In regards to the issue Curly posted regarding the longevity of the 12v vrs 16 v Battery, make sure your 16volt charger is putting out more that 16 Volts... a 12v charger needs output of 14.2 to adequately charge the 12Volt Battery... I tested our 16volt charger today and the output was 19.47

My Charger(s) are working good. The thing with the 12 vs 16 volt is say 800 CCA cold cranking amps and that is the total energy. Like a 5 gallon bucket, if you have a 1 inch hole and another with a 2 inch hole the one with 2 inch hole will drain faster but the total volume 5 gallons is still same.
A 16 volt battery will spin over faster but total energy is still about same. For most of us, most of the time the 16 volt will work good, but do you really need it to spin over faster? Or do you need it to spin over longer before battery goes dead?

My original thinking when I went to 16 Volt was that even if 16 volt is down to 13 it will still start better than a 12 volt battery. That is not true. When a 16 volt battery is down around 13 or 14 it will not start the car where a 12 volt will all the way down to 9? And it goes longer before it is dead.

Both times a 16 volt let me down there were other issues but I believe the 12 volt would have started just fine.
One time I had my barrel valve not set right for that weather and it spin over but just did not want to fire off. That cost me a Win and almost a Championship. That was on my dragster and I ran an alternator on it. Got the barrel valve right and never had a problem again on it.

The other time was this year on the green car has a mechanical fuel pump, remote oil pump and vacuum pump so there was no place to mount an alternator. The big charger quit and we just had trickle charger and was not charging it enough. We got a new charger under warranty but the round was lost because car would not start. I have changed motor on the green car so now I can run an alternator and I am running two new 16 volt batteries on it. Will continue to put charger on it between rounds until I feel comfortable that it will never let me down again.

On my new Altered I have went with 12 volt system. Dan will be driving Green car next season.

It is about 6 of one and half dozen of the other and I do not care what anyone runs. It is my opinion from my experience that the 16 volts spin over faster but go dead quicker and with less warning. I suspect the Lithium batteries would be worse. Due to that, Cost and possible fires I will not be trying the Lithium. I would buy them if I thought they were at least as safe and dependable.

quote:

I am going to stay with what has worked for over 10 years. (D1600) I thought I would ask the question to get some real world answers and you basically confirmed my thoughts.
I never had a problem with my old car and a 50amp Ultra Mini and now on the new car I have a 120 amp Mini Alternator. And no matter what I always put the car on the charger after every run.

If alternator can maintain 18.5v at idle with everything that normally runs water/fuel pump, fan, ect I’d call it good.

Although 120 amp rated, output at idle is far more important imho. Disregard what your volt gauge or data acquisition displays. Use a multimeter and measure it at the battery for the actual reading at idle.

(mem) ... I never charge battery at the track…….. NEVER!!

nothing wrong with lithium batteries

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:


If alternator can maintain 18.5v at idle with everything that normally runs water/fuel pump, fan, ect I’d call it good.

Although 120 amp rated, output at idle is far more important imho. Disregard what your volt gauge or data acquisition displays. Use a multimeter and measure it at the battery for the actual reading at idle.

(mem) ... I never charge battery at the track…….. NEVER!!

I agree with that, what started me charging at the track was the car that there was no way to put an alternator on it. No matter if it is 12 volt, 16 volt, Lithium or what ever. If alternator is fully charging it at idle with an electrical load you should be good.

In my opinion every car should have an alternator if at all possible.

With some skepticism,I tried a lithium battery at the beginning of this year.Saved some weight and couldn't be happier. The battery I bought wasn't that much more in cost and the charger wasn't either.

quote:

Originally posted by 442OLDS:
With some skepticism,I tried a lithium battery at the beginning of this year.Saved some weight and couldn't be happier. The battery I bought wasn't that much more in cost and the charger wasn't either.

What battery + charger models??

We run the Go Lithiums on ALL of the 4 dragsters. All the dragsters and the Chevy2 are 16V either lithiums or XS blue and white batteries. The Chevy2 needed the weight in the rear and we left heavy batteries in it.

All of our S10 small blocks trucks (3 of them) on methanol are on 12V systems.

Our findings are the 12V is fine not having to bust off a high compression BIG block starting it 15 times a lap going thru the lanes
The single 12V struggled late in a race doubled and always sounded like it possibly won't start with BIG engines.

