Cerbera battery mounting
Discussion
Having a dead battery, which as an aside seems to cause lots of 'brown out' issues on the car electrics so if the car does start but the voltage has dipped too far in the starting process you can get interesting things like the indicators not working or the ice warning light stuck on, I removed the battery (first remove air box) to find a number of things.
(1) the clamp which grips the battery and is just a 20mm/20mm right-angle bit of steel fails to grip the battery very well at all.
(2) the battery plate was an ex-plate. Fortunately with a bit of a clean up it will do until I can resolve the problem.
[3] the battery plate only goes about 1/3 the way under the battery. I was about to put this down to some dubious repair but then saw that it has TVR powder coat falling off it, as well as what looks like silver paint of some kind... A look round confirms this as Racetech did (rather than do I think) a replacement
This all means that the battery
- has no support at the wing-side end so is free to bounce about
- its not too hard for it to try and come out of the clamp at the engine side
- has a metal ridge under it where the plate stops.
You can see the latter if you look at the dirt pattern in the photo of the cubbyhole it goes in
You can also see where the battery has worn the paint a bit.
I've packed the replacement out with some high density closed cell foam I had to stop it banging about and shaped a block of wood to go under the angle bracket to clamp the engine side end of the battery as well as possible without risk of damaging the battery. However this is a short term fix.
Stainless steel nuts and bolts from ebay and I can make a new plate out of stainless steel. http://www.clickmetal.co.uk/ will cut a sheet to size meaning most of the hard cutting is done for me but now comes the issue of clamping. I can use some 10mm stainless square tube and some 20mm/3mm flat bar to make a clamp at the wing end trading 10cm max battery length for gripping it well but...
retaining the battery to the plate will mean that all that weight has leverage over the two bolts holding the plate to the (I think) inserts glassed into the body so am I now in danger of simply breaking those when I go over a bump? Is holding it in a shaped foam case then retaining that a better idea?
Anyone out there addressed this problem?
(1) the clamp which grips the battery and is just a 20mm/20mm right-angle bit of steel fails to grip the battery very well at all.
(2) the battery plate was an ex-plate. Fortunately with a bit of a clean up it will do until I can resolve the problem.
[3] the battery plate only goes about 1/3 the way under the battery. I was about to put this down to some dubious repair but then saw that it has TVR powder coat falling off it, as well as what looks like silver paint of some kind... A look round confirms this as Racetech did (rather than do I think) a replacement
This all means that the battery
- has no support at the wing-side end so is free to bounce about
- its not too hard for it to try and come out of the clamp at the engine side
- has a metal ridge under it where the plate stops.
You can see the latter if you look at the dirt pattern in the photo of the cubbyhole it goes in
You can also see where the battery has worn the paint a bit.
I've packed the replacement out with some high density closed cell foam I had to stop it banging about and shaped a block of wood to go under the angle bracket to clamp the engine side end of the battery as well as possible without risk of damaging the battery. However this is a short term fix.
Stainless steel nuts and bolts from ebay and I can make a new plate out of stainless steel. http://www.clickmetal.co.uk/ will cut a sheet to size meaning most of the hard cutting is done for me but now comes the issue of clamping. I can use some 10mm stainless square tube and some 20mm/3mm flat bar to make a clamp at the wing end trading 10cm max battery length for gripping it well but...
retaining the battery to the plate will mean that all that weight has leverage over the two bolts holding the plate to the (I think) inserts glassed into the body so am I now in danger of simply breaking those when I go over a bump? Is holding it in a shaped foam case then retaining that a better idea?
Anyone out there addressed this problem?
The later design is a brass nut bonded into the body at the airbox end and a piece of U section steel holds the battery in. I've replaced the U section with a stainless steel copy which I've made for a few people. I lined the section with foil tape. Doesn't really do anything other than protecting the surface. I did look into making a battery box but my sheet metal folder won't do folds that deep. But am making a new sheet metal folder sommight be able to go back to my idea soon.
wurgle said:
Stainless steel nuts and bolts from ebay and I can make a new plate out of stainless steel.
Hey @wurgle - to remove the existing bolts holding the battery plate in do you need to get a spanner on the back of the bolt too or are the nuts for the bolts captive in the body? Mine seem to be spinning without really loosening as I try and unbolt them...
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