Blind Side

The standard Panasonic lightweight battery fitted as in my Spec C started to lose its charge badly a few months ago. (The stock Spec C battery weighs in at about 19 lbs and is the 054 model with small terminals). To replace it with something similar, or smaller I searched around owners sites & on here. Not much advice to be found so hopefully this will help others. Eventually decided on the Braille Lightweight produced in the US and sold here by EDO Performance, who appear to have exclusive rights. Here is the link:

http://shop.edoperformance.co.uk/bra...634d053443fbd5

Anyway the Braille is very compact, completely sealed unit with a weight of just 11.5 lbs and 700 pulse cranking amps. It is easily better than the stock battery. The only other battery that seems to compete in terms of weight and performance is the Odyssey PC680, which weighs 15 lbs and has 680 cranking amps. The Odyssey can be had on fleabay for between £80-100. Several people on here have written it up, group buy etc. Anyway I decided on the Braille & ordered from EDO and it took a couple of weeks to arrive from the US.

Fitting a much smaller battery but with standard sized brass terminal 'nipples' was a little bit more complicated. I spent £15 on an alloy battery surround from fleabay and bolted it slightly to the rear of where the old battery was located in order to connect with the terminals. I then fabricated an alloy bar to hold the battery securely in the surround & cut down the battery support brackets & made a new top bracket.

I ground down the brass terminals with a mini grinder in order to fit the smaller JDM + & - terminal connectors in the car. This was time consuming, but not too bad as they screw on/off the top or side of the battery. Very happy with the result, shed some more weight off the car, and better cranking from cold! Herewith some before & after pics:
Before-
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...blue/012-1.jpg

After-
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...IMGP1515-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/IMGP1513.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/IMGP1517.jpg

This mod would obviously not suit anyone running a big sound system. However, the weight saving over a standard battery, never mind the stock Spec C one is massive.

rickya

iTrader: (18)

Good post, should be in a tech section...if we had one!

STI_Baly

iTrader: (23)

I think thats a good idea Rick.....you should mention it to the mods....

mit

iTrader: (10)

I've been looking at doing this to my RA, the standard battery is huge!
My only concern is the smaller batteries abillity to hold charge, as i don't use the car sometimes for 1-2 weeks.

GazTheHat

I've just had the Braille battery fitted too. The size difference is unreal.

My old battery would not start the car after 4-5 days of no use, this one fired up after a week immediately.

Shaved a few kgs off the cars weight too.