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The emphatic "Never" regarding charging at the track has me wondering why; on that strategy...Thanks for sharing...

I use an Odyssey battery (2+ yrs old now) and 150 amp (100 amp at idle) rated alternator with 2-1 pulleys and 2 gauge cable in my race car. Less than 1 minute after starting the engine, the battery voltage will be equal to or greater than 14.3v on my digital dash. Measuring voltage at the battery with a multimeter will show a slightly higher reading.

Prior to loading my car for an event, I use my multimeter to check the battery voltage. If over 12.65v I don’t charge. Odyssey instructions state as long as the resting voltage is greater than 12.65v charging is not necessary. My battery is Never on a battery tender.

I returned from a four-day event two weekends ago. Two days later enabled the disconnect briefly that feeds the relay board and turned on the ignition to retrieve the ecu data acquisition. Main battery power to the starter/ alternator and ECU/ Dash are always on. After sitting another six days I just checked the battery now…..12.87v….. Very typical.

I’ve raced back-to-back rounds (as many as five in 70 minutes) and even using the water pump and fan for 2-3 minutes between rounds to drop the temp 20+ degrees, has no effect on multiple starting.

I would not own a battery that cannot maintain a ready charge when sitting idle without an electrical draw for a one month or longer period. One that needs to be attached to a battery tender to work properly is a poor choice or needs replacement imho.

In the five month off season, I remove any draw on the battery, charge the battery with my Interactor charger and leave it sit in the car until spring. This Odyssey battery checks greater than 12.65v in spring, and most times at 12.8x volt. As the last one aged into year 8 + 9, it measured 12.6x volts in spring after sitting five months.

I keep the battery charger in the back of the truck, where I won’t back over it or tow it to the staging lanes.

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Originally posted by Big Steve:

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Originally posted by TonyB6255:
I ran a Powermaster Ultra Mini 50amp for years but last year year Mark Payne built me a 75 amp Ultra and I do always charge between rounds but I have double entered etc for years without issue.

Tony, did you have any problems with the Powermaster alternator?
I was looking at the Denso mini 75amp XS volt Powermaster for a future project. This one has an adjustable regulator that adjust 13.5-18.5 volt output

I was using the Powermaster 50 amp Ultra with adjustable regulator for years without issue. I upgraded to the 75amp HOP last year but kept the Powermaster as a spare. That car is gone now and I am leaving for NC to pick up my new Racetech on Thursday. I went with East Coast mini 120 amp for the new car,

Powermaster has been mentioned several times in this thread. Powermaster is some of best Starters made.

I had one very expensive Alternator, one that many brag is the best ever for years and it finally quit working. I took it to a local shop to be repaired and asked him what inside was so special because this was a stupid expensive alternator. Anyway he took it apart and showed me everything was all factory original stuff, only thing different was the sticker on the outside. And price. A regulator or something inside had went bad which happens, he fixed it and I ran it for years after that. Nothing wrong with that brand but I will never buy another one at that price. In fact since you can get alternators so cheap and they are easy to change and knowing most are all same thing inside I will probably buy new cheap ones now. I see no need to spend $400 for the name when I can get same thing for $100. I can afford it but still do not want to waste money.

Always try to run an alternator and on this last car I am building simply no place to put one. Has mechanical fuel and oil pump on front of motor, vacuum pump and crank trigger. Simply no place at all for alternator. Can not be turned around backwards and mounted to frame because radiator is there.

Starters- I always want a good starter. for years I had a Tilton Super Starter as I thought they were the best at that time. I bought a Powermaster and like it much better. The Tilton has been my backup spare ever since.

There may be some more generic starters that are as good but at this time I am not going to take a chance.

I do recommend you keep a new spare nose gear and Solenoid for those starters in your trailer.

Is there any way to actually test these 16v batteries?

Here’s how our two dragsters are set up.

12V optima batteries with 55 amp East Coast Auto Electric (now east coast alternator) alternators.

Have solar panels on the roof of the trailer feeding through a battery tender solar charge controller connected to each battery when the cars are in the trailer. Roll them out at the beginning of a weekend and they’re always fully charged. I almost never charge either one with a regular charger. Exception is if we put a bunch of runs on in a few days I’ll put the charger on which typically goes to full after 10-15 minutes anyway.

Both cars have mechanical injection so no electric fuel pump, but we have our barrel valves set up on the lean side so the fan is on most of the time the cars are running.