Battery!!!!

Author
Discussion

GTRMikie

872 posts

249 months

Wednesday 8th July 2015
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That's two votes for the Red Top 40 and Optimate combination!

Verde

506 posts

189 months

Friday 1st September 2017
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Hello,
Time to replace my battery in the GTR. I have an LS7 in there, so it's a bit of a load on the system. I've read this (and related) threads, am interested in purchasing a Yellow Top, but it's not clear from this thread which model is a best fit/power. Is it the YT S 2.7 R (which seems a bit of an challenge to find here in the US). Other?
And certainly open to other (Odyssey?) options. The Braille (which I had in a Porsche) is a bit too spendy for me.
Thx

JoulesCanAm

328 posts

187 months

Saturday 2nd September 2017
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Odyssey PC1100 with 650 CA, 500 CCA available free ship from Summit Racing $247 or if you want to go with the Varley Red Top 40 600 CA, 500 CCA they are available from Pegasus Auto Racing $450

Julian

eliot

11,450 posts

255 months

Saturday 2nd September 2017
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ive got a red top that was sitting around for about 8 years with an occasional charge and then fitted it into my dakar (sbc) a couple of years ago and it spins it over really well.
Main thing is to never let the battery go below 11.5 volts - anything under 10v and you are damaging the battery.

I also run 60sqmm (400 amp) cables between the starter and battery - i recently checked the current draw on cranking and it's 300 amps, so plenty in reserve.


Verde

506 posts

189 months

Saturday 2nd September 2017
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eliot said:
ive got a red top that was sitting around for about 8 years with an occasional charge and then fitted it into my dakar (sbc) a couple of years ago and it spins it over really well.
Main thing is to never let the battery go below 11.5 volts - anything under 10v and you are damaging the battery.

I also run 60sqmm (400 amp) cables between the starter and battery - i recently checked the current draw on cranking and it's 300 amps, so plenty in reserve.
Thanks. Which Red Top model is it? It's not clear that they have a model with the proper dimensions for a drop-in like the Optima 1100.

JoulesCanAm

328 posts

187 months

Monday 4th September 2017
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Varley Red Top 40; 9.8" L x 3.8" W x 7.6" H


Verde

506 posts

189 months

Monday 4th September 2017
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Thank you.

Verde

506 posts

189 months

Tuesday 5th September 2017
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My GTR was built by another fellow, who seemed to be very skilled. He owned it for four years and raced it a bit. Early LS7 build.
It's been a great car to own and drive. It has dual batteries. One under the front clip, the other in a bracket near the transmission. Each are wired to the starter solenoid. The rear battery appears to be dead as well. I've isolated it, charged it with a C-Tek and it still reads 10.4V. It's likely 8-10 years old, a small Odyssey. So now I've ordered two, the 950 and a 680 (the 680 has an Odyssey bracket made for that model).
Also ordered a heavier cable for the rear battery (seems like an oddly small gauge) and the Odyssey charger. Because electricity smile
So we'll see how this goes when it all arrives.
Thanks for the help.

Verde

506 posts

189 months

Saturday 14th October 2017
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Was hoping to get a bit more help. I purchased the Odyssey PC1100 (ER40) and found that it didn't fit the baseplate of the car's battery bracket. It's both too long (the long dimension of the base) and too narrow (the short dimension of the base - though that doesn't seem an issue). Any suggestions?
Thx

confusionhunter

448 posts

223 months

Monday 16th October 2017
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remove the baseplate and make another! When I fitted my PC1100, I needed to make a new bracket for it. I would have considered ditching the second battery, the PC1100 should be enough to start it in any conditions?... unless you are running a beefy stereo? smile

Verde

506 posts

189 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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Thank you. I was assuming it would fit. Did you machine another one out of an aluminum billet (presumably like the stock one)? if not, do you have a picture? I've thought of a number of ways of constructing one, but don't want it to looked like it was cobbled together.

845ste

577 posts

128 months

Monday 30th October 2017
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ciao,
here anyone has problems with the hot start ????

Only a very hot engine is hard to start as if the battery is low or the engine would increase the compression ratio: the starter motor turns hiccups (jam) and they always seem to not get done!

then miraculously (if the battery is full charge) the engine starts.

I changed starter motor, doubled the + cables from the battery to the starter, replaced ground .

I do not know what else to do.

in cold start it's fine and it starts immediately without jam.

F.C.

3,897 posts

209 months

Tuesday 31st October 2017
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845ste said:
ciao,
here anyone has problems with the hot start ????

Only a very hot engine is hard to start as if the battery is low or the engine would increase the compression ratio: the starter motor turns hiccups (jam) and they always seem to not get done!

then miraculously (if the battery is full charge) the engine starts.

I changed starter motor, doubled the + cables from the battery to the starter, replaced ground .

