Disco 2 Second battery location in rear cubby box

I'm working through dual battery options for my D2 TD5. There are mounting trays available for the engine bay, but they are not large (~70AH) are mounted on the passenger bulkhead.
I am considering Lithium or Lead Crystal options, but no way am I putting a battery that expensive so close to the turbo! So I think I have two options:
1. Mount one in the space currently occupied by the jack and ECU. Ideally without moving the ECU.
2. Although mine is an ES and I still have the fold out seats, it has a coil conversion and came with GS cubby boxes, one of which might take a tall thin battery.

Has anyone done either of these and has anyone worked out the maximum battery dimensions for either location? Measuring the spaces is one thing, but with so many plastic curves it is difficult to be certain and it would be good to know what size has actually been successfully fitted.

Interesting! We don't have the fold out seats and wouldn't have wanted them anyway, but that is not the point, the point is that in the rear pannier(s) you could put loads of batteries. Even if you just took one seat out, you could make up a box of some kind and put it where the seat normally goes. what sort of use would you have for it, i.e. would you need both the extra battery and the jump seat?

Stanleysteamer said:

Interesting! We don't have the fold out seats and wouldn't have wanted them anyway, but that is not the point, the point is that in the rear pannier(s) you could put loads of batteries. Even if you just took one seat out, you could make up a box of some kind and put it where the seat normally goes. what sort of use would you have for it, i.e. would you need both the extra battery and the jump seat?

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But the rear panniers would not be safe enough to hold the battery without some form of battery-holding tray. When we had an accident two years ago, (a van ran into our nearside rear at an oblique angle), the opposite pannier burst open and all my tools spilled all over the back of the car. They are only held on with, if IRC, 4 to 6 self-tappers into clips in yet more plastic. So it would be best to fit the tray, the batt and wire it in then, put the pannier side back on, which is a bit fiddly. If you covered the battery up carefully it could be possible to still use the rest of the pannier. I use ours all the time to hold tools and spares.

The second battery would be there to power a fridge, lights, chargers, laptops etc. The big drain would be the fridge, but I would also add a decent sized (4KW) inverter so the missus can run her essentials (hairdryer).
I am not suggesting just sliding a 15Kg battery into the cubby box and leaving it unsecured. At the moment I have a cubby box on the LHS which is full of useful stuff, and a foldout seat on the RHS (which we have never used). I would remove the seat and secure a battery in place with something like this: https://www.devon4x4.com/d44-single-pc1800-battery-tray.html or more likely something self fabricated.
The PC1800 has huge capacity at 214AH (50% usable), but is probably too large and at £400 is expensive for an AGM battery with a life of only 400 cycles or so, but if I could find a cheaper deep cycle AGM battery in that shape format it would be a good option. There is a lead crystal option at about £500 which at 90AH (80% usable) is adequate and with a life of 10,000 cycles and much quicker recharge rate is better value. Lithium is really expensive, an equivalent is £1300, but is much lighter, gives 20,000 cycles, 120 AH (almost all usable) and will recharge much faster than either.
All would be linked through a DC to DC charger (thinking Intervolt DCC Pro) with about 200W of monocrystalline solar on the roof of the tent.

I keep my portable tool kit in one of these BTW. Bloody brilliant it is.
https://www.atlas46.com/products.html?#!/Yorktown-Tool-Roll/p/88260008

Si Click said:

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Eric the Car Guy FTW!!!!

I just found a Youtube post that reviewed the product, I confess I did not actually watch it beforehand.

Si Click said:

I keep my portable tool kit in one of these BTW. Bloody brilliant it is.
https://www.atlas46.com/products.html?#!/Yorktown-Tool-Roll/p/88260008

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I LOVE tool rolls, such an easy space saving and methodical way of keeping tools, AND they don't rattle!