Voltphreaks VPH900 Review
08-04-2012, 10:34 AM
#1
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Voltphreaks VPH900 Review
Have had the VPH-900 for almost two months now. In between track events and regular street use, I've gathered my impressions of this excellent product and its installation:
- It's bloodly light, and very well built. 6lbs all-in vs OEM "lightweight" battery of 37lbs. Feels real sturdy in your hand--no flex or rattles whatsoever. Battery terminals and switchgear all feel solid and designed to last.
- It mounts vertically using the Braille 6188 mounting kit with 8" J-hooks. The hooks loop right into the OEM battery base plate (mine comes with pre-drilled holes but no biggie if you have to break out a 3/8th bit for two little holes yourself--unscrew the whole plate and drill away; don't drill the plate as mounted as the fuel tank is directly underneath!). The battery's light enough that you DON'T need a super-heavy duty (expensive) bracket to hold it in place. This Braille kit costs less than $20 on Amazon ( ). You need to crimp the stubs on the J-hooks about an inch so they don't come into contact with the plastic OEM battery cover. (I suspect the 6" version may be too short so I didn't try). There are plenty of other mounting options so choose as you see fit.
J-hooks dig into holes in the OEM battery baseplate:
- Get the remote wiring harness. It's cheap insurance and you WILL need it one day. One poster here managed to thread the wire into his cabin through a grommet in the firewall, but I didn't fancy the idea of wielding drills and cutters close to major wiring looms, so I opted for a solution in the wiper area. The two removable plastic covers on either side of the wipers which are perfectly sized for this. Pop either cover (I chose the right side to avoid the A/C filter on the left) and you'll find a cubbyhole that fits the switch just right. At the bottom of this cubbyhole is an opening into the battery area through which the wire can run. Replace the cover after threading the wire, and you have an easily accessible battery on/off switch.
Low-tech security device? It's a good gimmick at least until this post went public LOL! (I plan to wrap this in cellophane in the near future to isolate the switch from rainwater just to be safe)
Battery Performance
- There's more than enough juice for an occasionally driven car. My RS gets taken out once every week or two for a short drive, and each time the engine turned over up nice and strong. When the battery first got installed the starter motor did sound slower than usual, but soon as the battery gained a full charge everything was back to normal. You wouldn't suspect a different battery in the frunk if nobody mentioned. It's that transparent.
- Foolproof low-voltage cut-off. Being the type who likes to discover the limits, I left my key in the ignition and a roof light on just to see how long this baby would last. Surprisingly, a whole day and half went by before the cut-off got triggered. One press of the remote on/off switch and the electricals (and interior light) snapped back to life. The engine subsequently turned over like nothing happened. I wouldn't count on a post-cutoff battery to be good for too many "cranks", but as a failsafe mechanism this totally worked as advertised (there's the usual PASM and TC failure warnings post-restart, but that's common to any battery disconnect and went away within 30 seconds of driving)
Green light comes right back on with a press of the remote switch... engine's good to go again:
I'm rather glad to have bought this from Tony at the discounted price. 31lbs saved high up in the car for $900 is a great bargain. Best of all, it's transparent and (until now) entirely foolproof.
- It's bloodly light, and very well built. 6lbs all-in vs OEM "lightweight" battery of 37lbs. Feels real sturdy in your hand--no flex or rattles whatsoever. Battery terminals and switchgear all feel solid and designed to last.
- It mounts vertically using the Braille 6188 mounting kit with 8" J-hooks. The hooks loop right into the OEM battery base plate (mine comes with pre-drilled holes but no biggie if you have to break out a 3/8th bit for two little holes yourself--unscrew the whole plate and drill away; don't drill the plate as mounted as the fuel tank is directly underneath!). The battery's light enough that you DON'T need a super-heavy duty (expensive) bracket to hold it in place. This Braille kit costs less than $20 on Amazon ( ). You need to crimp the stubs on the J-hooks about an inch so they don't come into contact with the plastic OEM battery cover. (I suspect the 6" version may be too short so I didn't try). There are plenty of other mounting options so choose as you see fit.
J-hooks dig into holes in the OEM battery baseplate:
- Get the remote wiring harness. It's cheap insurance and you WILL need it one day. One poster here managed to thread the wire into his cabin through a grommet in the firewall, but I didn't fancy the idea of wielding drills and cutters close to major wiring looms, so I opted for a solution in the wiper area. The two removable plastic covers on either side of the wipers which are perfectly sized for this. Pop either cover (I chose the right side to avoid the A/C filter on the left) and you'll find a cubbyhole that fits the switch just right. At the bottom of this cubbyhole is an opening into the battery area through which the wire can run. Replace the cover after threading the wire, and you have an easily accessible battery on/off switch.
Low-tech security device? It's a good gimmick at least until this post went public LOL! (I plan to wrap this in cellophane in the near future to isolate the switch from rainwater just to be safe)
Battery Performance
- There's more than enough juice for an occasionally driven car. My RS gets taken out once every week or two for a short drive, and each time the engine turned over up nice and strong. When the battery first got installed the starter motor did sound slower than usual, but soon as the battery gained a full charge everything was back to normal. You wouldn't suspect a different battery in the frunk if nobody mentioned. It's that transparent.
- Foolproof low-voltage cut-off. Being the type who likes to discover the limits, I left my key in the ignition and a roof light on just to see how long this baby would last. Surprisingly, a whole day and half went by before the cut-off got triggered. One press of the remote on/off switch and the electricals (and interior light) snapped back to life. The engine subsequently turned over like nothing happened. I wouldn't count on a post-cutoff battery to be good for too many "cranks", but as a failsafe mechanism this totally worked as advertised (there's the usual PASM and TC failure warnings post-restart, but that's common to any battery disconnect and went away within 30 seconds of driving)
Green light comes right back on with a press of the remote switch... engine's good to go again:
I'm rather glad to have bought this from Tony at the discounted price. 31lbs saved high up in the car for $900 is a great bargain. Best of all, it's transparent and (until now) entirely foolproof.
Last edited by CRex; 08-04-2012 at 12:48 PM.
08-04-2012, 10:41 AM
#3
GT3 player par excellence
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impressive performance for such let batt and that switch is ingenious!
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08-05-2012, 02:45 AM
#9
Race Car
08-05-2012, 07:18 AM
#11
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Thread Starter
PM vph_tony and I'm sure he can fix up another groupbuy... I get the impression that the units are built to order anyways 
08-05-2012, 12:31 PM
#13
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