First off if you have wiring problems does not make one bit of difference if you have 12 volt or 16 volt you are going to have problems. Period. Fact. So that is not what we are talking about here.

I am going to try to explain it best I can and I may not have terminology right (Sure someone will correct me if I am wrong) this is from my experience your mileage may vary.

The difference between a 12 volt and 16 volt is the rate of discharge, think of it as gear ratio. There is about a 20-25% difference there and that relates to engine cranking RPM. That part is true. Lets say your motor turns over at 750 RPM it may pick up 150 RPM with 16 volt system. So far that all sounds good.

Now consider both a 12 volt and 16 volt have 700 CCA (Amps)that is total amount of usable energy in the battery and does not change. Look at Volts like gear ratio. Higher Volts drops the energy faster - higher RPM but your total amount of energy available 700 CCA remains same. So it will spin motor over faster and go dead faster say 20-25%. Lets say the 16 Volt is a 3.90 gear and the 12 Volt is a 4.88. The 16 volt would be faster with small load but on higher loads it would not have enough amps to move it, or start car. Even when power is low the 4.88 will still move the car. But if you try to take off in that car with 3.90 and power is down it will try to kill the motor.
12 volt golf cart runs 15 MPH and will go up hills and battery lasts all day. Put a 16 Volt battery in it and it will run 21 MPH but may not make it up big hills or last all day. The total amount of energy (Amps) available is the same but the rate of discharge is higher so it goes dead quicker. But Yes, it is faster. Two 55 gallon drums of water, one has 1" hose and other has 2" hose, the one with 2" hose will drain faster but it still holds same amount of water so it goes empty faster.

My initial thinking when I went to 16 volt is with a 16 volt if you get down to 13 volts you still have more than a 12 volt battery. It does not work like that. On my car when a 16 volt battery was down to say 14 it would not turn over my car and no warning. When a 12 volt batter is down to 10 it will still turn it over and start car.

When everything was good the 16 volt would spin my car over all day and start car with no problems. One time something happened and I got my tune up a little off that was my bad I got my barrel valve idle mixture off. The car was hard to start, once it started ran great and O2's were perfect. Anyway I was low qualifier and and in the Semi-Finals car was hard to start, ran battery down and was not able to make the round. That cost me a Semi-Final round and possibly a win. My car was running the number and I was hitting tree but car did not start. With a 12 volt system car would spin over slower but still spin over and start. There is no warning with 16 volt system.

Bottom line to me is I want to eliminate any issues and give myself best chance to win rounds and the 12 volt system has proven more reliable for me so I went back to 12 volt. Many others have done the same and went back to 12 volt system. I suspect original poster has already been through same thing I have and that is why he only asked about 12 volt battery? By the way I do not care about money here it is all about most reliable performance. One other thing, the reason I originally went to 16 volts was because I ran mechanical injection Enderle hat on alcohol. My thinking there was spinning it over faster would prime pump faster and start better but there was no noticeable difference there.

But with a mini alt. Redtop going on 7 years. Just keep the trickle on it. The trailer... Group 31. since it has been years, i don't know the quality of the red ones now.

Are there racers here using the 12v lithium batteries? If yes, are they able to use a standard 12v alternator that outputs 14.4v to charge.

I broke down and putting an alternator on this. First one ever, lol.

quote:

Originally posted by SpeierRacingHeads:
I broke down and putting an alternator on this. First one ever, lol.

Excellent! Hopefully it’s one with some big output (90+ amp) at idle (2400 alt rpm). And you used 2 or 4 ga wire on the alt. Then you can leave that new Summit charger (that’s a nice one!) in the trailer and not risk towing it to the staging lanes (never happen … right…lol).


mem.. i never charge car battery at the track…never !!!

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:

quote:

Originally posted by SpeierRacingHeads:
I broke down and putting an alternator on this. First one ever, lol.

Excellent! Hopefully it’s one with some big output (90+ amp) at idle (2400 alt rpm). And you used 2 or 4 ga wire on the alt. Then you can leave that new Summit charger (that’s a nice one!) in the trailer and not risk towing it to the staging lanes (never happen … right…lol).


mem.. i never charge car battery at the track…never !!!

