I have a question, or several I guess.

I have the opportunity to buy an almost new Braille 11 with an aluminum Braille mount for cheap. I've been thinking about options for a better intake that draws ambient air in from the cowl, and always looking for ways to shed some weight. My thinking is if I could put the battery in the trunk I could use the area where the battery is now for an air box and plum it into the cowl. Also removing 35 pounds from the nose of the car. The Brailles model number is as far as I know the weight of that particular battery. So the Braille 11 weighs 11 pounds. I would be adding the weight of the cabling back in but shouldn't be 24 pounds so still a savings, and better distribution. My biggest question is, is the Braille 11 big enough for a dd R50?? I don't have any extra power robbing accessories like a stereo or auxiliary lighting, actually a lot of the lights have been converted to LED. I live in NC too so it's not a particularly cold climate. If it is big enough I'll try to get it this weekend. The next question is, what size cabling would I need? And can I just run the power wire to the front and ground to the frame in the back? Or do I need to run a power and ground back to the original connection point under the hood? And all that being said, would voltage drop be an issue in the power cable with such a small battery mounted in the trunk?

If that battery is big enough to run the car but only in the factory location I'll still get it, just wouldn't be able to modify the intake the way I want. Any input from people in the know would be a huge help!

 

The "first" thing you need to do...is go to the Braille web site, find the #11 battery, verify the specifics of that battery.
Then, check the specifics of the battery...in your car now.
Compare the numbers. If the same, or very close (or the Braille is higher)...go for it.

And absolutely, removing weight from the front is ALWAYS a good thing. The more evenly, front to rear distributed weight is, the overall better the car will handle. Actually, the more "centered" in the car the weight is, the better
And, don't worry about the battery cable weight...you are spreading it from front to rear.
Be SURE to use "1" or "0" cable. The longer the run, the larger the cable needs to be, even though the draw isn't overly large with the small Mini starter, the larger cable will handle your extra loads better than lighter cable without getting overly hot.

Just like in the R53, S cars, battery in the back. You may be able to go to a wreaking yard and buy an S battery box and adapt it to your car, although an exhaust system change will be required, just like the R53 S cars.

Mike

 

Awesome. Thanks Mike! I don't plan to run it in the R53 location as I have a spare and leave it in when I travel. I'm thinking about mounting it on the passenger side to offset my body weight while driving. 98% of the time I'm the only person in the car. I still like some level of driver comfort but love shedding weight anywhere I can without detracting from the joy this car is to drive...if that makes sense.

 

So the battery in my car now is rated at 645CA with 525CCA and 100 minute reserve capacity.

The Braille had a PCA rating of 904 for 5 seconds, 791 for 10 seconds, and 698 for 20 seconds. No clue what pulse cranking amps is or how it relates. I guess I'll have to Google it. Then it lists HCA at 585, CA at 486, and CCA at 360, with a reserve of 25 minutes and capacity is 15 amp hour (C/20 rate).

CA and CCA look low but then you have PCA which is way higher, gotta figure out what PCA is. Reserve is low too but the way I use my car and it's load as long as the battery is healthy I'm not as concerned about that.

 

I found some info on PCA vs CCA so I figured I'd post it up here in case anyone is looking for the same info. Pulse cranking amps is a short term rating. CCA is how many amps a battery can supply for 30 seconds at 0 degrees fahrenheit. So the listed pulse cranking amps on a Braille is literally supposed to be exactly what they list it at. So it should supply 904 amps for 5 seconds, 791 amps for 10 seconds, and so on. IDK if my car even cranks for a whole second before it starts, so going off that I'd say this battery is plenty big enough.

But then I remember reading somewhere that your alternator has limited output at idle. So if your sitting at a light in the middle of summer and the ac is running and the fan is on, maybe it's raining too so your lights and wipers are on, will the battery keep up? Or will the alternator still be putting out enough to keep the car running. Kinda thinking out loud here...

 

I have an Odyssey PC680 and it was doing fine for 2-3 years, but I can tell it's starting to struggle a bit. It's still kinda heavy for its size and it's like half the CCA of the factory one, plan on going for a Braille one when I replace it as it's stronger all around for a similar weight.

 

Which Braille are you looking at? Looks like the #11 (the one I'm considering) is rated quite a bit higher than the PC680 so if you've had the 680 for 3 years then I might give this thing a try. Even in the stock location, with no other changes I'd be dropping 24 pounds off the nose of the car.

 

This was delivered this week. Haven't had any time to do anything with it yet though because I've been working 80 hours a week. I think I'm gonna put it in the stock location to see how it works. If it holds up to the demand of a dd I may relocate it. Haven't decided yet...

 

Still no real updates on this. Its not super high on my list of priorities so I haven't made time to work on it. God knows I don't have spare time so anything I do means something else doesn't get done. I am still collecting parts though. I have the + cable, some terminals, heat shrink tubing, a 250 amp fuse. I'll get to it eventually. The biggest hang-up is figuring out how to run the power cable from the boot to bonnet. And where to actually mount the battery. I may put the tools to mount the spare in a bag and mount the battery under the rear carpet like an R53. I still need to do some measuring to see if there is enough room.

 

FINALLY AN UPDATE!!!!! Ok so I had a little time this morning and already had the mini in the barn to replace a radiator hose. I tore the stock battery and battery box out and went to town installing the Braille. It turned out ok imo. I didn't get too carried away with the box/heat shield because I'm still thinking about relocating it to the hatch. Haven't decided yet. I also want to test it for awhile in the factory location to see how it does. A lot of R53 owners run the Odyssey PC680 (in the hatch) and have pretty good luck with it. Not sure I want to give up any room in the hatch or add the weight of the cable. I've read about a bunch of other headaches associated with a trunk mount too so I may just leave it where it is for now.

