Batteries

[Nigel Ingledew]

The battery that came with the car is now gracefully drawing its last breath. It is kept going by recharging it on a weekly basis, but it would be kinder to put it out of its misery.

It is a 12v 39Ah "Starting Bull" made by Banner Batterien. The local motor factors cannot find any trace of this make, and cannot find another with the same dimensions. Any ideas? If it's any help, I am a) lazy, b) not mechanically confident (this is more important than a)) so I don't if at all possible want to change the current terminals, and the battery has been fitted so that it sits on top of the passenger's leg well. This means it JUST fits under the bonnet, so if possible I would like one of the same dimensions L180mm, W120mm, H165mm approx.

 

N M Ingledew

[Allen Payne]

 

Maybe this is a silly suggestion, but have you phone Caterhams? I think they still fit them as standard.

[I reply to every thread]

I shopped around when mine died in the hope of avoiding a trip to Caterham. My local motor factor thought the battery came out of a lawn mower!

Caterham still fit and sell them. Cost £55.00ish from memory.

[CHRIS CLARK]

These batteries are supplied to Caterham by a Co. in Guildford (or somewhere very close to there!). Think your best bet is to buy direct from Caterham! (I'll collect my 5% later Andy N!).

[C7JFM]

I have a tel no. for Banner (GB) based in Rugeley 01889 579577

[M17 CAH]

I believe the batteries are made especially for Caterhams and can only be bought from one of their recognised agents. I think they are about £50.00. I got mine from Redline in Caterham

[Nigel Ingledew]

Thanks very much one and all. I hadn't tried Caterhams (too blindingly obvious for me) but when I did I found the parts department closed for the holidays. If I get no luck from the Banner telephone number I'll try Cats in New Year.

All the best,

Nigel

[StewartG]

Why don't you try a motorcycle battery from the breakers and save some weight? You need one from a Ducati they're hefty by bike standards and should be ideal for a seven. look to pay about £20-£30.

[Allan Haighton]

I replaced my Banner battery last year (catalogue no 53034). Got it from a local parts shop, cost about £35. It seems they are also used for golf buggies.

[AndreK]

Re Banner Batteries. One of their main agents in UK is German and Swedish. Their main contact number is 0208 917 3885, they have depots in London, Bristol, Midlands and other places. They are a discount German and Scandinavian parts supplier, mainly for VAG, BMW, Volvo, may be worth trying?

[EFA]

Regarding the wet cell Banners heres a tech tip!

 

Charge them regularly and they dont die. I use a 7 day times which charges for 3 hours twice a week. This seems to keep them alive.

 

Being a person who regularly rebuilds the car I can tell you taht leaveing the Banner battery unused for 3 months is terminal - likely it wont accept a charge let alone retain it!

 

I have found that if you drive the car at intervals not exceeding 14 days, although the battery may go flat (my ecu is very fussy about the voltage when cranking so this coyuld be a Arnie problem) a jump start and short drive will allow things to recover with no long term damage. Leaving it longer than 2 weeks and you are in no mans land....

 

Redline Components offer an excellent service on all Caterham parts inc. batteries and are very competitive on price...... 01883 346515 is there number or mick@redlinecomponenets.co.uk

 

AW

[Alex Wong1697456877]

What are the benefits of going for dry cells like Red Tops etc?

[EFA]

Alex,

 

Weight I think, but they wont take the abuse of road use as the sustained cranking current is very low relative to a wet cell.

 

AW

[TorAtle]

Dry cells don't spill acid in high G corners.

 

Regarding MC batteries - be careful! Some of them won't accept 14.4V charge from the alternator. In short the acid will boil.

[Pierre Gillet]

I could not agree more with Fast Arnie: I charge the Banner battery of my car every week for a minimum of one hour regardless of whether I have used the car or not. It has kept it alive for 3.5 years now.

 

Pierre

[CHRIS CLARK]

Alex W.

 

Dry cell batteries are easier to use as they have the non-spill feature & are slightly lighter. Remember when they had to be fitted under the carbs on the older models to get them low onto the chassis? The trouble was they had to be kept in tip top condition and to be honest the return rate on the 'Exide' units was horrendous! Stay wet so to speak unless you really overdid the X'mas dinner!!!!!

[guillaume]

When my long-serving Banner packed in a couple of years ago due to a period of prolonged inactivity I tried to get a replacement from Caterham. They informed me that the Banner was no longer made (!?) and that they could only supply a DIY wet. I am now on my third and less-than-impressed to say the least. I have even considered ditching the heater and fitting a fancy (and expensive) racing battery from Demon Thiefs as the DIY wet can only spin my high-compression X-flow when in tip top condition. Has anyone tried this?

[Matt Prior]

I haven't tried anything other than the usual stuff but had a similar problem with my high compression 1700 X-Flow in my old W*******d; even a new battery with a high cranking capacity was a complete nightmare if the engine was hot.

 

Some other advice though - if you've got an electric cut-off switch, remove it when in the garage so your immobiliser doesn't flatten the battery.

 

[I reply to every thread]

Or get yourself a carcoon battery conditioner thing. £35 quid including postage. Feed the connector under the dash & just plug it in each time you put the car away.

[Mike Bees]

Or slightly cheaper:

 

http://race-technology.com/WebPage/Products/CHARGERS/ChargersMain.html

 

25quid+VAT.

 

Mike

[murph7355]

Same site as Mike suggests (http://race-technology.com) also flogs (relatively) cheap heavy load batteries...height is even less than you have so shouldn't be a problem, but length may be (250mm).

 

I'm going to either try one of these or (more likely route) a Red Top as my Banner has given up on my HC 'k'.

 

I also had an accident a while back and the wet battery leaked acid everywhere. This corrodes aluminium badly and is a bugger to clean up, hence me wanting to go the dry route (even though these shouldn't be left to go dead ever as I believe it kills them)...

 

 

 

 

 

C7 AJM

[Mike Bees]

The Hawker battery that Race Technology are knocking out cheap is the same technology as Red Top (probably just different stickers). A very good piece of kit. I know someone who recently bought one for a V8 W*******d, it churns it over much better than the lead acid battery did. They hold their charge almost indefinitely too. 850amps of cranking current ought to be enough (much better than an equivalent sized lead acid battery).

 

I use a Red Flash 25 (16Ah, 6kg), although that might be a bit marginal for winter use.

 

Note that the sealed batteries from Yuasa available from RS et al won't support anything like enough cranking current for a car engine.

 

Mike

 

[CHRIS CLARK]

Mike B.

 

Isn't Hawker part of the Gates battery empire (or vice versa)?

[Mike Bees]

No idea!

 

Mike

[Chelspeed]

> Isn't Hawker part of the Gates battery empire (or vice versa)?

 

Try http://www.dmstech.co.uk/ These batteries are variously known as red top, hawker or varley, they all seem to be the same thing, but I don't have a clue who owns what.