[shakes]

Having a bit of an argument with myself (along with too much time on my hands which doesnt help my cause) with which way to go battery wise.

I will eventually be running 33" + tires, with minimal lift and big gaurd chop, meaning battery space under the hood will be pretty limited.

Before I go too far with a second battery setup I probably should decide which way I want to go with it to save re-doing work. The car will be 90% offroad for med/hard trips some camping and a little commuting on the days I'm not man enough to face the rain on my pushbike. Would I be better off with an optima or similar in the rear footwell or underneath the car at the back. Keeping in mind on the rare occaision I will need to put people in the rear seats.

Accessories wise will have a winch, stereo, UHF and maybe a compressor. Want to aim to keep the car as light as reasonably possible. Engine wise It's more than likely to stay 1.3, maybe a 1.6tbi swap. Or if I somehow find 20k to blow a 13b rotor

[BlueSuzy]

Im in the same dilema, But with 35's super low, i still have heaps of battery space. Move your diff forward.

[shep]

its headlights that get in the way when ya have bigger tyres.

[stockman]

I have been looking into the same issue. I was thinking SLA on it's side?

[Moag]

Lithium might be the ticket in the future, although a bit expensive for the initial outlay at the moment, if you don't factor in life span.

They are about 1/3 weight and size for the same usable amp hour drain on your lead based battery - that if you like to maintain your battery for a long life.

AGM batteries get the best life if you only discharge them 30% though can cope with the occasional deep discharge if recharged soon after, unlike Lithium which is very happy being discharged to 80%.

Here one example that is currently available. There are other cheap ones to be cautious of.
The expensive smart option

[dank]

just go one decent sealed maintenance free jobby mate. in a seirra I wouldn't worry too much about putting it in the back of the car, whack it in a battery box and vent to outside if anal.

I supply optima and also AC Delco and Delkor range.

There is a N70ZZ size which is 730cca and 90ah calcium coated lead acid maintenance free battery which I can supply for about $170. this is the battery that a lot of patrol guys have been buying as it fits into the stock battery tray.

if you want bigger i can supply a 930CCA Delkor Silver Calcium battery which is what we run in the comp jeep. We couldn't drain it during the comp...i think it's a pretty decent battery for the price.

[IN2DEP]

I got a yellow top optima in the standard spot, all good

[ajsr]

1 yellow top optimal is all I use , that runs my winch as well no issues.
It will intact run the 6000lb winch for a few minutes and then easily start the car

[stockman]

How much smaller are they than the standard and do you have it in the standard location?

[shep]

depends on what ya want to do. if you want to power accessory's like a
fridge for a couple of days then go for 2 battery's

[shakes]

dank wrote:

just go one decent sealed maintenance free jobby mate. in a seirra I wouldn't worry too much about putting it in the back of the car, whack it in a battery box and vent to outside if anal.

I supply optima and also AC Delco and Delkor range.

There is a N70ZZ size which is 730cca and 90ah calcium coated lead acid maintenance free battery which I can supply for about $170. this is the battery that a lot of patrol guys have been buying as it fits into the stock battery tray.

if you want bigger i can supply a 930CCA Delkor Silver Calcium battery which is what we run in the comp jeep. We couldn't drain it during the comp...i think it's a pretty decent battery for the price.

Thanks Dan, you don't happen to bring in battery boxes and a nice big inline fuse and safety switch too by any chance? It will be vented with maybe even a platform over it as on the odd occaision I'll have my daughter and/or nephew in the back. Depending how much motivation(how expensive a good box is) I have at the time will determine if I mount it underneath or not.

Shep, Can't see myself running a fridge anytime in the next couple of years unless I'm somehow gifted one. And even then I'll probably just wing it.

1 Good battery in the back was what I was leaning towards... Just got swayed. thanks.

[dank]

shakes wrote:

dank wrote:

just go one decent sealed maintenance free jobby mate. in a seirra I wouldn't worry too much about putting it in the back of the car, whack it in a battery box and vent to outside if anal.

I supply optima and also AC Delco and Delkor range.

There is a N70ZZ size which is 730cca and 90ah calcium coated lead acid maintenance free battery which I can supply for about $170. this is the battery that a lot of patrol guys have been buying as it fits into the stock battery tray.

if you want bigger i can supply a 930CCA Delkor Silver Calcium battery which is what we run in the comp jeep. We couldn't drain it during the comp...i think it's a pretty decent battery for the price.

Thanks Dan, you don't happen to bring in battery boxes and a nice big inline fuse and safety switch too by any chance? It will be vented with maybe even a platform over it as on the odd occaision I'll have my daughter and/or nephew in the back. Depending how much motivation(how expensive a good box is) I have at the time will determine if I mount it underneath or not.

Shep, Can't see myself running a fridge anytime in the next couple of years unless I'm somehow gifted one. And even then I'll probably just wing it.

1 Good battery in the back was what I was leaning towards... Just got swayed. thanks.

don't worry about a fuse mate. a 200amp battery isolator will work fine for your application, I have a couple here you can have for $15 each. Go and grab yourself a battery box from supercheap, they are only $30odd. The main expense will be battery cable from rear to front. I got some large weld flex double insulated "starter motor cable" from BDL in Moorabbin and it cost about $14 p/m, they whacked some lugs on it for me as well.

otherwise the other awesome option is to head to the wreckers and find a mid 90s i series BMW. They run the battery under the rear seat on the drivers side and use a sweet 70mm2 cable to get power to the engine bay terminal. took me about 30mins to pull out of the car but only cost $15. You will need to cut this cable and install the isolator inline somewhere where you can reach it from the drivers seat. It may or may not cut the motor when you shuit it off while running due to the alternator back feeding to the coil.

In the jeep we ran the alternator charge cable direct to the battery and then the main battery line through the isolator back to the positive cable at the front and crimped it in. this means the alternator charges the battery direct and then flows through the main cable/isolator junction so when you shut it off there's no power to motor/ecu/coil etc.

[shakes]

Thanks heaps great info!

Will most likely buy it for myself at xmas... So expect a barrage of stupid questions about it all then

[dank]

shakes wrote:

Thanks heaps great info!

Will most likely buy it for myself at xmas... So expect a barrage of stupid questions about it all then

No wuckers mate happy to helP