Fitting a Battery Brain.
Discussion
I have just completed yesterday the fitting of my battery brain thingy. Basically an 1,100 amp remote controlled relay, wot stops the battery from flattening init.
Tools and parts needed.
Double jointed body.
9"" positive battery cable from halfrauds.
Scotch lock electrical connector.
2x 2"" m4 self tappers
Drill and 4mm bit
Multimeter (to find an ignition feed).
Method.
Jack up car and remove battery.
Marvel at the task before you esp if you don't have your own private workshop and ramp to use.
There are four positive leads coming from the battery. The thickest is to the starter, the fused wire is to the steering pump (if your car is a MK2 which have electric pumps.) The third short wire goes to the Anderson connector and the last one is the one were interested in, disappearing through the bulkhead into the passenger foot well.
Fitting the battery brain I screwed it using 4mm self tappers to the passenger bulkhead. Looking at the battery box from the position of the disk, I placed it as far into the top right hand corner as it would go, allowing some clearance for the cable that feeds from the battery at that side . This means it it "just" clears the battery when it is re-inserted.
Then I drilled another small hole in the bulkhead to accept the ignition feed, which ensures that the device will not disconnect the battery in the middle of winter when you're at the lights with wipers, heater etc running and the voltage drops below what it thinks is acceptable.
With the holes drilled you can take down the passenger foot well cover by unscrewing the two 4mm allen retaining bolts. Now you need to poke about in the alarm ECU to find and ignition feed. I found it useful to use the lighter socket as the negative point. In my case there was a green cable that provided ACC live.
Next it's just a case of joining the black ACC wire supplied with the BB into that.
Attach the cables and fit the BB into it's final position, heavily greasing the live terminals. The small black white wire goes to the negative on the battery. Pull thorough the excess wire for the ACC feed and tidied up the job generally. Refitted the battery jobs a goodun.
I should mention though, the first unit I got was faulty so I would recommend that you test it on the bench first before fitting it. If it's functioning correctly it should make a LOUD click as you operate the remote control to connect and disconnect it. I also spent a huge amount of time working everything out hence the post; since there are no manuals with TVR's joy. Took me about 9 hours in total inc a few messing about with a duff unit.
Having tested it is seems do nothing more exciting that exactly what it says which is to disconnect the battery. However you can choose for that to happen automatically or manually via the remote. So if you forget and the ignition is off, it will just pop the relay itself once the voltage drops below it's acceptable threshold.
Tools and parts needed.
Double jointed body.
9"" positive battery cable from halfrauds.
Scotch lock electrical connector.
2x 2"" m4 self tappers
Drill and 4mm bit
Multimeter (to find an ignition feed).
Method.
Jack up car and remove battery.
Marvel at the task before you esp if you don't have your own private workshop and ramp to use.
There are four positive leads coming from the battery. The thickest is to the starter, the fused wire is to the steering pump (if your car is a MK2 which have electric pumps.) The third short wire goes to the Anderson connector and the last one is the one were interested in, disappearing through the bulkhead into the passenger foot well.
Fitting the battery brain I screwed it using 4mm self tappers to the passenger bulkhead. Looking at the battery box from the position of the disk, I placed it as far into the top right hand corner as it would go, allowing some clearance for the cable that feeds from the battery at that side . This means it it "just" clears the battery when it is re-inserted.
Then I drilled another small hole in the bulkhead to accept the ignition feed, which ensures that the device will not disconnect the battery in the middle of winter when you're at the lights with wipers, heater etc running and the voltage drops below what it thinks is acceptable.
With the holes drilled you can take down the passenger foot well cover by unscrewing the two 4mm allen retaining bolts. Now you need to poke about in the alarm ECU to find and ignition feed. I found it useful to use the lighter socket as the negative point. In my case there was a green cable that provided ACC live.
Next it's just a case of joining the black ACC wire supplied with the BB into that.
Attach the cables and fit the BB into it's final position, heavily greasing the live terminals. The small black white wire goes to the negative on the battery. Pull thorough the excess wire for the ACC feed and tidied up the job generally. Refitted the battery jobs a goodun.
I should mention though, the first unit I got was faulty so I would recommend that you test it on the bench first before fitting it. If it's functioning correctly it should make a LOUD click as you operate the remote control to connect and disconnect it. I also spent a huge amount of time working everything out hence the post; since there are no manuals with TVR's joy. Took me about 9 hours in total inc a few messing about with a duff unit.
Having tested it is seems do nothing more exciting that exactly what it says which is to disconnect the battery. However you can choose for that to happen automatically or manually via the remote. So if you forget and the ignition is off, it will just pop the relay itself once the voltage drops below it's acceptable threshold.
Hi - no that should be connected via a spade (that they supply) to the right battery input terminal in my photo. (I haven't used it so it's not shown in my photo).
The ACC live should go to the terminal you can see on the left side of the unit that's all shiney with nothing on it.
Make sense?
The ACC live should go to the terminal you can see on the left side of the unit that's all shiney with nothing on it.
Make sense?
In other words the radio and the permenant live to it something I have completely overlooked since I was not bothered about it. Tend to listen to the music of the motor you see.
In your case - you'll need a further hole in the bulkhead to threadle it through and then some messing about in the passenger footwell to get it up and into the radio. Should think you'll need to remove the radio too.
I'll get round to doing mine at some point, but I'd had enough the other day - so left it.
In your case - you'll need a further hole in the bulkhead to threadle it through and then some messing about in the passenger footwell to get it up and into the radio. Should think you'll need to remove the radio too.
I'll get round to doing mine at some point, but I'd had enough the other day - so left it.
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