow ASV members, and thats what we do here....

Thanks for the pics Dan. Have decided to build a 10" tall cabinet across van just behind both front seats. This will contain the inverter, battery and AC unit. Will also add a few storage areas and cover in gray carpet when completed.

I installed a tire carrier on the back of my van as I carry DJ equipment alot and wanted the spare out of my way. After I did this I thought about building a battery box into the rear floor in the rear axle area where the tire used to sit. Never tried it yet but its a decent spot. Mark

You're right,,that rear area is about the only spot to relocate a battery. You'd think there's all kinds of room under our vans until you crawl under and look.

I installed my auxillary battery and 300 Watt inverter under the bench seat.

I recommend you use the more expensive AGM (Absorbed Glass Material ) battery which is a great lead acid battery since the electrolyte is rolled into the fiberglass matting so there is not the issue of liquid battery acid which could leak .
the AGM batteries do not out gas hydrogen very much and since they do not leak they can even be mounted sideways or upside down. definitely worth the extra cost for the safety .
An AGM battery such as the Optima or the AGM from West Marine or other shops in size 24 or size 27. Then just mount the battery in a plastic box under the bench seat. I also installed a West Marine DC distribution panel with 3 outputs and a volt meter and an aux cigarette ligter style outlet.

I hard wired the 300 Watt inerter to the aux battery in series with a 60 amp fuse.

In my pop up trailer, I installed a 1500 Watt inverter which uses heavy wire and a 250 amp in line fuse and a heavy duty 200 amp battery shut off switch.



Astrophysics.
2003 Chevy Astro AWD 3.42 axles, 225-70/16 BFG TA KO tires.(run at 40 psi to get a bit better mileage)

air down for dirt roads.

from light bar
front recovery hooks, rear 2 inch receiver, rear air shocks.

still have not installed my overland 2 inch lift ,,, this summer for sure.