I've been contemplating a lightweight battery on my C6 and was wondering anyone has some first hand experience with them... Any particular brands that work better than others, and how do you mount it on the stock location?

Thinking about a Braille B2317R, but I have no first hand experience with their products and don't know if it is worth $165 and will last on the hot engine bay. Also no idea how you mount a battery that small..
Thanks

 

Some people believe that one could be compromising some PCM/injector/electrical system strength (especially critical in a forced induction or high RPM/stroker motor situation) by using a less potent/smaller battery but I have to see any real evidence of such.
Also there are some hassles/downsides to consider such as how quicky some of these small batteries can drain down, leaving a door open or playing the radio too long with motor off can kill one in a matter of minutes in some cases. An aftermarket sound system and any kind of laptop/cell phone charger/adaptor use could make it even worse of course. Though they also can be brought back to life somewhat quickly as well.
There are a lot of computers/electronics in these cars so there are things to consider.

 

I'm going with the B2015. I've read review of users going even lighter (B14115), but I think that's asking for trouble later.

San

 

Agreed... That's why the one I picked out is not one of the ultra light ones.. I think running a 5 pound battery is asking for trouble, but a 23amps-hour one should be OK in theory...

 

 

i have the B14115, have had it since 3/2/08 its went dead about 5 times, so now i keep it on a battery tender, it works great if your moving and if the idle is up, but if the fan brake lights and heater or ac on if you stop at a light, you can watch the gauge drop in the 11s, once going in the 14s, if you leave a door open to sweep car the battery will be dead unless car is running or you have a charger on it, if i start the car every three days and its fine if you don't it will be dead, the alarm or electronics robs a lot of power, if you manage it wisely you will have no problems

 

If you look at all those "special" batteries they talk about pulse CCA.

I used a a group 35 Optima, smaller than the OE but with enough energy to make everything run. Just think if you have an underdive pully and you have a little battery, parked at a stop light with the air conditioning on. Most cars built today have to small a battery, so what do you think will happen to the electronics on your car if you go even smaller.

Up until I changed position at work, I had a whole team of automotive battery engineers working for me and we make over 100M car batteries a year, so I do have a clue. I may not know headers and brakes, but I know batteries.

 

I happen to be running that exact same battery right now after I did my LS7 swap back in mid-February and got too lazy to reroute the stock battery into the back.

So far it's worked out quite well despite the heat from the engine compartment (especially when I drag race the car) and I've only had to jumpstart it once after leaving it in the garage for about 5 straight days. My only other complaint is that the terminals are conical so what ends up happening is that the more you tighten the clamps the more they tend to want to move upward and completely off of the terminal. What I did to counteract that was put a little loctite on the clamps and terminals which helped alleviate the problem.

Let me know if you'd like some pictures of the install although they may not ultimately help you out since it's not where the factory battery used to be (since I went with the full LS7 dry sump system).

Christopher

 

I have the Braille B2015, and, as Dennis said you have to get a trickle charger. I put a charge on mine every 3 days.

 

Christopher i think it has to do with being conical but also the brass to aluminum is really slippery, so i took a radiator hose clamp and cut it into sections less then a half moon then opened the clamp and put the two pieces around the post then the cable end and tighten has been fine ever since

 

Thanks for the suggestion as I may have to try that.

 

I was talking to a guy last week who has an electric dragster. Don't laugh, it runs 7's.
Anyway he was telling me about his latest battery pack and that it was made up of a lot of 2 pound 12 volt segments that were powerful enough to start 3 diesel trucks at the same time. He pointed to his Dodge pickup, so I assume he wasn't refering to the 18-wheeler type.
I failed to ask how well they'd work in an average car. Opps!
Well, at least you know battery development is in high gear.

 

Those would destroy themselves under the heat of an engine bay though...

Otherwise I'd just ditch the lead-acid batteries and go with a LI-POLY under my hood It would be 20 times lighter and store the same energy...

 

That wouldn't be an option on my daily driver... Maybe I should go up another size or two to make sure I have enough energy on my batt?

 

How much weight are you actually saving? These seem to have a lot of drawbacks for a daily driver. Especially as much and as far as you drive your car Sam.

 

20 pounds. That's a lot of weight... Specially on a car that is front heavy...
In fact that is so much weight that if I were to take the front battery off, and put a Braille in the trunk, my car would be lighter AND better balanced with the supercharger, than it was in stock form!

So now you understand the appeal

 

You would be fine if it was your daily driver. When the weather was nice and I was driving it everyday I never needed a charge. Only if the car sits for more than 3-5 days do I need to charge it.

 

I also am thinking of replacing my battery.. however, I "Bracket" race and a few pounds more or less will not matter.. If my car is 20 lb heavier I can just change my "Dial" because to me CONSISTENCY is more important than SPEED...

I was thinking of an Optima "YELLOW" because as I understand the YELLOW TOP is a deep cycle, & I usually run my fans, (and soon an electric water pump) between rounds...

I think the yellow top is better suited than the RED top to run the fans and water pump for app 5-10 min between rounds..

Going with the battery you are looking at WILL take a lot of weight off the car, but (I Think you drag race it) or if you road race it yes it will give the car a balance closer to 50/50

I don't know if the Optima is much heavier than the stock battery ?? But I know I'll be able to cool my car to 150 deg.. in 5-10 min for the next round of Drag Racing... and that means it will be consistent, ..

My old LT1 would slow down a full tenth when the engine temp went over 180... I'm not sure on the new LS motors as I haven't run it on 90 deg days yet...

Also as Tony B4 says even with my OEM battery I put the car on a battery Tender if its not going to be used for more than 3-4 days...

With a very small light battery like you are thinking of getting, will it be worth the weight savings for the small increase in performance..

With Tony B4 (I think he just runs to get the BEST ET he can get (& its Damn Good)

 

I have a Dynabatt. On my second one as I let the first one die to many times and basically burned a cell. This was my poor maintenance of the battery so please dont fault Dynabatt.

If its a daily driver you will be fine even without a trickle charger. The battery has enough juice to crank these motors daily and even every other day. If you dont drive the car for days or weeks at a time u definitely need a trickle charger.

Also as many have pointed out do not leave the door or radio on for more than 5mins or so. You will KILL the small battery in no time.

I love the weight savings I gained and also the cleanliness of that part of the bay. I have mine mounted in the stock location laying flat. I had a 1" x 8" or so piece of aluminum that I drilled 2 holes in. Used long bolts with lock washers and tightened it down. I do autocross, mtn driving, and every other style of driving and it has never once moved. I even have the lower holding point still in there that bolts to the bottom of the tray.

Would I recommend a small battery- yes

Just make sure you follow the cautions and u are all good.

 

I run an Optima D51R

It weighs 26lbs, 450 cca @ zero degrees, 575 cca @32 degrees, capacity 38 amp hours, reserve capacity of 66 minutes

I made a custom hold down bracket but I used a bolt and large washer before that