DISCO 4 2014 TIME FOR NEW BATTERY

Ok, so bought tester of Amazon and it's telling me that both batteries are not good and to replace, cranking voltage is down at 8V, surprisingly the car is staring ok. Might drop into SCA to get another test to verify tomorrow.

I did it last year but will also do some testing tomorrow to make sure I don't have a parasitic drain.

The batteries are about 2.5 years old, so the ss88ti is under warranty as not a stop start car. In terms of the Auxiliary I have the HVT-50D in drivers side battery box and ARB compressor in front of main battery.

I am wondering if getting the HVT-70D and putting in front of cranking battery with the tray from drivesafe and relocating compressor is a better idea. Any one have this setup ? Where do people have the compressor setup permanently ? Anyone with it under passenger seat ?

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Originally Posted by eddielines

I am wondering if getting the HVT-70D and putting in front of cranking battery with the tray from drivesafe and relocating compressor is a better idea. Any one have this setup ? Where do people have the compressor setup permanently ? Anyone with it under passenger seat ?

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Why would it be a better idea do you think? Certainly, you can fit a bigger battery, but the box you currently have it in strikes me as te most engineered spot (it's where LR designed the battery to go in LHD vehicles). I'd wager it is cooler or less vibration, or some other positive reason to have it in the box.

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Originally Posted by veebs

Why would it be a better idea do you think? Certainly, you can fit a bigger battery, but the box you currently have it in strikes me as te most engineered spot (it's where LR designed the battery to go in LHD vehicles). I'd wager it is cooler or less vibration, or some other positive reason to have it in the box.

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Purely for the additional capacity. Has anyone whos put the auxilary in front of the main, suffered with reduced life ?

Super Start replaced the ss88ti under warranty, initially he started saying it was swollen which indicated over charging, but I am skeptical about that, as I occasionally monitor charge using Gap IID and its never over 14.7, nearly always 14.3 and then reduces when it gets to 80%. Also use the CTek and have a watt meter which.

When I reset BMS the volage and current was all over the place, I thought I had issue, but yesterday morning its back to normal 14.3V ~40 amps to batter, then dropping off as charge increases. It must have been the calibration / learning routine.

FWIW, I bought a SSB SS88T1 in Oct 2019. That was in my D4 2.7L for about 4 years and copped a beating - jump started heaps of other cars, winching with no motor running to get out of ditch (long story!), etc. I then moved it to my D4 3L where it was only driven on mainly short trips - but I do maintain batteries with a monthly charge via CTek. It is now on the way out - slow starts in the morning. So I am happy with them.

A couple of things I noticed - the Exide Extreme is 22.3kg; The SSB SS88Ti is 26.5kg; and the Amaron Jade LN5 is 28.5kg. The Amaron is about the same price of the SSB, so think I'll go with that one this time. IMHO, lead weighs! ;)

Cheers,
Rob

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Originally Posted by eddielines

Has anyone whos put the auxilary in front of the main, suffered with reduced life ?

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I did, with Optima Yellow Tops - two of them in succession. But I believe the problem was more that they are a crap battery than their position under the bonnet.
Since replacing my second Yellow Top with a Fullriver DC85-12 I have had no further problem. The Fullriver has been in the vehicle for nearly 5 years now, whereas the Yellowtops were not even lasting a year (second one failed after just over 12 months).
The Fullriver is a bit of a tight squeeze in there on the Traxide tray, but by turning it round so that the battery terminals are towards the rear of the car and extending one of the battery cables to suit, it fits OK. Battery terminals are the "flush" type with cables bolted into the top of them - traditional terminal "posts" might make fitting difficult.
My cranking battery has always been a Varta G14 (I'm now on my third one of these - not bad in 13 years).