malpas1977

hi can anyone tell me whats the best/ cheapest light weight battery for my scooby ??
i have been looking around and can only find 18 ah ones my standard battery is 60ah.the car only gets used weekends and track days so dont want to keep charging the battery every time i want to drive. cheers guys

budd

iTrader: (5)

You would be best looking at Varley Red Top or Odyssey dry cell racing batteries or if you want a cheap option then something like a Micra battery will do the job, when not in use keep the battery topped up with a trickle charger, I use an Optimate it monitors the battery and adds charge as necessary and can be left on with no attention required for about 2 yrs (they can also rejuvenate old batteries).
Generally car batteries are over specified needing not only to start the car but run all the accessories AC, wipers, lights, heated rear screen etc so for a largely track orientated car you can get away with a lower rated battery.

malpas1977

thanks for such a quick reply do you know the smallest ah battery i can use, bearing in mind i have all the goodies still on the car pas, air con, elec windows ect

budd

iTrader: (5)

I wouldn't like to guess on the smallest ah rating you could use, it really depends on the ratio of track to road use, the more it's run on the road the more likely it is that you'll end up in a situation that needs lights, blowers, AC, wipers, rear screen all at the same time this is where an under spec battery may struggle to cope, I asume your after the lightest solution, so I'd say a Varley red top 30 (27ah) would be the minimum and weighs 10kg or a safer option would be a Red top 40 (39ah) but weighs nearly 50% more at 14.7kg both recommendedfor saloon car racing / DTM / rallying etc how they'd preform on a road car over time I couldn't say, maybe your best option is to retain the OE spec battery but relocate it to better distribute the weight.

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Oddy PC680 (iirc), holds charge fine, but if you have power drains (ie tracker, alarm) it may not hold great all week. A kill switch or trickle charger would resolve this.

Is fine for cars used on a daily basis and ran one on mine for a number of years.

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Oddy PC680 (iirc), holds charge fine, but if you have power drains (ie tracker, alarm) it may not hold great all week. A kill switch or trickle charger would resolve this.

Is fine for cars used on a daily basis and ran one on mine for a number of years.

53

iTrader: (41)

Couldn't stress this enough, unless it's a daily driver and garaged, winter and occasional use will kill it soon enough. Nothing worse than getting stranded ! If you buy a trickle charger buy one compatible with dry cell/gel type batteries. Personally I got bored with no starts and put in a proper battery and saved weight else where.

JP4

iTrader: (12)

Speak to Alyn @ AS Performance - he supplied me with a Varley.

carpboy

iTrader: (2)

Would there be a benefit in relocating a sealed standard battery into the boot apart from space in the engine bay, thinking the extra length of wiring needed might be a disadvantage?

budd

iTrader: (5)

Impreza are pretty front heavy so moving weight rearwards is always good plus you gain some room under the bonnet for oil catch tanks and the like,
I currently have a Micra battery in a box in the boot, see pic

sure there's the extra cable but it's only a couple of metres, the earth runs to the spare wheel bolt so it's not much extra, the pros out weigh the cons
Best option is fit a dry cel (Red top / Odyessy ) then you can mount it under the passenger seat or in the rear foot well, this is what I'm planning so I'll be selling the box and all the wiring I currently have installed.