Lotus Europa Community
Lotus Europa Forums => Garage => Topic started by: surfguitar58 on Saturday,February 17, 2018, 07:57:23 AM
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The traditional battery location in my TCS is occupied by a header installed by the PO. The battery is currently up forward where the spare tire is supposed to go. I am planning to move the battery because; - 1) I want to put a spare tire in the spare tire compartment, and - 2) I don’t like the idea of a long positive lead scuffing around in the tunnel with the shift linkage waiting to wear through the insulation and start a fire, not to mention the resistance losses in that long run, or the weight of 8 feet of 2/0 cable.
In considering new locations for the battery, I am liking the idea of the triangular space between the cross beam and the diagonal brace on the right side (see sketch.) My current group 51R battery won’t fit there, and neither will a group U1 Miata/lawn tractor battery. The best fit battery option I came up with is a wee little group 52 like this one: http://www.powerstridebattery.com/car-batteries-light-truck-batteries-van-batteries/bci-group-52-battery-pc925lmjt-battery
or https://www.walmart.com/ip/ODYSSEY-BATTERY-Battery-380CCA-500CA-M6-Female-Terminal-PC925/160647002?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=9341&adid=22222222227040471795&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=87987787490&wl4=pla-205066540850&wl5=9001932&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=115792505&wl11=online&wl12=160647002&wl13=&veh=sem#read-more
This battery fits nicely below the removable boot/trunk tub (currently being modified with a tunnel for the muffler) and above the drive shaft with the terminals peeking out in front of the forward edge of the tub. The plan is to fabricate a fiberglass battery box with tie-down secured to the crossbeam, diagonal and frame. There also seems to be precedence for this location as I saw an illustration of an early S1 (Serge?) or maybe prototype Europa with the battery here.
My questions to the tribe are:
1. Does anyone have experience with this type of battery? Specs seem pretty good (CCA 330) but it is different enough that I question if the specs are too good to be true.
2. Is there any reason I am missing why the location I have shown is not a good idea? Obviously, I would need clearance for full suspension travel of the drive shaft, and this would a wet location driving in the rain, but some sort of splash shield might be enough protection. Otherwise, what am I missing?
Thanks,
Tom
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Another optional location, courtesy Steve's RatRopa page. May not appeal to you though. I thought he had a write up of what he did, but didn't see it. appears he sat the battery in some expanding foam in the rear quarter panel.
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I located my battery, an Odyssey PC-680 battery, close to where you are thinking as shown in the photo. I used the Odyssey aluminum battery holder as well. It cranks the twin cam very well with the geared starter from R D Enterprises. I once left the lights on for 1.5 hours and it cranked right up.
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Another thumbs up for the Odyssey PC680 and the gear reduction starter. No problems spinning up twin cam engine on my JPS, sounds like a turbine winding up. One advantage of the Odyssey AGM style battery is that you can install them in any orientation without issue. I can't tell how much room your header takes up in the stock battery position but the PC680 is pretty small.
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How about a lithium battery. Walmart have Deltran lithium starter batteries at a good price e.g. $109.99 for 240 CCA. It should be a lot lighter. I'm
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Searched for and bringing this thread back to life as it began to answer my own similar question before it sputtered out.
Began dismantling the TS engine to find out why No. 4 has poor compression.
Need to find a better battery answer as I have no intention of putting it back up front where the PO had it.
Custom headers leave no space to the left and I want to put in a second fuel tank on the right.
That really only leaves a few options as discussed above.
I also seem to recall seeing a discussion of grouped Litium battery cells somewhere, but do not remember which forum it might have been on.
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literarymadness and I think Pfreen both use lithium batteries. You might PM them if they don’t respond to this thread. Some are not terribly expensive and some are pretty expensive but have pretty cool features like a reserve “battery” you can use to jumpstart yourself if you run through the main battery. I was looking at them and the main problem I had was not getting a lot of motorcycle batteries. On the other hand, I’m not sure some motorcycle batteries wouldn’t work for us.
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I use a Deka ETX20L. 310 cca. The last one I weighed was 14.5lbs, under $100. They are small, light and it cranks my 3.5l V6 no with problems.
https://www.techbatterysolutions.com/deka-etx20l-battery/?gclid=Cj0KEQjw-Mm6BRDTpaLgj6K04KsBEiQA5f20EzkkjLjyzBtt9vldMcUvnwJD8XRl-sRoIuYpCH6-AJYaAjDa8P8HAQ&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=google&utm_term=ETX20L