Thread: Auxiliary Battery Issues

I'm jealous of the information you can extract. Thanks for the post! My van is (edit) - 1950 mm wide - and is great going up narrow tracks, it being about the wide of the Disco. its only got two wheels which helps too, but that limits GVM, which isn't bad for two people for what we want to do. There are some who have upped the solar a lot too on a Matrix. If I upgraded my electronic gear then I could put more solar up and with new controllers I could also store data, which might be a benefit. Hmmm ... its a bit frustrating because I have presumed I will have to replace both solar panels. And tomorrow I'm having 15.8kw installed on unseen parts of my house roof ... sadly this is way off topic!!

Originally Posted by Melbourne Park

My van is 1195 mm wide and is great going up narrow tracks, it being about the wide of the Disco.

How wide again? 1950 maybe?

Originally Posted by DiscoJeffster

How wide again? 1950 maybe?

Yeh, about that ... I will now go and edit the post. 1150 is a bit narrow for a queen bed. !!!

What I love about these cars most, is the way (hopefully) solving one problem creates other, new challenges.

The SSB is in, but now the oem hold down clamp doesn’t fit. Has anyone else got this battery mounted in the auxiliary battery box (ie, in front of the driver)?

Hi Veebs, is that the black Land Rover hold-down bracket and if so, why does it not fit.

Let me know the problem as I now make my own hold-down brackets and bolts and I should be able to make one for you to replace that one.

Originally Posted by veebs

What I love about these cars most, is the way (hopefully) solving one problem creates other, new challenges.

The SSB is in, but now the oem hold down clamp doesn’t fit. Has anyone else got this battery mounted in the auxiliary battery box (ie, in front of the driver)?

Piece of aluminium angle extrusion from hardware store.
Length of thread bar from same
2 nuts and washers to suit.

*Over the years I have noted some of the issues mentioned here with the Optima yellow tops in traxide battery setups.
*But as drivesafe still recommends this battery for their battery setup I can only go with this until he recommends something else.
*Why? I dont do auto electrical work especially with batteries and testing them full time as a living, so I simply don't know enough of the little and sometimes very important details.
*drivesafe from posts here over the years seems to be more of a full bottle than most here with regards to auto electrics, so I have no reason to question this.

*Coates hire, or any hire Co for that matter, may have used Optima batteries in the past but ONLY (as already mentioned) as starter batteries on SOME combustion engines in certain equipment such as lightening plants, small generators.
*Would never have been used in electric scissor lifts, they use specific 6volt Trojan brand batteries as the batteries form part of the lifts counter weight.
*Would also never have been used in other elevated work platforms as aux batteries as they need to be able to draw the boom down to ground level on the electric over ride if the diesel engine stops for some reason (this might be as high up as 52 metres in large machines)

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Veebs, is that the black Land Rover hold-down bracket and if so, why does it not fit.

Let me know the problem as I now make my own hold-down brackets and bolts and I should be able to make one for you to replace that one.

Gday drivesafe,

I have a bluetop optima ready to be picked up to replace the failed yellow top - once i get it i might put the two batteries side by side as it isn't immediately clear what has changed. It looks like the OEM style (which I got at part of your kit) caters for a 'euro top' or similar battery. The type with a big central high point on the battery (where the vents once would have been I guess?). Anyway, the Optima evidently has a shoulder in line with that type, even though it doesn't have the taller central section. The SSB has a higher shoulder, and whilst the bracket fits, the threaded rods are now too short to reach the points at the bottom of the box.

I'll aim to get a picture to demonstrate