Modified battery mount - watch out

[Maxhouse97]

Was driving and suddenly lost all electrical power. Looked under the hood and this is what I saw:



Apologize for the pic. Had to get a tow, but recharged the battery and car seems to be working ok. Besides the body work, my next concern is the alternator. Anything else you would check?

No fingers pointed at Rennline but make sure if you have an aftermarket battery mount that it's secured tight! The hole burnt all the way through the body work...

[mrdieseldude]

gad lad! I have nightmares about that happening to me. I always thought the car would go up like a Sylvania flash cube. Glad to see you survived the ordeal with less hoop- lah than I had envisioned.

Michael

[Ronnie's.930]

I've got a piece of heavy duty gasket material glued to that area to prevent accidental contact - rubber would work as well.

[mrdieseldude]

Dumbest of all questions.. Ronnie, where do you get this heavy rubber gasket material? I through a sheet away 15 years ago and have not been able to find anymore since. I'm loosing sleep until I get that area insulated.

Michael

[Ronnie's.930]

Michael, you can get various types of gasket material in small sheets at auto parts stores such as Autozone. What I'm using is essentially rubber impregnated thick paper/cardboard (more paper than rubber).

[dicklague]

Originally Posted by mrdieseldude

Dumbest of all questions.. Ronnie, where do you get this heavy rubber gasket material? I through a sheet away 15 years ago and have not been able to find anymore since. I'm loosing sleep until I get that area insulated.

Michael

look on Mcmaster-carr.com They have all kinds of sheets of plastic and other materials that would work well.

[rwest]

Maybe also epoxy a small block of wood or something to the side of the battery so it physically can't slide and touch the body?

[Rennline]

Well that is no good! There's two ways this could happen. The first would be if the mount wasn't properly seated and pushed all the way back under the rear lip which would allow the mount to pivot on the front bolt. The other would be if that front bolt were too loose which would let the entire battery, mount and all, slide around at which point it wouldn't matter if it were seated correctly as it would be able to move out from under that lip.

I hope that helps, you really shouldn't need gasket or rubber material on the fender liner but it isn't a bad idea. There is also a small amount of adjustment front-rear with which you might be able to gain a little more clearance from the bulges of the inner fender.

One other option: Our cable kits come with a terminal cover, you might consider adding one of these, if you're looking for some peace of mind. http://motorsportswiring.com/terminal-boots-battery-insulators-c-35_38.html

If you or anyone else have any questions or concerns regarding Rennline products, please feel free to give us a call. We love talking Porsches!

[McLaren-TAG]

Sorry for the yikes man and I'm glad it didn't do too much damage. Here's the big but though...

I'd have never let that go being so close. Your ends look ratty to say the least and you can get a much cleaner/sleeker terminal that would have avoided all that.



or you can simply use a two post gang like this and just have one lead to the battery and all of the accessories to the second post. Lots of options, no need to risk it.

Also innertube material or tire patch makes for cheap and effective insulation.

[GH85Carrera]

You can go to a pond supply store and they will have a pond liner patch material. It is a thick rubber with adhesive backing. Peel and stick.

[dad911]

+ Battery terminal should always be insulated. A small wrench or other loose metal object would have done the same thing.

[911pcars]

Yup. A $2 positive post insulated cover should do it, and/or add a spacer between the sheet metal and the battery mount.

Good thing the smallish, lightweight Odyssey batteries have a relatively low CCA rating, otherwise it might have burned through faster.

Sherwood

[JoeyD911]

Not sure what year your car is, but checking voltage regulator would be on my list too. A short like that could take it right out. Have you checked voltage at the post with car running yet?

[Maxhouse97]

The reason there are so many wires on the terminal is because I have a relay mod to route power through something other than the headlight switch for my H4s (or something like that). So that precluded using the standard terminal cover, although I agree I should have it covered somehow, or using the rubber to remove the chance of contacting the chassis again.

As far as Rennline - I'll take a picture to demonstrate my current installation, but as I recall the base mount wasn't large enough to use what I wanted ... I might have donw something wrong though. Much easier to explain with a pic.

How do I check the voltage regulator? I was going to check the voltage over the battery terminals to see if the alternator was working ... from other threads, I saw that it should read around 13.8. Is that correct?

[911pcars]

Originally Posted by Maxhouse97

The reason there are so many wires on the terminal is because I have a relay mod to route power through something other than the headlight switch for my H4s (or something like that). So that precluded using the standard terminal cover, although I agree I should have it covered somehow, or using the rubber to remove the chance of contacting the chassis again.

As far as Rennline - I'll take a picture to demonstrate my current installation, but as I recall the base mount wasn't large enough to use what I wanted ... I might have donw something wrong though. Much easier to explain with a pic.

How do I check the voltage regulator? I was going to check the voltage over the battery terminals to see if the alternator was working ... from other threads, I saw that it should read around 13.8. Is that correct?

The kit to bypass high current through the headlight switch uses relays. They can receive source voltage from any source, including the battery. However, you have a fuse box for that as well. There's probably an unused fuse position you can use to connect to the power side of the relay(s).

Connect a voltmeter to both posts of the battery. With a fully charged battery at rest, the VM should read about 12.5 or more volts. During normal operation (high idle), it should be in the 13+ volt range. If the IP charging light is ON, the battery is discharging.

Hope this helps,
Sherwood

[zippy_gg]

Originally Posted by Maxhouse97

Was driving and suddenly lost all electrical power. Looked under the hood and this is what I saw:



Apologize for the pic. Had to get a tow, but recharged the battery and car seems to be working ok. Besides the body work, my next concern is the alternator. Anything else you would check?

No fingers pointed at Rennline but make sure if you have an aftermarket battery mount that it's secured tight! The hole burnt all the way through the body work...

An old mousepad will do the trick as they are made of rubber.

[rick-l]

Since the battery didn't explode it looks like the fault cleared. What did you need a tow for?

13.5 volts with the car running and the alternator is fine.

[Maxhouse97]

I had to trickle charge the battery. It was dead.

[Maxhouse97]

Great news - thanks to the friendly folks at Rennline I have figured out the problem that led to the battery mount moving. See the pics below. The first is how it was mounted, the second is how it is mounted now (correctly). They mentioned that they will add a note on their installation instructions to address this, but basically there was a second hole in the chassis below the battery mount that allowed the bolt to line up with the Rennline mount, and not rely on the flat piece of metal. Something folks who have this mount should know.




BTW I measured voltage across the terminals, and it was 12.5 with the car off and 14.3 with the car on. This tells me that the alternator is charging and the voltage regulator is working correctly - right? Still hard to believe, right?

I also took the car to a body shop and they said with a hole so small they would just use a two part expoxy to fill it and sand and paint. Good news - I can do that at home. I'll also use a mousepad (which is a great idea) to protect the area. The great news is that with the new mount adjust the positive terminal is not as near the chassis as it was before. All good news!

[Rennline]

Hey Tony it was great talking with you, glad we got that all figured out!