I paid something like $130 for a Mazda battery, installed, at the dealer. How can you consider any price that's higher than a dealer to be not bad?

Original Mazda battery lasted five years, which is a reasonable lifetime. I've gotten comparable life from whatever Advance Auto and similar places sell for $90 to $100 these days.

The extra money at the Mazda dealer was OK for me since a bad disc makes it dumb for me to hoist batteries myself, and I still bear psychological scars from watching one of Advance Auto's crack installers put one in my wife's Camry.

Ken

 

i did a battery reloc with the PC680, had it for about a year now and still works fine. takes a little to start up, but i ONLY drive my 8 on the track and very seldom on pub roads. i store my car in winter for 5 months too, so im really not using it that much either.

 

Sorry for the revive of this tread, but I was looking to put in a Braille battery in my 8 and wanted some feedback.
Braille has some really nice light weight lithium-ion batteries. In particular I'm looking at the Group 35 GU1R which weighs only 6.6lbs.
In addition to the weight savings they claim their lithium batteries have service life 3x that of a conventional battery and also boast a quicker start up and better off season storage.
I like the idea of this quick and easy way to shave some weight off the front end without doing a battery relocate but don't know anyone that has purchased a Braille battery or that has a lithium-ion in their car. Anyone see any possible issues with this other than cost?

 

Cant speak for their auto batteries, but as a professional photographer I use lithium-ion batteries (large ones that drives a two-plug 120 volt pack for portable studio strobes) and smaller AA and AAA lithium-ion batteries in strobes and other gear. Hey they work great and last a longer time, but boy can they get hot, very hot. The reality is that ANY Lithium-Ion battery has the same weak point, they can overheat and cause a fire, AND THEY SOMETIMES DO JUST THAT ! . I have a specially-made heat resistant pack I use to keep them in when traveling (only allowed as carry-on , not allowed to be checked where they could cause a fire in the cargo hold, where it has happened in the past). These Lithium-Ion batteries have caused fires in expensive $90,000 Tesla cars, Boeing's lasted airliner, and other vehicles and equipment.

All I am saying is no matter how good the testing and technology of this brand's lithium-ion battery is, i personally am not ready to put one in my car. A fire could start, and usually does when these batteries are just sitting, not only when they are being used. It is costing Boeing millions of dollars and Tesla a whole bunch of money to figure out how to keep these safe. Already Airbus has backed out of using them in their newest jetliner, strictly due to the fire hazard that can't seem to be engineered out of them yet.

I suggest you proceed with a great deal of caution if you plan on using this.

 

Thanks gwilliams6...I hadn't considered heat so I contacted Braille about this. They said "they are actually built to withstand engine temperatures under extreme racing conditions." I'm not sure if it's a standard line but it would make sense.


I'm not in any hurry to drop $600 on a battery so I'll keep digging around for info., but I appreciate your feedback.

 

I do not wish to rain on your parade, just think of the high standards and millions spent by Boeing and Tesla on their lithium-Ion batteries, and yet they have both had problems. I only hope all these internal battery heat problems can be solved so we can continue to take advantage of the potential great performance in these batteries. I just use mine with great caution and never leave them unattended.

The problem is not the heat in their environment " they are actually built to withstand engine temperatures under extreme racing conditions". The problem is the internal heat they can generate in use or even when not being used ,as has happened in Tesla fires and Boeing jetliner fires.

They are perhaps the future of all car batteries, but there is room for future development before that can be considered totally safe.

 

are we really comparing a 32V 64aH (dreamliner) battery against a 12V 10aH battery. here in the real world, lithium batteries pose no more risk than lead acid batteries as long as they are used properly (inside the cabin for liion instead of under the hood)

source: my engineering degree and years of working in the aerospace industry as a systems engineer

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there are lil-ion battery for automotive uses, its crazily expensive, I think a good AGM battery is more than enough for our 8.

 

And yet lithium batteries can overheat and catch fire even when sitting idle. Besides the Dreamliner incidents, there have been similar events with laptops. I feel kind of foolish keeping modern laptops in my house, although it's my understanding that they tend to swell and split open the case before igniting. So I keep the laptops in visible locations when not in use.

Ken

 

every form of technology has its risks. lest we forget of the car explosions and fires that have happened due to improper venting of lead acid batteries

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You can kill yourself with anything. But when something goes wrong with a lead acid battery you can usually figure out why: overcharging, dropping, no venting, etc. My understanding of the Dreamliner "fix" was containment if (when) one overheats rather than preventing overheating.

Ken

 

Yea for now they are containing it. The future proposed solution is to start using a lithium titanate chemistry issue being a high cost per kWh.

regardless we are trying to compare nitrogen and water cooled batteries to smaller scale car batteries.

not saying that it is totally safe...but to dismiss it because of the far and few (in the grand scheme) problems is foolish. all that aside, cost is the big question here as well as charge maintenance

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I lost count of batteries in my 07 RX8, but I think I'm on 4th or 5th.

It's always something like didn't close trunk or didn't click door lock and came back a week later.

Anyway, WM is next door so I bought one, then, when I get another one they adjust use and charge me maybe $20.

I even used the last one less than a year, and got free.

 

Bumpit. My batterys dying from the car sitting for a few weeks. Slow start, so I plan on getting a new battery soon. Anyone try a 24F group size as opposed to the stock 35? Almost all 24F series put out signifcantly more cranking amps than the 35 size. The 24F is slightly bigger too.

 

Make sure you don't block the ventillation space around the battery. There's a TSB on battery replacement, showing what needs to be left clear.

Ken

 

Yeah I've read on that. I'm not too sure if a 24F battery will block the ventilation tube. But I'd try and see if I can drill a hole and relocate it further front. If anything would anyone recommend running a 24F size and just leaving the battery cover off if ventilation is an issue?

 

Just bought a group 34/78 Redtop. I think the terminals are reversed, and its a little big, but it was for a great price. It came with some adapters, but if it doesn't fit well I'll have to relocate it to the trunk.