battery question

what Troopy is it? All those that I have seen have the battery(s) against the near-side/passenger edge of the engine bay..?

My second battery is located above the turbo and I have used a Century Marine Pro 720. It has been there 3 years now no problems.

I have used Century Marine Pros before for many years in previous cars and had a really good run. I like that they are built with protection for the rough pounding a boat will take on the water and have the same regard for rough tracks in my 4x4.

Have not tried the optima so no opinion.

Serendipity

G'day Rick and Kerrie

I think the rubber map will help with some vibration depending on how tight you fasten the battery down. Tighter = less vibe absorbtion.

The Optima is a good battery but it isn't really a storage type battery if that is what you are after. It is a starting battery and even the biggest of these is far smaller in capacity than others. Great for starting and general use but not suited to running the fridge etc. I can't justify the price for what I get in charge storage ability v the dollars.
The position above the turbo is the worst possible place to have a battery and despite fitting generous amounts of thermal insulation it will most likely over heat and ruin the battery because of the radiant heat it will receive.
You would be far better to fit a battery elsewhere or under the body.

The only way it might survive is to feed it air via a dedicated hose from the front of the engine bay and have it feed with a computer fan to run after the engine is switched off so a large amount of cool down of the area is provided to combat the heat sink effect form the engine and turbo which occurs after the engine is shutdown.

Ross M

After a lengthy high speed run on a warm night, pull up and open your bonnet quickly and you'll see why mounting a battery over a turbo or exhaust manifold is a bad idea.

Your turbo housing and manifold will be glowing a dull red after running at about 600 degrees for a couple of hours. This will happen to nearly all vehicles. My old 6 cyl Holden ute manifolds would glow after a high speed run.

Even my old 4 cyl Landrover would get the manifold glowing after a decent high speed highway dash (that was sitting on 90-95kmh!).

Cheers - Ron.

Thanks for your responses, I should have added that I have a 100AH AGM that I will probably put in the back for the fridge, camping lights etc and the second battery under the bonnet will be a backup for both the starter and the AGM.

Rick.

You could try installing flexible alloy exhaust heat shield (from a car parts shop or exhaust mob) and enclose the battery in a vented box (take a look at any 1990s Ford falcon for the basic idea).

Best of all is to install the battery elsewhere, if you have the space down the back!

Firstly let me say that I am very much in favour of the use of marine batteries in 4wds....My personall choice is the supercharge seamaster gold, they have a very solid following in boating circles....no vested interest.

Marine batteries are a rugged construction battery.
Some manufacturers market a "marine" battery, "4WD" battery and some an earthmoving battery..... generally they are identical appart from their colour and the sticker.....but you will often get a better deal on the marine item.

As for vibration.....there is a whole pile of....um.....er......"misinformation and misunderstanding" arround.

Firtsly lets seperate the idea of vibration and shock.

Unless you are going to install a complicated and bulky system you will do bugger all about shock and vibration that originates from the vehicle, you have to rely on your suspension and this is why you buy a rugged construction battery.

A lot of other vibtarion comes from things not being firmly mounted and properly restrained

Putting rubber under your battery will not absorb any vibration, not a single bit......remember you battery strap is still rigid......... what it will do is give the bottom of the battery traction on the battery tray and it will also give the battery clamp something to compress to maintain its tension.

Before I put rubber under the cranking battery in the factory battery tray, I could not get enough tension on the factory battery clamp to properly restrain the battery......the battery would move arround.......a far more sreious issue that any vibration.

One thing on my list and everybody should consider, is upgrading the factory battery tray and battery clamp.....many trays don't fully support the bottom of the battery and many battery clamps are simply too weak to hold the battery in place.
ALL batteries should be held down firmly, if you can push your battery around in the tray or if it moves at all in operation of the vehicle, it is not properly restrained

As far as heat goes......heat is the #1 enemy of lead acid batteries, raise the operating temperature of a battery from 25C to 45C and you reduce its life expectencay by at least half, some sealed AGM style batteries it will reduce the expected life span from 5 years to under 1.
And the battery will perform poorer in every way.

The best thing you can do for any lead acid battery is to get it out from under your bonnet......unfortunately lots of us cant.

Managing heat under your bonnet.

Firstly a bit of rubber is going to provide no effective insulation for your battery.

we need to understand there is aconsiderable airflow under the bonnet of most vehicles......there is a trucking big fan behind the radiator.....that air might not be all that cool, but at least it is flowing and cooler than most of the engine components, certainly cooler than the exhaust & the turbo.

look arround under the bonnet of most moder cars and there are heat shields all over the place....their job is to be an obsticle to radiant heat.

Under the bonnet radiant heat is about the only heat we can do anything about......so the idea is to place something between the heat source and the sensitive item and allow airflow past it.

Mostly this is just a sheet of metal......it don't have to be fancy to work..look at the top of your catlictic converter for example.

putting a steel sheet heat shield mounted on the turbo will probably do the most.

there are foil jackets you can get for batteries too and i have seen all sort of attempts.....but I can't see them being all that effective.

Remember insulation and heat barriers only slow down the passage of heat.....you need airflow or other cooling, or the cool side of the insulation will get just as hot as the hot side gven time.

cheers