Robert, were you and your car at SEMA? If so I probably saw it. What car was yours?

- Tony

 

Neither I nor any of my cars were at SEMA.

 

I'm anxious for updates too

 

Tony

I was the one at SEMA and looked for other battery mfg's. Fairly light on that front w/o anything too interesting or new....figure PRI may be a better place to look.

I didn't see you guys, but then again if you were in the "electronics, etc." hall I didn't spend much time there. A lot of stuff to look at and we only attended one day.

What I did see that was interesting, was that the guy at Braille had a visual aid/dissembled battery he used to explain a few things and show build quality. Do you guys have any cutaway photos of your battery? That'd be interesting to see build quality.

Thanks.

 

We didn't have a booth (we are a new small company). We don't have any cutaway photos as it would give away information on how we package our batteries, but we are constantly looking for ways to improve build quality (we've been making small improvements here and there, right now we are working on changes to improve vibration resistance for the more extreme racing environment, and possibly a lighter casing). The basic design is for the most part finalized, it's just the packaging for racing environments is not finalized.

- Tony

 

Anyone buy one of these yet? Silly question, but if the Voltphreaks 6lb battery goes dead can it be charged or jump-started like a standard automotive battery?

 

Yes it can be charged or jump started, if it goes dead. If you let the battery discharge below 9V, you can still charge it. Most lead-acid's will be ruined at this point.

If you take the battery all the way to close to 0 volts (for example, leaving it in the car for 3 months), some chargers may not charge it (some chargers won't start charging if the battery is below 3V, or maybe 9V, as a feature).

We don't recommend taking the battery under 3 volts, except at a very very slow drain rate (for example, in a parked car). Anything higher than that (for example, shorting the terminals, or attaching any higher load on the battery and leaving it connected, like a 12V light bulb, etc) may damage the battery due to possible cell reversal.

One customer with an Elise had let his battery sit for a very long time until it was reading 0 volts. He couldn't charge it with any of his chargers, so we recommended him hooking up another 12V battery to it (positive to positive, negative to negative) with long thin wires (a rudimentary resistor, to reduce the charging current), as a way to dump charge the battery from the other 12V battery. It didn't take long for the battery to get up to a couple volts, at which point his battery chargers were able to take over. No damage to the battery as it had discharged to 0 volts over a period of weeks (a slow, low current discharge).

- Tony

 

The Optima red top can not be charged again if it goes to 0V.
Ruined one by letting it sit in my Jeep in 3 weeks without charging, but the yellow top (also mounted in the Jeep) made it through .

Now running a Odyssey 925MFJ in the 993, but no experience yet since i just installed it.

But i have one question : if one has decided for a Optima, then why a red top ? wouldn't a yellow top be more suitable for our P-cars since most of us are not running winches/diesel engines or huge stereos and many of us let the car sit in between ?

 

After months of testing on a variety of vehicles, and with some caveats, particularly relating to the need to be careful not to overcharge or undercharge, I can say that the nanophosphate lithium ion batteries are an excellent way to save weight -- and even at $1000 for the 18 Ah 6 pound model, the weight savings per pound can be justified in certain vehicles. Having said that, if you have a 5000 pound street car, taking 50 pounds of weight off will have little or no effect. On the other hand, on a car such as Humpty Dumpty seeking to optimize performance, this type of battery is well worth it. And, as Voltphreaks is currently the best commercially available such battery I have seen, particularly with certain improvements made to it over the past five months, it will be mounted with a specially made carbon fiber strap.

 

From their website:

When charging/jumping:
1. When jumping the Voltphreaks battery, never turn on other car's ignition. Turning on ignition can result in excessive amperage to the Voltphreaks battery, causing overheating and possible bursting/fire (the same warning applies to lead-acid motorcycle batteries also). Voltphreaks battery can provide a jump start other cars like normal.
2. Do not discharge below 11V. If discharged to 9V or less do not use, battery is destroyed.
3. When battery is discharged but above 9V (cannot crank car, etc), battery must be slow charged before use.
4. When leaving the car in storage for 2+ weeks, we recommend hooking up a battery tender to avoid a dead battery.

 

Mr. Linton's comments are a great testament to Voltphreaks, good luck with your business Tony.

 

Bob, any real down sides to the battery?
use in a daily driven car for instance....
also can you make a second strap?
40lbs will get me under 2500 lbs , so it is enticing

 

Thanks for the update Bob,

Sounds like it is still not ideal for a semi daily since I often forget to turn the radar detector off, which will discharge my battery within days. I may still take the plunge just once until I destroy it the first time I forget to turn the detector off. I'm too lazy to keep it on a tender.

 

That's the real question...When is the weight break noticable (subjectively and objectively). Personally I feel 40lbs is 40lbs and = to about 4 HP....so that's good right? But how "light" does a car need to be to make a difference. I'm guessing w/a Caterham or Lotus it'd be smart $$ as you can't really pull anymore weight off those w/o going w/Ti or carbon. On a P-car its just a heavy car by such standards. I am in same boat as Cup#12 as my car is down in the 2600/2700 range, but it has over 400hp...so would 40 lbs be good? I'll probably go w/a heavier battery w/better Ah and maybe only save 20lbs instead.

Now for our racing cars its a different deal. Not just the weight issue, but it will allow us to move weight (or more weight) where we want it in the car. Big difference. A street car is a street car and a race car is a race car. Neat to think of your street car as a race car, but its just not...wrong DNA.

But man is it fun to by the racey bits and bobs!

 

So true!