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Its flat and weighs a ton.......
Major Stare - 31/7/07 at 08:53 PM

Car has been of the road for nearly 2yrs and the Mini battery is dead

Need a new battery and cant justify £70+ on a gel battery but dont want a heavy large battery like the currently Mini item.

Do motorbike batteries work,?
Whats smaller than the Mini battery?

1700 X-Flow on GSXR TB's, MegaSquirt.

Cheers

RazMan - 31/7/07 at 09:08 PM

I doubt that a bike battery will give you the cranking power needed. You don't get much smaller than a Mini battery so your next option HAS to be a gel battery.
Gwan gwan gwan you know you want to

DIY Si - 31/7/07 at 09:18 PM

What he said! I don't think you'll get a normal battery much smaller than the mini one. Next step down is a little, but expensive, gel battery. You could always get a mini one for now and save up for a shiny one.

ken555 - 31/7/07 at 09:35 PM

You can get smaller batteries.

A "028" from a Subaru Justy, fitted to my Impreza



Or

a "895SE" from a Reliant Robin/Fox thats fitted to my GTM.




Ignore the wiring, that was a temp setup to start the car.

The Subaru has standard round tower terminals, where the Reliant was flat bolt on type.

chriscook - 31/7/07 at 10:02 PM

I've got a gel type battery that is not destined for a car/bike. I got it from mdsbattery and was suggested by them. link

About £30 and has been fine - it won't crank for ever but it's not given me a problem. Starts the car (with vauxhall XE engine) on cold november mornings having been outside all night ok. I do keep it on an optimate when in the garage but thats mainly because I have an alarm fitted.

SkinnyG - 1/8/07 at 04:55 AM

I'm using a garden tractor battery. Puts out 300CCA, but if you leave the headlights on for any length of time it's dead.

G

Major Stare - 1/8/07 at 06:39 AM

chriscook, cheers for the link

At 17.0Ah, it should crank a x-flow !!!

bimbleuk - 1/8/07 at 06:55 AM

I've always used a BMW bike battery with no issue on a high compression 4AGE. Usually around £30 and 19Ah on the side. The car is garaged though which can help a lot with cold cranking and life span.

02GF74 - 1/8/07 at 10:53 AM

occassionalyy you see those jump start/carger box things - they should have a battery insdie that should do the job but no idea how long thye will last.

preety sure maplins had one for sale for about £ 20.

added:

Cheapes gel, pc680 I found is from this geezer (not mee, see the e-mail)

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=61791

[Edited on 1/8/07 by 02GF74]

MikeRJ - 2/8/07 at 12:01 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
occassionalyy you see those jump start/carger box things - they should have a battery insdie that should do the job but no idea how long thye will last.


They typicaly have 17Ah gel type batteries, like the sort used in burglar alarms etc. They don't tend to last that long as they weren't designed to suffer the abuse they get starting engines. They are also supposed to be charged with a current limited constant voltage charger (maximum about 5 Amps), so an alternator would probably screw it up fairly quickly.

Peteff - 3/8/07 at 10:06 AM

I've just bought a new Jump Start from Machine Mart. The old one was used for camping, jump starts, power cuts and anything else we could think of. If the charge is maintained they last ages, mine was at least 8 years old when it expired. They will not charge fully from a vehicle as the rate is not high enough.

MikeRJ - 3/8/07 at 11:11 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
I've just bought a new Jump Start from Machine Mart.


My Machine Mart one lasted about a year until the battery wouldn't hold a charge. Replaced the battery and it works fine again, except the insulation on the cables has rotted and is falling off in chunks, not overly safe!

Major Stare - 3/8/07 at 09:55 PM

Found a local shop that sells this battery, what does everyone think before i buy it tomorrow??.........

CLICKY, 12V 2Ah

Macbeast - 3/8/07 at 09:59 PM

If it's for a golf trolley, it probably isn't designed to give high current needed for starting.

RichieW - 3/8/07 at 10:30 PM

I've got oneof the Machine mart jump start boxes too. Its a few years old now as my dad purchased it originally.

I found that it eventually wouldn't charge up using the adaptor supplied but I took it apart and removed the battery and charged the battery directly using an old standard charger with crocodile clips that my dad must have bought in the sixties or seventies.

When I put it back together the test meter showed a full charge again. It goes to show that you can wring a bit more life out them them than first seems apparent.

Major Stare - 3/8/07 at 10:37 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Macbeast
If it's for a golf trolley, it probably isn't designed to give high current needed for starting.


So whats the difference between the one i suggested and the one CHRIS SUGGESTED????????

[Edited on 3/8/07 by Major Stare]

Major Stare - 4/8/07 at 06:40 AM

^^^^^^^ Anyone ?

[Edited on 4/8/07 by Major Stare]

RazMan - 4/8/07 at 07:48 AM

They are the same type of battery - as already said they might not have the oomph to crank a reluctant engine as they are designed for a constant drain demanded by electric motors.

A small gel battery is only a few quid more - why take a chance? An Oddyssey PC310 will give you enough cranking power despite being a bike battery and is only £58.



If you want to know the design differences talk to these guys...
http://www.knightbatteries.com

Personally I would go for a bigger battery (although probably about half the weight of your existing (dead) one. The PS525 is perfect imo.

http://www.hamiltonclassic.co.uk/ProductInformation/BatteryOdyssey.htm


[Edited on 4-8-07 by RazMan]

Major Stare - 5/8/07 at 06:57 AM

RESULT

Rang my mate yesterday, said i was out and about after a battery.
He has 3 RedTops in his garage with one of them spare. Turns his 2.2ltr Cosworth powered Westfield over no probs, and its mine to borrow to see if it works, if it does we'll come to some "agreement"

So i now have a nice RedTop Gell 20Ah battery that has only been used twice