Has anyone ever swapped batteries and had the tire pressure light and DSC light come on afterwards?
I put air in the tires when I had it in the shop and the tire light usually comes on when I forget to reset the monitor but since the DSC light came on at the same time I'm wondering if something else is going on. I drove it about a half mile before the lights lit up.

I'll have to see if I can figure anything out with that but for now I'm going to put some miles on it and see if it sorts itself out.

Here's some pictures of the install:


OEM box removed and anodized billet Braille mount in.



Making a template.


Hacking up an old 5 gallon Kaeser oil jug to make a heat shield/battery box



All done. I riveted all the pieces together. Not as nice as I'd hoped it would be but until I know it works I'm not spending any more money on it and the jug pieces will have to do. The top is removable for easy access to the battery should I need it

 

Here's a picture from the top I meant to add to the last post.

 

Nice work man, good to see that you were able to find some time

 

It's working great so far. Cranks a lot faster than the original battery. I also figured out the TPMS and DSC light, there was a wire under the e-brake handle getting pinched. I moved the wires and it hasn't come back.
I think I may build a better looking box to house the battery and keep it under the hood if it continues to work well. I'll buy some sheets of plastic to build a good one though instead of hacking up old oil cans.

 

Battery boxes exist off course, unless you dont want to go for that look. Random pic of the old interwebz:

 

That's actually a great idea! If I could find something like that that fit the Braille well it'd look WAY better than chopped up plastic and rivets lol. I would still like to be able to use my Braille mount so I'll just have to take a bunch of measurements to make sure I get one the right size.
As mentioned before I wasn't 100% sure this battery would be big enough so I didn't want to put any more money into it until I knew for sure. Yesterday was a good test, pouring rain, hot and humid, and a road trip for work. Only a couple hundred miles but I was running the ac/defrost, lights, wipers, and had the radio going too. It was highway and secondary road driving not stop and go but it did great. Never seemed to be taxed. There were a few stop lights but clearly no problem with reserve capacity. I may get one of those little voltage meters that plugs into the cigarette lighter to monitor it. I've read where the alternator doesn't put out full voltage at idle but that doesn't necessarily mean it's not enough to run the car with a full accessory load. I think the R50 has a higher output alternator than the R53 also.

I'll keep this thread updated if I run into any problems with it.

 

Update:
I've been rocking the Braille for a week and a half now. This car is very much a DD and I travel a lot. 40k+ miles a year actually. I just drove it from NC to NY and back, around 1000 miles round trip. It rained part of the trip in both directions and was hot the whole time. So I was using the AC, lights, wipers, and had the radio on. I had zero issues and didn't notice any difference between the Braille and the 50 pound lead anchor it replaced, and I was looking.

I have some other issues to address like a timing service and new injectors/tune but I plan to find a battery box like the one Andy suggested as I'm confident this battery will do what I want it to.

 

UPDATE:
I believe I've found the limit of this tiny 11 pound Braille battery. Cold temperatures are its nemesis. A week or two ago we had overnight lows in the mid 30's and I noticed slower than usual cranking on startup. This morning was 25 degrees at my house and I had parked it outside overnight, instead of in the somewhat climate controlled attached garage. All I got when I turned the key was 2 clicks. She wouldn't actually turn over. A set of jumper cables hooked to the Expedition and she fired right up and ran great the entire 80 mile commute. The Mini had not ran since the previous Thursday though and I usually drive it every day. So basically it sat unused for 5 days was then exposed to sub freezing temperatures before it would no longer start the car. I have no idea how old this battery actually is or how much it was used prior to me buying it, I got it second hand from someone that simply stated "it wasn't big enough for their needs". I'm now debating weather I should put the original battery back in for the winter months (along with my home brew intake) or wing it and see if its the combination of sitting and cold or just the cold. I'm not a fan of jump starting cars at 3:30 in the morning or being stranded with a weak battery so I'll probably just swap it until springtime. I also don't want to risk damaging this Braille pushing it too far past its capability.

 

Get a SOLAR brand BA-9 Battery Tester. It will tell you the actual condition of any battery type. Small and easy to use, too. Hre's a decent review on YouTube:

 

Figured I should update this thread. Not terribly long after putting my original battery back in I started having problems with that one too. Long story short, my alternator was bad. I'm going to keep the big battery in until it gets a little warmer because I regularly travel north for work and don't want to experiment while I'm 700+ miles from home lol. I don't suspect I'll have any problems with the Braille as long as its over freezing. When it needs replacing I'm going to upgrade to the B2015 or B2317. The price is the same but the 17 is a little larger both dimensionally and in capacity but may not fit my mount. The 15 should still fit my mount and says its DD capable in 4 and 6 cylinder cars but states the following on their website;

- Note: while high in cranking amps, make sure battery has enough capacity for the vehicle intended to be used in and note that small lead batteries are not designed or intended for use is freezing temps-

The B2317 has no such message so it may be the better option in a 4 season DD.

 

Maybe wrapping the battery to keep it alittle warmer may help ?

 

I have been thinking about that. I have a bunch of Hushmat leftover from when I was trying to cut down on some of the exhaust noise entering the cabin. I was considering wrapping the battery or the battery box with it.