16V properly wired and charged has made 12V look and sound silly for years for us so far.

The 35 lbs is alot saved when your race car is under 1800 lbs with a driver in it, have been using some type of lithiums since 2007...OVER 15 years now y'all.

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
We run the Go Lithiums on ALL of the 4 dragsters. All the dragsters and the Chevy2 are 16V either lithiums or XS blue and white batteries. The Chevy2 needed the weight in the rear and we left heavy batteries in it.

All of our S10 small blocks trucks (3 of them) on methanol are on 12V systems.

Our findings are the 12V is fine not having to bust off a high compression BIG block starting it 15 times a lap going thru the lanes
The single 12V struggled late in a race doubled and always sounded like it possibly won't start with BIG engines.

16V properly wired and charged has made 12V look and sound silly for years for us so far.

The 35 lbs is alot saved when your race car is under 1800 lbs with a driver in it, have been using some type of lithiums since 2007...OVER 15 years now y'all.

That's a lot of race cars! How many drivers?

My brother, my son and I.

SMDH

Anyone ever use Dakota Lithium?

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
My brother, my son and I.

SMDH

Hello! You can never have too many race cars. Duh! Lol.

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
My brother, my son and I.

SMDH

Hello! You can never have too many race cars. Duh! Lol.

I couldn't take care of 8 cars in my spare time!

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:

quote:

Originally posted by 442OLDS:
With some skepticism,I tried a lithium battery at the beginning of this year.Saved some weight and couldn't be happier. The battery I bought wasn't that much more in cost and the charger wasn't either.

What battery + charger models??

I use an Optimate charger and I bought a battery made by Powertex.Went with a Group 27.

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:

quote:

Originally posted by Curly1:

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
My brother, my son and I.

SMDH

Hello! You can never have too many race cars. Duh! Lol.

I couldn't take care of 8 cars in my spare time!

I have a bunch of cars and trucks. What the He!! is spare time?

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
We run the Go Lithiums on ALL of the 4 dragsters. All the dragsters and the Chevy2 are 16V either lithiums or XS blue and white batteries. The Chevy2 needed the weight in the rear and we left heavy batteries in it.

All of our S10 small blocks trucks (3 of them) on methanol are on 12V systems.

Our findings are the 12V is fine not having to bust off a high compression BIG block starting it 15 times a lap going thru the lanes
The single 12V struggled late in a race doubled and always sounded like it possibly won't start with BIG engines.

16V properly wired and charged has made 12V look and sound silly for years for us so far.

The 35 lbs is alot saved when your race car is under 1800 lbs with a driver in it, have been using some type of lithiums since 2007...OVER 15 years now y'all.

This is the real world info I wanted. Chris, are you running a single GO Lithium with alernator or 2?

I was originally planning on Go Lithium but after a former member texted me about his experience with a single Braille,I'll probably go that route. I already ordered the mount to see what I need to do to make it work.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TonyB6255,

Tony, 2 go lithiums and alternators on all cars.

The braille is used by a couple of friends of mine...seem really strong sounding on the starter, just more expensive, BUT they only use one battery. Not sure on cost comparison vs 2.

We have used Altronics 16v lithium since 2015. A lot has changed in lithium batteries since then. I think all lithium battery companies had issues since the beginning including Altonics but most have got them sorted out now.

They use to not like cold weather and use to not have as much reserve capacity. That is all in the past.

We only run 1 with an alternator and no issue even doubled with big motor. Had 2 entries rolling at the Million this year 6th round with no time to charge. No issues.

Altronics provides a 4 year full replacement warranty with their battery management system that doesn't allow the battery to go fully discharged.

SL...

quote:

Originally posted by TORQIN:
Tony, 2 go lithiums and alternators on all cars.

The braille is used by a couple of friends of mine...seem really strong sounding on the starter, just more expensive, BUT they only use one battery. Not sure on cost comparison vs 2.

The cost of one Braille with charger is about $100 less than 2 Go Lithium. I have a number of friends using Go Lithium for a few years but I like the idea of needing only 1.

I ordered this mount for the Braille. I am going to weld some tabs on it so I can bolt it to the orginal tray. I can't bring myself to weld on the brand new car....

https://modernracing.net/produ...lle-battery-tray-kit

This message has been edited. Last edited by: TonyB6255,

I have 2 golithiums paired with an east coast auto mini alt and I'm loving it so far.