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Batery placement
Tigers - 28/8/04 at 10:56 AM

Hi!

Locost "standatd" batery placement is near scuttle. As it is placed quite high, I don't think it's the best place for that.
I was thinking of placing batery somewhere at the back side (maybe near petrol tank or just behind seats), as it is in BMW. Therefore I can get better weight distribution and lower CG.
What are your opinion of that (+ or -)?
Any ideas wellcomed!
Cheers,
Janis


mangogrooveworkshop - 28/8/04 at 11:02 AM

As long as its in a coolish spot it should be ok.
Batts hate heat.

shorten the passenger footwell and stick it in there. Short cables !


Ben_Copeland - 28/8/04 at 04:43 PM

Hmmm... petrol fumes and battery, not ideal. Though the old mini's seem to get away with it.

Not advisable with a plastic tank tho, they have anasty habit of leaking !


craig1410 - 28/8/04 at 04:58 PM

I plan to put mine on the passenger's side of the scuttle. That way it helps a little to balance the drivers weight in the absence of a passenger. I'm not sure if I'd want it to be behind me in case of an accident as it is likely to come crashing through the aluminium seat back and shower you with acid. I'd rather it just flew off away from my car.

Why not use one of those lightweight but high-power batteries? They take up less space and are considerably lighter. This makes placement less of an issue all round.
Cheers,
Craig.


Mark Allanson - 28/8/04 at 06:10 PM

Same here, I made a really sturdy (read heavy) battery tray, riveted and bonded to the scuttle shelf and lined with rubber to make it acid proof (pesimist?). I don't think the extra mm of raised CoG will be noticable, either way you just adapt you driving style to suit Rescued attachment Battery Position.jpg
Rescued attachment Battery Position.jpg


NS Dev - 30/8/04 at 09:22 AM

I was going to (though as with everything I do, the plan may change!) put it in the front of the passenger footwell, boxed in (but with a removable panel and ventilation!), and use a redtop type gel battery. Keeps the weight low, short wiring runs and nice and out of sight.

I'll probably put a jump-start terminal up on the scuttle tray for that day that I leave the lights on!

I have one of the redtop batteries in my grasser and it is buried away under my seat, completely inaccessible but there was nowhere else out of harms way! Didn't like the idea but I am sold now! I have not yet had to touch the battery, despite lots of cold starts and not much running time in between, as well as running the electric fan a lot without the engine running.

They are not cheap but then you get what you pay for, they can go any way up and won't leak even if cracked open, and they certainly seem to be totally maintainance free!


Tigers - 30/8/04 at 05:23 PM

Yeah, I'm also considering gel batery altough they are not cheap at all.
Also if I think, that if I use the car once a week - thats not the best operating cycle for battery, so it will die soon.
But of course - safety first!


Viper - 30/8/04 at 06:49 PM

used the gel type batterys in a race car that got used twice a month and had the winter without use, never had any problems with them. thats why i am using one.