Battery charging question

[jhenn4716]

What do you guys use for a jump battery?

[hardingfv32-1]

1) Is your car wired to start on the plug in/booster battery only?

2) Do you plan on using the booster battery on pre-grid? How heavy can it be?

Brian

[SR Racing]

What do you guys use for a jump battery?

We normally don't use any "jump" battery. We start off the Vee's internal battery. We do carry a jump battery that we use for the power lift and some other accessories. It is a small car battery in a shop made 2 wheeled cart. It has SBS connectors on it matching the connectors on our chargers and cars. If we are suspect of a batteries capabilty to start we can roll the jump battery to the grid and plug it in for start assist.

We did lots of testing with batteries, Vee loads and etc. A typical Vee battery has 15 to 20 ah rating. (Meaning that it can provide 15 to 20 amps for 1 hour at above a 12.2V level. (A fully charged battery is about 12.7 volts.) (Some manufactures specs vary.) Starting a Vee engine requires an instantaneous load of anywhere from 30 to 80 amps depending upon temp, throttle position etc. (IN THEORY this means you could crank a Vee with a fresh battery for as much as 20 minutes or so. However this is not the case, since the AH rating on the batteries are not linear and the battery and starter heat decreases this substantially. A running Vee uses an average of less than 5 ah, so it will easily run a Vee for several hours. (Actually longer since a standard Vee engine won't drop a bit of HP until the ignition voltage drops below 10 volts or so.) (Actually a Vee runs quite well with 6 flashlight batteries (9.6 volts) It won't start though ) Done it.

The hardest thing you can do to any Lead Acid, AGM, Gell etc battery is to start the car with it, let it drop to under 75% of its fully charged level and let it sit for days, or rapid charge it faster than 10a or so.. We can't do anthing about the first issue, but you can the last two.

[jhenn4716]

1) Is your car wired to start on the plug in/booster battery only?

2) Do you plan on using the booster battery on pre-grid? How heavy can it be?

Brian

The car is not yet setup with a plug in option, but I'm considering it.

Yes I was planning on using the booster batter on the pre-grid, lighter is better of course.. don't want my crew cursing me for buying the heaviest battery.

[SR Racing]

Do use the SBS type connectors. They are reliable and trying to use aligator clips on your starter motor for charging or assist start is a pain. SBS connectors are not gender specific an you can put thim on your charger, Vee, and assist battery so everything is plug and play. We carry them all in stock. (We also have the trickle chargers etc. and great pricing. http://sracing.com/Store/Electrical/Electrical.htm
Jim