I ended up buying this back. Sold it to him in 2018 to buy the SS car. He put 6 runs on it. Still had my decal, everything. With Great Bend spending all the money on the track, and it's damn nice, I decided I wanted to take advantage of it. 45 miles from the shop. Perfect bracket car IMO. No doors, and easy to maintain!

quote:

Originally posted by SpeierRacingHeads:
I broke down and putting an alternator on this. First one ever, lol.

I tried putting an alternator on my dragster, and it just wouldn't fit, but I'm going to get a smaller one and redo the front of the engine so I can run one. I'm a huge proponent of running one, just haven't on my dragsters due to fitment. Gonna fix that over the winter.

On the 16v deal, I've gone as many as five rounds of competition, driving to and from the lanes/pits (Bandimere speedway), cooling the car between rounds and idling under the tower without recharging on a XS Power 16v agm battery. The available voltage after the day was over was still above 16v. I still have that battery, ran all of last year on it and ZERO issues. Like was mentioned, wiring is a big deal. I'll stick with my 16v. I think it's just better.

I love all these 12v street cars; it can't be true we're using 12v for racing!

2BKING

Voltage drop testing is the best way to check for wiring problems. Found many issues on my car, bad crimps and such.

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:
I love all these 12v street cars; it can't be true we're using 12v for racing!

Been day drinking again?

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:
I love all these 12v street cars; it can't be true we're using 12v for racing!

Been day drinking again?

Have you? I haven't had a drink since Wed.

The below quote has been used a couple times. Apparently, it's incorrect. If 16v works for you that's great, 12v works great for many.

quote:

12v is for street cars, 16v for racing.

2BKING

I am a firm believer in running an alternator if you have room.

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:
I love all these 12v street cars; it can't be true we're using 12v for racing!

Been day drinking again?

Have you? I haven't had a drink since Wed.

The below quote has been used a couple times. Apparently, it's incorrect. If 16v works for you that's great, 12v works great for many.

quote:

12v is for street cars, 16v for racing.

Don’t drink and certainly wouldn’t be wasting a day doing it. I haven’t seen that quite so it made no sense to me.

quote:

Originally posted by SpeierRacingHeads:

quote:

Originally posted by markemark:

quote:

Originally posted by SpeierRacingHeads:
I broke down and putting an alternator on this. First one ever, lol.

Excellent! Hopefully it’s one with some big output (90+ amp) at idle (2400 alt rpm). And you used 2 or 4 ga wire on the alt. Then you can leave that new Summit charger (that’s a nice one!) in the trailer and not risk towing it to the staging lanes (never happen … right…lol).


mem.. i never charge car battery at the track…never !!!

I ended up buying this back. Sold it to him in 2018 to buy the SS car. He put 6 runs on it. Still had my decal, everything. With Great Bend spending all the money on the track, and it's damn nice, I decided I wanted to take advantage of it. 45 miles from the shop. Perfect bracket car IMO. No doors, and easy to maintain!

That is a good looking car.

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:

Don’t drink and certainly wouldn’t be wasting a day doing it. I haven’t seen that quite so it made no sense to me.

I quit drinking over 38 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
Don’t drink and certainly wouldn’t be wasting a day doing it. I haven’t seen that quite so it made no sense to me.

Good for you! Next, you will be bible thumping to me. If you don't like what I post, don't read. This was stated with only drinking water & that's the majority of what I drink!

It wasn't a wasted day, it's having fun with my wife eating, socializing with friends, drinking a little & gambling a little. I got plenty more accomplished in the afternoon & evening not drinking. We do it every 2-3 weeks for shyts & giggles, plus having a great time. Because we can!

2BKING

Choosing not to drink has nothing to do with “bible thumping”.

12v agm battery

XS Power or Braille in my opinion

How bout 1 12v for the starter and pumps with a separate small motorcycle 12v feeding the ignition only on its own circuit as to not back feed the system?