Having trouble sourcing a battery for my "S"

[markbigears]

How hard can it be to find a battery to fit the battery tray!
Battery dimensions are W:160mm H:205 L:248
The one I have fitted is a 072 Oldham, 650 cranking power, lugs on front, not side of battery.
Oldham no longer exist, tried my local TVR dealer, only do banner, too wide!
Gave TVR CAR PARTS a ring, they don't do batteries!!!!
I'm keeping the car original so am not looking to widen the tray.
Any help grweatly appreciated as I want to get the old girl out for a spin.
Thanks guys and gals, Mark

Edited by markbigears on Wednesday 12th March 14:56

[Roy C]

If you scrap the original battery clamp and get yourself a much more secure strap and ratchet (from a DIY store - Homebase, B&Q, etc), you will be able to choose from a wider variety of batteries.

Make sure whatever you buy fits under the bonnet as you don't want to starcrack the bodwork.

[markbigears]

Roy, i'm after a direct replacement, no cutting the tray, straps, etc. Cheers though

Edited by markbigears on Wednesday 12th March 16:53

[greymrj]

Hi Mark, I was able to get one from Halfords which fitted a treat. They had quite a big range at the large Halfords I went to. Found one which was OK on size and power rating although terminals were the opposite way round so a minor adjustment to wiring runs was needed.

[Rockey]

http://www.batmanuk.com/
http://www.performancebatteries.co.uk/cgi-bin/perf...
Any Good

[jimed]

I think that some of the older battery sizes were discontinued a while ago as I couldn't get one the same size a few years ago. I eventually got what is known as an '078' which will be recognised by battery suppliers as a standard size. This fits the tray very well but does require you to move the holes for the retaining plate by about 1/2 inch or so, as the battery is slightly less in length, which isn't a big problem as new holes are easily drilled . The '078' battery will come in various makes and warranty periods etc so the selection is up to you. Its always a good idea to fit a battery strap of some kind round the battery and tray as well though as the normal clamp isn't the best and scrutineering will often ask for that at track days; I've used a small suitcase one wrapped round a couple of times.
Jim

[ketvrin]

markbigears said:

Roy, i'm after a direct replacement, no cutting the tray, straps, etc. Cheers though

you're in denial Mark... you know you are going to have to do it..

good luck
K

Edited by ketvrin on Thursday 13th March 08:01

[markbigears]

Thanks guys for the suggestions, I feel like i'm searching for the holy grail not a battery! So are we saying that no manufacturer is making this size anymore? There's no way i'm drilling holes anywhere! Can batteries be reconditioned?

[Elfit]

I've just replaced mine last week.
Took my old battery in and the guy said "072 ~ that's been replaced by the 089"
Fitted fine.
Cheers
Tim

[markbigears]

Hi Tim, Can I ask what is the make of your battery and where did you buy it from. Thanks, Mark

[Elfit]

Hi Mark.
The make is Numax
68 505

Cost me under £60 from a local firm ( Hexham Tyre and Battery) ~ 3 year guarantee.

Another local place had a Varta ( 4 year guarantee) at nearly £80.

The 089 is , I believe, an industry standard so your local man should be able to quote for one.

Cheers
Tim

[malcolmr]

try the batteryman on ebay next day delivery paid 55 quid + 10 postage for boxster s battery

[markbigears]

Thanks Tim, just the info i'm looking for. Strange, I looked at the specs on Numax and didn't see a 160mm wide one.
Of to the motorfactors Saturday. Thanks guys for all your help.

[Road2Ruin]

I got mine from the local motor factors. Took the old one in and replaced it over the counter. Around £60 I think.

[Elfit]

Hi Mark
Here's pictures of my battery.
The link you emailed didn't work but I assume it was for the 089 Numax battery
It's definitely 160mm wide and black (as you see!) not white like the one in the link.



I hope this helps.
Cheers
Tim

[markbigears]

Hi Tim, Many thanks for the reply and your time taking the photos, really appreciate it ... shame it dosen't have any lugs, but other than that, spot on, cheers again.

Edited by markbigears on Monday 17th March 22:44

[ketvrin]

Hi Mark

did you resolve your battery problem with the numax battery Tim suggested or are you still looking ?

I saw a battery shop local to my work and they had a "Dynamic" battery DS18 (88 amp - for Diesel) and the case size was 160 wide x 300 long x 220 High (top of poles). Dynamic are apparently long established and local to huddersfield and their tel is 01484 865869.

Hope this is of help to you or anyone else...

K

[page3]

Ok, I'm confused!

My S has a flat battery. It is a Pavilion 069 (12v 70ah).

Halfords were useless and couldn't suggest anything at all.

I see 069, 078, 089 banded around here. The 'bible' says 072 or 075!

I don't care about it fitting the mount perfectly as I use a strap to hold it in anyway.

If I search on the Varta site for Ford Sierra XR4i (suggested somewhere) I get 570 144 064 3122 which is a 70ah 12v 640a which sounds good enough. It is 278mm long though by 175mm. I will need to measure what I currently have!

Any help from anyone who has recently purchased a decent battery recently appreciated.

Edited to add: would this http://www.carbatteryshop.co.uk/i-089-Numax-Car-Ba... be the correct one???

Edited by page3 on Monday 31st March 09:54

[markbigears]

UPDATE : After spending the best part of a week on the phone, (and cross checking numerous PDF files) to technical departments at Bosch, Varta, Yuasa, Nuwmax, Lucas, Banner, Unipart the conclusion is there is NO battery 160mm wide with width hold downs. All the modern batteries now have hold down length and width around the base and as such are 170mm wide. The battery tray for the S is 162mm wide. Lucas, Yuasa and Nuwmax do batteries 160mm wide but have no hold downs at all (but you can strap them in). In the end I did find a battery from TMF batteries www.tmfbatteries.co.uk which is a 072 (the heavy duty version of the 069) rated at 590 cold cranking named ACOLYTE. This does have small thin hold downs on the length but are 1cm from the base and so fits in the battery tray, just!. It does have width hold downs, but are about 3cms from base (my old one was 1cm) so, a modification will have to be made to get the clamp 2cms up (working on it!). Picture here : http://www.tayna.co.uk/getimage.php?image=tayna_ca... (Same casing as this Numax, and Numax no longer make this type, they are black now with differnt case designs) So there we go, I'm bored to tears with batteries now, but if anyone finds a 160mm battery with no length hold downs and width ones near the base, let us know! p.s. my old battery, Oldham, went out of business year ago.

Edited by markbigears on Monday 31st March 13:09

[page3]

Thanks for the update and all the research!

I think I will try the Numax 089 (http://www.carbatteryshop.co.uk/i-089-Numax-Car-Battery-12V-68AH-I1008.html) but it quotes the width as 175mm and you report that the case has been redesigned and is now 170mm. I had better call to check and re-measure my battery tray tonight to check it will fit.

My old battery didn't fit the bottom clamp so was strapped in so I'm not bothered with it fitting the clamp just so long as it fits the tray and isn't too high!