Flat Battery!

[ChimpOnGas]

DHilly said:

Alex

Not quite that simple, the charger is plugged into the cigarette lighter and in my panic when the car wouldn't unlock I pulled the cable slightly and that was enough to pull the socket up enough to stop contact!

All's well now, left the battery conditioner on for 24hrs and car started okay, but still going to change the battery this week.

Personally I'd never charge the battery via the cigaret lighter socket on a TVR, have you seen the ciggy socket wiring inside the door?

It isn't good and very light low amp gauge too, it certainly isn't exactly direct to the battery either

Far more effective and infinitely safer would be to connect your charger direct to the battery terminals.

Invest 20 minutes of your life to make up a fly lead so you can connect the charger at a more convenient remote point on the car rather than grubbing around in the passenger footwell with crocodile clips every time you connect up & disconnect.

I ran 3 meters of 6mm2 twin core from my battery, running under the passenger foot mat carpet, under the carpet between the sill and passenger seat then up inside the B-Post where the door solenoid hides making it very neat & totally invisible.

From here it goes into the boot area along the upper inner wing area and exiting neatly by the N/S rear light assembly at which point there is still 3/4m left.

When the car is in use this 3/4 meter tail gets wrapped around the rear light assembly and hidden under the Velcro attached boot carpet light cover, so you just don't see it.

When you need to charge the car just unravel the tail and hang it out of the boot, gently lay the boot closed without engaging the latch, when you leave just disconnect from the charger at the back of the car and wrap the tail around the rear light again before closing the boot lid fully and driving off.

I cut the crocodile clips off my charger's main leads and replaced them with a 50amp Anderson connector which connects to a second 50amp Anderson connector on the direct to battery tail.

Direct to battery charging from a boot located connector makes hooking up and disconnecting a doddle, just back the car into my garage to within a few feet from my bench and hook it up to the charger using the proper 50amp Anderson connectors.



The convenience of this system is well worth the hour it took to make up and rout the charging tail, it also guarantees much safer and far more effective battery charging than relying on the feeble TVR cigarette lighter socket wiring.

Finally to ensure the charger can still be used on any other battery I fitted another 50amp Anderson connector to the crocodile clips like this:



Essentially a proper job using proper connectors for unparalleled convenience & the most effective battery charging.

Having the charging tail in the boot with its Anderson connector also makes it perfect for hooking up a boot light or other 12v accessory.

[ianwayne]

WOO5IE said:

Hi
Search on Ebay for a Bosch S4 type 69/72 it has 630 cca and is around £70 delivered

It also has a 4 year warranty

My friend bought a type 072 Varta for his 500 with 4 yr guarantee off ebay. £62.50, next day delivery too!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Type-072-VARTA-BLUE-Car-...

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I found getting a battery the right size to fit the box with the terminals around the correct way a bit tricky. Some were too tall and the terminals were above the box, which I didn't like with the heater pipes running just above the battery.

Also it is worth bearing in mind, the original battery was a type 072 and had a vent tube to vent the corrosive gasses through to the wheel arch. If these are not vented they have been known to corrode the ECU.

The one I ended up getting was a Platinum Prestege battery. Its a Type 072E 590CCA 70Ah


Only 590CCA, but haven't had an issue and fits nicely.

[ChimpOnGas]

ads said:

I found getting a battery the right size to fit the box with the terminals around the correct way a bit tricky. Some were too tall and the terminals were above the box, which I didn't like with the heater pipes running just above the battery.

Just do away with the TVR battery box, there are a host of simple and far superior ways to secure the battery than the bolted in fiberglass box TVR gave us.

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ChimpOnGas said:

Just do away with the TVR battery box, there are a host of simple and far superior ways to secure the battery than the bolted in fiberglass box TVR gave us.

Got any examples for if I have to replace it again?

[ChimpOnGas]

ads said:

ChimpOnGas said:

Just do away with the TVR battery box, there are a host of simple and far superior ways to secure the battery than the bolted in fiberglass box TVR gave us.

Got any examples for if I have to replace it again?

If you don't want to get into fabricating something yourself probably the cheapest and easiest way to delete the TVR battery box is just to buy a universal battery tray off EBay and bolt it to the floor.





This one is about the right size:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Battery-Mounti...

Use a simple nylon luggage strap to secure the battery firmly to your new tray.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2PC-TRAVEL-LUGGAGE-SUITC...

Or better still a small ratchet strap:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5m-x-25mm-RATCHET-TIE-DO...

Or perhaps you might prefer a more traditional battery hold down clamp?

In which case it's cheaper to buy the tray and clamps as a complete kit:



http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Battery-Tray-Adjustable-...

Doing it this way will make the battery easier and faster to remove, and you'll never again suffer those stupid captive nuts glassed into the bottom of the TVR battery box that almost always break free and start spinning which can make getting the battery out a nightmare.

And finally because you bolt the tray in first there's none of the frustrations you have with the TVR battery box lining up the holes correctly for the bolts.

Better, better, better and all for less than £20

[ads]

Thanks for this. Didn't realise there was so much choice.

I must admit I've never had the captive nut issue, and I've just put in the 3rd battery in 12 years.

[over_the_hill]

ianwayne said:

WOO5IE said:

Hi
Search on Ebay for a Bosch S4 type 69/72 it has 630 cca and is around £70 delivered

It also has a 4 year warranty

My friend bought a type 072 Varta for his 500 with 4 yr guarantee off ebay. £62.50, next day delivery too!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Type-072-VARTA-BLUE-Car-...

If the battery isn't completely fubarred so that you need one right now just keep an eye on the local big motor factors like ECP as they are always doing offers on batterys e.g. £10 off this weekend type of thing. Returns are not so difficult either if you get the wrong one.