Fitting a Battery Brain or Discarnetcor to a Cerbera?

[Juddder]

Hi everyone

As my Cerbera spends most of it's days in a dark garage, I've been trying to fit a complete cut-off system to the car so that I can leave it for a few weeks and the battery doesn't go flat.

However the space in the engine where the battery fits seems to be so tight that it's IMPOSSIBLE to shoe horn either a Battery Brain (remote cut off thing) or a Discarnector (manual cut off thing) in there as far as I can tell so I've just about given up.

Has anyone else had more success than me or a better way of achieving the same effect?

I noted in the Chimera forum that one of the Tuscan owners had a Battery Brain fitted but maybe there's just more room in the engine bay of the Tuscan!?

[Jubes]

I wish I could help as I've been trying to fix this particular conundrum for a while now.

The only way seems to involve cutting the fibre glass in the battery cover and I'd prefer not to do that. I have considered buying a spare battery/wiper mechanism cover to try and come up with some kind of solution.

The problem is made worse for me as I can't use a battery conditioner as the garage that I keep the Cerbera in doesn't have any electricity. I'm currently continually removing the scuttle/battery panel so that I can take the battery out of the car to charge it.

I look forward to hearing other people's ideas on the topic.

[gerradiuk]

Mine has a Lucas battery switch fitted ,really handy.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lucas-Battery-Isolater-S...
Fitted here.

[spongy]

Was going to say you can fit an isolation switch anywhere in the engine bay,just means re-routing cables etc

[matty1275]

i fitted a discarnect to stop flat battery syndrome,
I just gently trimmed the scuttle panel until it fitted over the main bit of the isolator.
the manual turn screw which you used for isolating just sits proud and is dead easy to use.

ended up just touching up the scuttle edge, but it look fine.

never had flat battery probems since!!!

[Juddder]

matty1275 said:

i fitted a discarnect to stop flat battery syndrome,
I just gently trimmed the scuttle panel until it fitted over the main bit of the isolator.
the manual turn screw which you used for isolating just sits proud and is dead easy to use.

ended up just touching up the scuttle edge, but it look fine.

never had flat battery probems since!!!

Hi Matty

That sounds great

Any chance of a photo if you get a chance (then at least two more of us should be able to make our Cerbera owning lives significantly easier!!!)?

BTW thanks for the post and great pic of the Purple Cerb - looks fantastic and I'd say there's a mod of two there above the rest of us (cool air filters BTW )

Alex

[Juddder]

Had a reply from Tony the Tuscan owner who fitted a Battery Brain with some handy reference pictures.

Basically he fitted it in the Passenger foot well of the car and guessing that (no idea) the Cerbera would be similarly possible if the battery lead comes through from the battery in the engine??

Here's the pictures for reference:

[Jubes]

Thanks for the photos Alex.

I think I'm favouring the Matty route of trimming the scuttle panel to fit a battery discarnect.

I'm hoping that Matty will post a few pictures of his particular install to show where and how much trimming of the panel is required.

Thanks again,
Julian.

[Juddder]

Hi Julian

Agreed - however if you fancy some rather expensive practising in the mean time....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TVR-CERBERA-FIBREGLASS-S...

[scotty_d]

Juddder said:

Hi everyone

a Discarnector (manual cut off thing) in there as far as I can tell so I've just about given up.

Has anyone else had more success than me or a better way of achieving the same effect?

I have one of these on top of my negative pole. I had to spin the battery round in it's tray and re-route the leads to the negative it to the inside of the car now. At less than 5 quid it works fine.

If you need pictures i can get you some tomorrow when my wish bones dry as there hanging off the ramp, so cant lower the car jut now.

[Juddder]

scotty_d said:

I have one of these on top of my negative pole. I had to spin the battery round in it's tray and re-route the leads to the negative it to the inside of the car now. At less than 5 quid it works fine.

If you need pictures i can get you some tomorrow when my wish bones dry as there hanging off the ramp, so cant lower the car jut now.

Hi Scotty - pictures would be awesome so yes if you get a chance tomorrow that would be great!

[gerradiuk]

Juddder said:

Had a reply from Tony the Tuscan owner who fitted a Battery Brain with some handy reference pictures.

Basically he fitted it in the Passenger foot well of the car and guessing that (no idea) the Cerbera would be similarly possible if the battery lead comes through from the battery in the engine??

Here's the pictures for reference:

Mmm they leak enough as it is , I would be dubious about putting more holes in the bulkhead especially very near where the main ECU live's ?

[scotty_d]

Juddder said:

Hi Scotty - pictures would be awesome so yes if you get a chance tomorrow that would be great!

I really must re-read stuff before hitting enter, It makes little sense.

[matty1275]

i'll post some photo's ASAP,

just need to get home from work one night before it goes dark!!

[Juddder]

gerradiuk said:

Mmm they leak enough as it is , I would be dubious about putting more holes in the bulkhead especially very near where the main ECU live's ?

I'm wondering whether the Battery Brain can be squeezed underneath the radiator reservoir as per these shots. That way it stays in the engine compartment, the re-routing of the positive to the Battery Brain is fairly easy, and an extra inter-connect lead can just go from the other side of the Battery Brain to the battery positive terminal.

Also, the tray looks flat so the Battery Brain can be bolted to that?

If anyone has stared at this area of the engine bay during a rebuild for more than the 30 seconds I did it would be interesting to get any thoughts!!

Thanks again

[scotty_d]

Here are the pictures of mine as promised , Also cable routing and the use of spyra wrap to protect the cable chaffing on the metal edges. I used some rubber hose as well. Last thing you want is for it to chaff through and be a fire hazard as it shorts out.

When you put the panel back in you can isolate it fine so no need to remove it to do this Mine is off as i am working away on the car.

Edited by scotty_d on Tuesday 10th January 17:47

[Juddder]

scotty_d said:

Here are the pictures of mine as promised , Also cable routing and the use of spyra rap to protect the cable chaffing on the metal edges. I used some rubber hose as well. Last thing you want is for it to chaff through and be a fire hazard as it shorts out.

Hi Scotty

That's brilliant. The one challenge for me looking at the photos is that your negative terminal on the battery is on the left, and near the front of the car, whereas on the Optima Bluetop thing battery I have the positive is on the left and near the front of the car.

Therefore... I'm guessing I can just shimmy the battery as tightly close to the Radiator Reservoir as possible and should be able to replicate what you are doing?!

Also - the disconnect thing I have has a green top, and the connection plug seemed quite small when I was trying to tighten the battery terminal around it - not sure if these come in two sizes etc.

Thanks again

[Jubes]

Thanks for the pictures Scotty, they're really helpful.

[Jubes]

Hi Scotty,
Quick question on the battery discarnect front please.

My battery terminals are the opposite way around to yours, can the discarnect be connected to the positive terminal?

There's no metal around the area to worry about shorting the product to but I do realise that it's normally best practice to remove the negative terminal first.

Would it ultimately cause any problems by connecting it to the positive terminal in your opinion please?

Thanks again.

[scotty_d]

Hi Jubes

The Discarnector will only fit the Negative pole on a battery. (You can make it fit positive but i would not recommend it ) It will spark every time you make and break it.


All you need to do is what i did take the battery out and spin it 180 degrees around and route the cables. Mine was like yours with the positive to the inside of the car as well.

Hope this helps, Scott.