Need some battery help: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Sept. 8, 2011 9:54 a.m. rob_lewis Dork

I'm looking for a battery and since it's 12v and racing specs would be perfect, I thought I'd come here to ask.

What I need is a 12v battery that's no bigger than 6" x 2.5" (height doesn't matter too much) but with a high amperage and VERY shock resistant.

I thought Optima had a racing battery in that size, but couldn't find anything.

Braille batteries has one, but $399 is pretty steep. $100 would be much easier to do. Braille Battery

There are lots of 12v batteries that fit the dimensions and decent amps, but most are fragile and end up losing amperage in this condition.

Anyone know of another battery company like Braille?

-Rob
Sept. 8, 2011 10:08 a.m. BoxheadTim SuperDork

Have a look at Odyssey batteries - they make a couple of pretty small ones that are fairly powerful. I don't think they're that much cheaper than Braille, though.

IIRC some of the 911 impact bumper guys I know in the UK use them because of their fairly low weight compared to the power they can deliver.
Sept. 8, 2011 10:36 a.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

I use this in my car, and a 4 cell in my bike. The 12 cell weighs about 2 lbs. Shock resistance is not a problem.
Sept. 8, 2011 11:23 a.m. mad_machine SuperDork

I use Odyessy batteries in all my cars... and they are driven daily. The Ti currently has the small PC 680 in it. I had the PC925 for about 6 years before that. Both had plenty of juice for extended cranking.

I will probably run a 925 in the saab due to the colder weather driving it will do.. plus is it smaller than the turbo spec battery it is supposed to have
Sept. 8, 2011 11:41 a.m. rob_lewis Dork

Looked at the Odyssey batteries. I like the price and the amps, but they don't have one small enough.....

I've thought about something like Zomby suggested, but I'd like 20 amps or more.

Just a side note, trying to find a battery by dimension/voltage/etc rather than "what kind of car/scooter/toy/etc are you putting in to" gets old fast.

-Rob
Sept. 8, 2011 12:31 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

just out of curiosity, what do you need such a small battery for? I had some luck with smaller laptop style Batteries on Ebay that I used to build some LED headlights for my bike (2x 12v MR16 LED spots) that really light up the night.
Sept. 8, 2011 1:26 p.m. rob_lewis Dork

For a kart. The rules specify the batter must fit in the designated holder. Can be smaller and can be tall, but length and width must fit. It also must be a 12v battery.

The battery that came with the motor package wouldn't hold a charge after a weekend of use. So, we grabbed another and saw a increase in upper RPM's. Turns out the only different was a higher amperage (4 v. 7) So, we started playing with different batteries and found the higher amperage (but still 12v) got quite a bit more RPM. The biggest we could get was 8.5 amps at the local battery store. Only problem is, the batteries were unreliable because of the vibration on the kart.

So, I'm on a hunt to see what's out there. This board IS pretty much the wise old man of the internet, so I thought I'd hit here first.

I've heard lithium ion's are really specific for charging and not good for automotive applications, so I kinda strayed away from those.

-Rob
Sept. 8, 2011 2:21 p.m. Zomby woof SuperDork

rob_lewis wrote:

I've thought about something like Zomby suggested, but I'd like 20 amps or more.

Capable of 70 amps, as I recall.

Get a quick connector if you buy one. It's worth the $4.
Sept. 8, 2011 3:28 p.m. Osterkraut SuperDork

rob_lewis wrote:

I'm looking for a battery and since it's 12v and racing specs would be perfect, I thought I'd come here to ask.

What I need is a 12v battery that's no bigger than 6" x 2.5" (height doesn't matter too much) but with a high amperage and VERY shock resistant.

I thought Optima had a racing battery in that size, but couldn't find anything.

Braille batteries has one, but $399 is pretty steep. $100 would be much easier to do. Braille Battery

There are lots of 12v batteries that fit the dimensions and decent amps, but most are fragile and end up losing amperage in this condition.

Anyone know of another battery company like Braille?

-Rob

Deka probably makes Braille batteries... so, find a Deka that fits, and there you go! Why GRM was all ZOMG BRAILLE IS AWESOME a few months ago with no mention of that fact is beyond me.
Sept. 8, 2011 3:55 p.m. mad_machine SuperDork

rob_lewis wrote:

So, we grabbed another and saw a increase in upper RPM's. Turns out the only different was a higher amperage (4 v. 7) So, we started playing with different batteries and found the higher amperage (but still 12v) got quite a bit more RPM.

Interesting about the higher amperage. I would have never thought about that. I wonder if a couple of smaller batteries wired together would give you higher amperage while keeping the voltage the same... as long as they fit into the holder
Sept. 8, 2011 6:00 p.m. iceracer SuperDork

So who made the original battery ?
Sept. 8, 2011 8:26 p.m. jhaas Reader

ive used one of these to start a 2.3T challenge car.

this site has tons of sizes... http://www.batteryspace.com/12vsealedleadacidbatteries.aspx

this one should fit, and has 105amp discharge rate... http://www.batteryspace.com/12vsealedleadacidbatteries.aspx