Thoughts? I'd like to shed some weight but don't want to end up struggling to start the pinto. How low can you go on Ah or CCA? Any suggestions appreciated.

While I can't advise on Ah or CCA, I was wondering whether you could benefit from adding wiring for a booster pack? Starting from cold is the hardest task for a car, if you keep a booster pack at home and use that for the first start of a day, it won't drain the battery as much and will allow for a smaller battery to last the day? Adding the required fixed wiring just means plugging it in rather than having to faff about under the bonnet. It could also double as a trickle charger connection point?

I have a Noco NLP20, replacing an 063 lead acid with better results all around.

My main issue with the lead acid battery was mainly alternator related, when cold would output ~14.6v, but with heat soak would drop to ~13.6v causing the battery to never fully charge in use, only getting a full charge when i put it on the smart charger.

The Noco will charge to 100% at 13.6v and tolerate up to 15v, so suits my application fine. By my calculations it should be capable of 210 seconds of cranking of my engine (7Ah and that is fully useable), and certainly has much more cranking amps when hot, the 063 would not always properly crank the engine when fully heat soaked from being lower cranking capacity and not fully charged.

They're on offer on Amazon at the moment, miles cheaper than any other equivalent lifepo4 battery that i could find and have a 5 year warranty, the only drawback I can see is there is no charge status indicator, you have to look at the no load voltage to see the charge state, i will probably wire in a standalone voltmeter for this at some point, but my usb adaptor does have a voltage display that does the job at the moment.

Dave

My car starts from cold and manages everything very well on an Odyssey PC680

Like this: Odyssey PC680

[Edited on 5/8/24 by JAG]

Same here...PC680. Not that I've been trying to save weight, but it's compact and powerful...does the job on mine

In 2016 I purchased a LIPO20A from Furore Products. It has been fitted and running perfectly well in my 2lt Duratec car since then. As a mainly sprint car I can be starting and running the car for less than 5-10 minutes each time (and most of that is at idle) for up to 10 times a day. It doesn't get much time to re-charge on sprint days. I have done a few night time drives also on the road so all lights on etc. Nothing has ever been a problem.

They did say at the time that the LIPO12B or LIPO14B would be the one to go for but the price and size difference for the bigger 20A model just made sense at the time I ordered it. At 1.45kg it is a relatively cheap way to save 5 or 6 kg

Peter - that's an interesting suggestion.

Do you have a link to a supplier of that battery please

Thanks all. I'm going to order an nlp20. Would go smaller if that one wasn't on offer! Will keep you updated.

I used a normal car battery on my MK Indy, placed up by the scuttle. If building again I'd aim to place it lower in the engine bay to get the weight lower.



[Edited on 6-8-24 by nick205]

Useful picture and info thanks. Out of interest is that an MK grp scuttle please? (I got a similar secondhand one with an un-named rolling chassis [a book chassis])

Thanks
Mike

@ Mike Wood

Yes, it's an MK GRP scuttle (I used all MK supplied MK Indy GRP bodywork).

quote:

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Originally posted by nick205
@ Mike Wood

Yes, it's an MK GRP scuttle (I used all MK supplied MK Indy GRP bodywork).

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quote:

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Originally posted by JAG
Peter - that's an interesting suggestion.

Do you have a link to a supplier of that battery please

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