Race Truck Battery/Batteries

[Bdsankey]

I am looking to see what others have used for batteries on their race trucks. Since it will be a warm weather toy I am looking at using something like a high quality AGM from Northstar/Odyssey or an antigravity batteries lithium. I do not know what capacities and CA has worked for others so I am seeking that information. I will be mounting the battery or batteries in the rear of the truck next to the fuel cell and will be running one high amperage lead up to the front of the truck to tie into the OEM jump point.

 

[2004LB7]

I'm probably not qualified to comment in this area as I don't have a race vehicle but if I was in your shoes I'd just use a bank of super capacitors. 6x in series will match the vehicles charging system (unless you don't run an alternator then I would do lithium) and weight less then 10 lbs and provide huge starting current if needed. they can sit dead all winter long and charge back up in the spring with no loss of life. they have no hazardous acids or any risk of fire

I've been using the Maxwell BCAP3000 in my vehicles for about 8 years now

 

[Bdsankey]

I'm game to try just about anything. The truck will have an alternator as well. I just know I do not want to run a conventional battery due to the vibrations and accelerations the vehicle will see that I think will not yield itself well to a conventional wet cell battery like what is in most vehicles hence the want to go Lithium or AGM.

 

[2004LB7]

here's an eBay one that is practically ready to go. 1000f setup.

12x Maxwell BCAP3000 P270 Ultra Capacitors 3000 Farads 2.7V DC Welded Together | eBay

Each Capacitor is 3000 Farads 2.7V. Each Capacitor is 3000 Farads 2.7V DC. Schematic Diagram is at the bottom of the page showing how these are welded together. Below is the Schematic Diagram showing how these are welded together.

www.ebay.com

this one is pretty nice but got to ship from Germany

LSUC Superkondensator BoostCap LSUC 12V - 16,8V Modul, 6x 3000F | eBay

LSUC / LSUM 16,8V (6x 2,8V 3000F) Superkondensator Modul. Dies reicht z.B. aus um im Auto als BoostCap für die Soundanlage zu dienen und sogar die Autobatterie komplett zu ersetzen und somit den Verschleiss zu reduzieren.

www.ebay.com

or you could build a pack with individual ones

2.7V 3000F Super Farad Capacitor Long Foot Low ESR High Frequency Ultracapacitor | eBay

Capacitance: 3000F. ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance): 0.28m Ohm. Super capacitor only, other accessories demo in the picture is not included! 1 x Super Capacitor. Made of food grade material, strong, durable and pollution-free, good performance and long service life.

www.ebay.com

I picked mine up back when they were $20 each. now that they are more popular the price has gone way up

 

[moparkxracer]

If you run an AGM battery I would recommend getting a battery minder as well. These are different then a battery tender. It helps a lot with desulfating the battery. I’d also recommend a reduction starter to help with cold starts.

 

[Bdsankey]

If you run an AGM battery I would recommend getting a battery minder as well. These are different then a battery tender. It helps a lot with desulfating the battery. I’d also recommend a reduction starter to help with cold starts.

Yeah, I've got a Noco Genius now that I use for all my batteries and am planning on hardwiring the proper battery maintenance device onto the truck and putting a receptacle that will just take an extension cord so that I never have to mess with it. The truck will be plugged in whenever it is not running or at the track.

AGMs are more my price point but I should be able to get away with one battery. I've been running a single Interstate MTP-78DT for the last few years without an issue but that has been keeping the battery in the passenger location so any voltage drops to the starter were minimal.

 

[moparkxracer]

The battery minder will recover the CCA the noco will not. I can run one battery in my lmm.

 

[Bdsankey]

The battery minder will recover the CCA the noco will not. I can run one battery in my lmm.

How will the Noco not? It desulfates and recovers batteries as well as maintains.

 

[moparkxracer]

It’s not the same, I’ve got a couple of the genies one here. They would/will not recover the CCA. I had one battery test out at 200 CCA the battery minder recovered it to over 900.

BatteryMINDer® Model 128CEC2: 12V 2/4/8 AMP Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator & Lithium Charger Maintainer

BatteryMINDers' desulfating battery charger maintainers fully charge without ever overcharging, no matter how long they are left connected. Visit our website to browse our available products.

www.batteryminders.com

 

[Bdsankey]

It’s not the same, I’ve got a couple of the genies one here. They would/will not recover the CCA. I had one battery test out at 200 CCA the battery minder recovered it to over 900.

BatteryMINDer® Model 128CEC2: 12V 2/4/8 AMP Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator & Lithium Charger Maintainer

BatteryMINDers' desulfating battery charger maintainers fully charge without ever overcharging, no matter how long they are left connected. Visit our website to browse our available products.

www.batteryminders.com

Interesting. This Noco brought back an older optima while the second battery (was a pair of optima red tops from a used truck) didn't recover.


I'll have to look into them. I'll be hardwiring anything onto the truck so the smaller the better so I can just remember to plug the truck in and be done.

