Does anyone use a lightweight dry-cell battery here (shurely yes)?

What specs do you need to run the coop (reliably)?

Cheers,
Mark

These have been recommended to me before

http://www.dmstech.co.uk/varleyredtop.htm

accu from a startpack will do the trick too: cheap, light, and closed for fluids -> low budget
http://www.halfords.com/wcsstore/HalfordsConsumerDirect/images/catalog/400-173773a.jpg

Cheers - someone else (JohnS?) recommended these as well.

I'm thinking anything with a cranking current of around 600A will do the trick, but dyathink its ok to run with a capacity of < 20Ah for a daily runabout?

Lol Dink - love the scrap-heap challenge approach to tuning - do you seriously use these?

I would suggest putting a split charger circuit with a sealed normal battery in the boot (confusingly like an Optima Red top) whilst having a lightweight one under the bonnet. Then remove the boot battery when you race with quick release terminals and put it back in when you're done.
Best of both worlds. None of the dramas associated with being unable to start the car and having no battery left.

Preety sensible idea there John - its worth a few kilos day to day for peace of mind.

Yes, i'm serious.
I'm building a low budget racer, and it corners faster than many other more expensive modded cars


http://www.lanciahf.eu/images/starter_pack.jpg

Excellent - checked out the specs - not dissimilar to a dry cell battery:

£20 jump starter

Might stick this in the boot instead

A red top racing battery wont give you reliability well know for being a pain in the arse, loosing their charge, and not delivering the current needed. Nyssa7 has been through a fair number and another LMA racer informed me if his fan is running and the car stall then it wont restart as the red top doesnt have enough ampage.

I took the advice of a well established racer, who said to go to vauxhall and ask for the smallest GO battery they had, the chap simply looked along the shelf picked up the smallest...Sold a whole 30quid. Starts every time even after cranking for ages (actually ran out of fuel ), sealed too. it was from a corsa 1.2, not bad for weight.

You could have a red top on board and a plug jack for an external batt incase starting is a problem. For batt cable i have rolls of it should you want some cheap.

Rich

Thanks for the info Rich (tbh I just need a bit more room in the battery area to try and stuff in a bigger charge-cooler) - maybe thats a better way to go...

How about Braille's lightweight battery? Fairly well regarded and lighter than the Redtop equivalent

I know someone who runs a redtop on his everyday car. I guess it must be one of the larger ones. I'll give him a shout to find out (thought it was a Redtop 25).

braille battery
It weighs 7kg which is about half a normal battery. there are lighter ones that weigh less than the red top equivalent with more cranking power and the all important Ah

I was planning on fitting one of these when I finally get round to it.

Hmm - the more I look into this the more it seems like 'racing batteries' are just another tuning-product marketing scam.

Both the braille and the odessey batteries look good for everyday use - if you have some backup anyhow.

But interestingly it looks like the braille battery is a repackaged DEKA battery which retails at a fraction of the price:



And naturally with rip-off Britain, you could purchase these items for the same number of dollars as you would be charge pounds here

Here's Stealth's take on these things - he likes the odessey/hawker genesis battery ...

Stealth on batteries

got to also make sure if you go lightweight that your alternator is in good nick as if you get more voltage drop it will throw out your fuelling (less fuel)

That stuff about the DEKA battery is interesting. as is the odyssey

Good point - and I'd need to get a battery monitor in there as well - by the by do you how many amps the non-ac alternator usually cranks out?

I would think that it will put out at least 60A.
Best test is to ask someone with a battery gauge on their coupe (98 on) to turn their car on then remove the positive terminal from the battery, turn on all the electrics and see if they see much voltage drop. If not then a small battery will work fine

John