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I need to properly vent my battery locker which is located at the stern of the boat above the deck. The battery selector switch panel is also in that locker and there will be other electronics installed there as well. There will be two starting batteries and one house battery inside the locker. Would small holes in the top of the locker be adequate to vent it? Has anyone tried other solutions?

Bob

I would suggest some ventilation holes lower down with a number in the lid so you get a through flow of air. If you are in an area that gets very hot you may need some small 12V computer fans to extract the hot air.
A few years ago I wired up a boat with 112 circuits. House battery (250AH), 12V freezer, inverter & hot water heater were all in this giant alloy box which had a seat mounted on it. Needed 4 extraction fans which moved about 300 cubic feet of air a minute. They were all needed.

ehsvp,
If the purpose of venting a locker is the potential of the gases present to combust??? I'd want to make sure there were no potential ignition sources in that locker!

Some newer Batt. Selector Switches may be rated for Class1,Div1 (Zone 0) spaces but..... I'd sure want to check! That goes for anything else in this locker.... I'd advise making sure of the rating and functional potential for anything to act as an ignition source.

Just mentioning that even if the gas-off from batteries is only when really charging 'hard'/high rates? If the locker should be vented then what's in the locker best not be able to "light it up"?

cheers,
Kevin Morin
Kenai, AK

Kevin,
There will be a battery management panel, charging relays and cables inside the cabinet. I could possibly isolate that area from the rest of the cabinet but it would take some work to make it "air tight".