 

[2004LB7]

I make my tender/desulfator with a small 12v power adapter with a small capacitor and rectifier setup in parallel. used one on my grandmother's car as it sat a lot and didn't run enough to keep the battery healthy. seemed to recover most of the capacity and the battery didn't die anymore when parked for a few days. used more powerful ones on my own rigs for shorter times. use with a connector that prevents touching of the hot terminal as this will allow high voltage to pass when there is no load. how it works is if the battery voltage is lower the the power supply voltage then the power supply will supply the bulk of the current to charge up the battery. once the battery is at the same voltage then the capacitor and rectifier will pump in 20 to 40 milliamps of current in a 120 pulses per second. these pulses supposedly help brake up the sulfate crystals and restore capacity. it does take time to work. possibly weeks or months depending on condition of the battery

 

[turbo_bu]

Neat idea on the DIY battery minder/charger. Do you have any recommended part number(s) for the bridge rectifier or which power supplies to use? I would like to try and make some up for all the battery powered vehicles we have around.

 

[2004LB7]

Neat idea on the DIY battery minder/charger. Do you have any recommended part number(s) for the bridge rectifier or which power supplies to use? I would like to try and make some up for all the battery powered vehicles we have around.

I unsolder them from used /trash equipment. the current is quite low so I go with the smallest ones I can find. anything used to rectify line voltage is normally rated for 400+ volts which is good. I'll see if I can get more specific parts and specs.

when I built them I tend to use the 1 amp 12 volt switch mode power supplies. a transformer style should work too. often time there is plenty of room inside the case to add the capacitor and rectifier and put it all back together. it's a good idea to mark or label the power supply so you don't accidentally use it to power something else and burn it up.

 

[Bdsankey]

It’s not the same, I’ve got a couple of the genies one here. They would/will not recover the CCA. I had one battery test out at 200 CCA the battery minder recovered it to over 900.

BatteryMINDer® Model 128CEC2: 12V 2/4/8 AMP Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator & Lithium Charger Maintainer

BatteryMINDers' desulfating battery charger maintainers fully charge without ever overcharging, no matter how long they are left connected. Visit our website to browse our available products.

www.batteryminders.com

After talking to Odyssey it looks like I'll be using a Minn-Kota Precision charger (if I go AGM vs Li) that I can mount on the vehicle and still handle getting wet while meeting everything Odyssey wants.

 

[2004LB7]

Neat idea on the DIY battery minder/charger. Do you have any recommended part number(s) for the bridge rectifier or which power supplies to use? I would like to try and make some up for all the battery powered vehicles we have around.

this is from one I temporarily cobbled together at work. made it for smaller batteries so the capacitor values are less but same idea. it's not attached to any 12 adapter but this is the parts I attache to them. if I get around to it I'll either make another one or open up one I've already made

 

[Bdsankey]

Whatever solution I chose I want to go with something that is a standard DIN/BIN size so in the event of a failure I can easily replace it which leads me likely down the path of an AGM that is the 34/78 size so I can easily pull one out of my tow rig and be back up and running.

 

[2004LB7]

I can understand the desire to have something that is standard dimensions but I would argue that those super capacitors I listened above are far more reliable than any lead or lithium battery. they are rated for one million+ charge discharge cycles from 0% to 100%. I have one that I built, I want to say 8 years ago that has been in continuous use and is still going strong. they really excell at not needing to be maintained. you can literally neglect then all winter, charge them up in spring and they will work just as well as the year before. another great thing about them is they charge up in about 10 seconds or less and then draw no additional current from the alternator so it reduces load the alternator has to provide.

 

[ZeroGravity58]

I don't know enough about capacitors and stuff to trust myself building something like that . I also didn't want to spend the money on the lithium battery but we will see....I'll be the guinea pig on it. So far so good.

 

[2004LB7]

for continued discussion about building your own Maintainer / Desulfator I've made a new thread to keep this thread from getting too far off track

DIY Battery Desulfator

This is a continuation of Bdsankey's thread for is race truck batteries located here: Https://www.duramaxdiesels.com/forum/threads/race-truck-battery-batteries.88346/ but I didn't really want to hijack his thread so I am making a new one. Mods, if you want to copy the relevant parts over to this...

www.duramaxdiesels.com

 

[ZeroGravity58]

Whatever solution I chose I want to go with something that is a standard DIN/BIN size so in the event of a failure I can easily replace it which leads me likely down the path of an AGM that is the 34/78 size so I can easily pull one out of my tow rig and be back up and running.

H6/Group-48 Lithium Car Battery

Antigravity H6/Group-48 Hi-Power lightweight Lithium Automotive Battery with RESTART Technology. Replace lead/acid battery in Hi-Performance Cars.

antigravitybatteries.com

This is what I bought, a standard h6 battery which is stock for our trucks. If it would ld go.bad you could pick up another of the same batteries anywhere.