I do not know what else to do.

in cold start it's fine and it starts immediately without jam.
Mine starts fine hot, what size alternator have you got fitted?
If the battery is low when hot after a run I'd check it out, the battery should be fully charged and ready after about a 20k journey

BobE

605 posts

182 months

Tuesday 31st October 2017
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845ste said:
ciao,
here anyone has problems with the hot start ????

Only a very hot engine is hard to start as if the battery is low or the engine would increase the compression ratio: the starter motor turns hiccups (jam) and they always seem to not get done!

then miraculously (if the battery is full charge) the engine starts.

I changed starter motor, doubled the + cables from the battery to the starter, replaced ground .

I do not know what else to do.

in cold start it's fine and it starts immediately without jam.
My SBC starts fine hot or cold - if anything it turns over faster on the starter when hot. On other cars in the past I’ve had the problem you describe and solved them by cleaning up all the earth connections and fitting a new starter motor and solenoid. Over time starter motors feel the effect of high temperatures and begin to breakdown. You seem to have done all the right things which seems odd that it hasn’t fixed the problem.

humble

88 posts

109 months

Tuesday 31st October 2017
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In my experience hot start issues like this are either a grounding or heat soak issue. You said you added more power cables but grounding/earth is just as important so you might want to add an additional ground/earth wire as well. More likely though, it's a heat soak issue with the starter and close proximity to the header. The starter will heat up while sitting with no cooling air moving around it, and the hotter the permanent magnets get the weaker they become. This is the Curie effect, and while it's not likely to demagnetize your starter, it's strength certainly suffer. I'd highly recommend a starter blanket or heat shield and see if that solves the issue.

Will

Ultima IT

259 posts

177 months

Wednesday 1st November 2017
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humble said:
In my experience hot start issues like this are either a grounding or heat soak issue. You said you added more power cables but grounding/earth is just as important so you might want to add an additional ground/earth wire as well. More likely though, it's a heat soak issue with the starter and close proximity to the header. The starter will heat up while sitting with no cooling air moving around it, and the hotter the permanent magnets get the weaker they become. This is the Curie effect, and while it's not likely to demagnetize your starter, it's strength certainly suffer. I'd highly recommend a starter blanket or heat shield and see if that solves the issue.

Will
In this case Stefano try to remove your clam grills. I feel sure your is no mutch "permeable".

confusionhunter

448 posts

223 months

Wednesday 1st November 2017
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Hi,
Here is my bracket, made out of Alu cheker plate. the bottom flap bolts to the floor and the sticky up tab bolts to the bulkhead using threaded rod.


and here is my story about using 'marginal gains' to solve my hot start problem. Battery was main help but i gained half a volt to the starter by cutting out my cheap earth cut off switch ans filing heat shrink back etc.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/ultima-can-am-scotl...

Edit The above direct link may not work because Ive sworn in the title!!
but you can get there from the page : https://www.facebook.com/Ultima-Can-Am-Scotland-96...
then look back to 6 April 2015 under a note called 'Start you b@stard' biggrin


Edited by confusionhunter on Friday 3rd November 00:17

845ste

577 posts

128 months

Thursday 2nd November 2017
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Thanks for the help, everyone is always very kind and helpful. smile

I've always had this problem.
I'm sure it's a temp problem too high for the starter.
the new alternator is an audi a6 3.0 turbodiesel (more powerful than the original LS) and the new starter is porsche.

the only thing I have not tried yet is to boost ground/earth: it seems to me a great idea.
i think unfortunately the starter's underneath is not able to cool off because it is connected solidly to the engine that is aluminum and therefore transmits the heat to the starter very well.
gear to the side is not very hot so I think putting a division would be unhelpful.

845ste

577 posts

128 months

Thursday 2nd November 2017
quotequote all
Verde said:
My GTR was built by another fellow, who seemed to be very skilled. He owned it for four years and raced it a bit. Early LS7 build.
It's been a great car to own and drive. It has dual batteries. One under the front clip, the other in a bracket near the transmission. Each are wired to the starter solenoid. The rear battery appears to be dead as well. I've isolated it, charged it with a C-Tek and it still reads 10.4V. It's likely 8-10 years old, a small Odyssey. So now I've ordered two, the 950 and a 680 (the 680 has an Odyssey bracket made for that model).
Also ordered a heavier cable for the rear battery (seems like an oddly small gauge) and the Odyssey charger. Because electricity smile
So we'll see how this goes when it all arrives.
Thanks for the help.
please post a photos.
thanks smile

Boosted LS1

21,188 posts

261 months

Thursday 2nd November 2017
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I've just bought a Yuasa Black. Life long guarantee (life of the vehicle) and meant to be good for up to 130,000 starts. I've no idea how this compares with the others mentioned above but it seemed attractive to me. With discount I paid £117.