I had been meaning to upgrade my battery for awhile, and my stock-style one finally started dieing this week, so I got myself an early xmas gift

I had heard great things about Braille batteries, and came to find out their headquarters is actually in my town, so I cruised over and they pulled a fresh newly made one right off the assembly line for me!

My car is a daily driver, so I went with the B2317 http://www.braillebattery.com/index....tteries/b2317/

I think I paid around $170 for it.

At only 17lbs, it has 641 cranking amps (475 CCA, 1191 PCA), which is more than enough for the FD. The next model down is 15lbs, and would also be adequate for daily driving, but I figured in a DD i'd rather have the extra amps/reserve rather than save 2lbs. For comparison, the Odyssey PC680 that many people use is only 220 cca, and 680 PCA, so the Braille runs circles around it.

The only problem with it is my factory battery tray is way too big!

I will be getting a custom battery tray from Braille next time I swing by there.

IMG_01871.jpg?t=1323805656

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Braille makes some great batteries. They're from my hometown too!

 

I use this battery in my car http://www.braillebattery.com/index....teries/b14115/

It starts the car fine even when it is 30 degrees out. I have let it sit for 2 weeks with out starting and it still works great.

I am very happy with my braille battery. I do not understand why anybody even considers the oddysey batteries when there is a much better alternative for not too much more money.


John

 

Looks just like the battery I bought for a Honda Goldwing from Batteries Plus.

 

similar size but with a lot more cranking amps

 

I've been in the market for one of these myself. Suprisingly my old Miata battery turned over the 20b fairly well. It just doesn't have enough reserve plus I'm gonna be running two amps. I'm going to buy this one here:

http://www.braillebattery.com/index....es/b3121/specs


This one would still fit nicely in my rear bin and have plenty of cranking amps plus nice reserve capacity.

 

I have the 3121 battery. Laugh if you want, but a single 2x4 cut about 6" long will make up for the narrower battery width. A similar thing may work with yours. The stock battery hook bolts are too long but with a spacer you can use the stock bracket too. This is what I'm doing until I get to making a special battery tray.

Word of warning: buy an electronic battery charger that is designed for AGM type batteries. If you drain it down or need to store it for while you don't want to use a normal charger.

Dave

 

Braille's warranty is excellent as well. I had a friend with one die and he got a free replacement, even though the battery was 2 1/2 years old, no questions asked. Impressive CCA's for their size, and lots of mount options since you can lay them down.

Braille and other companies also makes some very nice mounting bracket options.

 

I made a battery tray for that battery in the FD as well as the 51r

 

pics?

 

I wonder if the rotaryextreme tray would work with this setup, its almost as much as the battery though.

 

If you guys want to save some money braille batteries are just rebadged deka batteries which are less expensive.

 

i checked it out, looks like the case is exactly the same, but the specs are much lower CCA for each weight/size.

http://www.dekabatteries.com/assets/...ortsPower).pdf

for instance:
braille 17lb 475cca
deka 17lb 325cca

braile has 50% more power for same weight/size.


I was just over at http://advancedracetechnology.com this morning and Derrick saw my new battery and mentioned another option...
http://www.shurikenonline.com/shuriken_products.html
SK-BT20 has 850 cranking amps! (not cold, couldn't find that spec). That is very high. less amp hours than the Braille, but more cranking amps, and also slightly lighter at only 13lbs....

...the crazy part... the BT20 is only around $60!!!!

Definitely worth checking out next time I need a battery.

 

i'll give you a little hint.

these AGM batteries do not like to be deep cycled. got a virtually brand new $100+ paperweight that came with my ultra 110 which was a nearly brand new AGM battery. no matter how hard i tried i couldn't get that sucker to come back to life.

keep that thing charged if you plan on letting the car sit for extended periods of time. too bad they're more expensive AND more sensitive...

can easily tell by the battery case and terminals that it's an AGM(advanced glass mat technology), looks identical to the battery i replaced in the ski which was a bit less at $100. even new the battery only has about 10 minutes of cranking life for a 1200cc triple 2 stroke.

 

very true.....everyone was very up front and warned me that once you let these go dead, they are pretty much dead, you cant recharge like a conventional battery. if its gonna be over a week, disconnect it.
thats fine for me, since i daily drive, it always keeps a charge.

my friend said he uses a quick disconnect on his track car, his AGM battery is over a year old and lets it sit for months at a time and hasnt died yet. guess keeping disconnected is the key.

 

oops, meant ultra 150.

 

Another option that I went with is a stock Miata battery. The Apexi front mount I have calls for this, you basically trim the stock battery tray and put it in there sideways.

The stock Miata battery is small and light, and as a plus it's commonly available most anywhere. I'd really hate to be on a car trip with a special battery and be dead in the water because I can't get that battery. You can go anywhere and get a Miata battery. They may not be AS light but it's really damn light, I can easily pick one up with one hand.

Dale

 

The from factory battery on a NA-NB miata is a AGM battery also, most replacements you find in the store are standard lead acid. If you go the miata battery route you can find a few places online that sell relabeled Deka/East Penn 8AMU1R. careful of the autozones and what not they used to have a rebranded AGM also but changed to lead acid but kept the old part number

miata battery size

 

Well, yes and no. While at the body shop mine was discharged down to just a couple of volts, then the charger shorted across the terminals for a little while, and after all that this battery still came back with a trickle charge and holds nearly 12v. I have melt marks in the housing under the positive terminal now.

I'm probably going to replace it with a new one but damn that's a lot of abuse.

After having it for a couple of years I completely agree with the danger of a slow drain. Disconnect it when parked for more than a week, or connect a smart charger to keep it trickled.

Edit: Since my Braille is out of warranty, I had a look at the Deka line. It appears that the Braille No-Weight line closely matches sizes in the Deka Sports Power line. The B2131 = ETX30L, B2618 = ETX18L. If I had to guess, Braille is buying Deka batteries, upping the specs a bit, and selling with a better warranty for a markup. I could buy a good electronic charger and a Deka battery for less than the price of a single Braille. I'm really tempted to try the Deka now.

 

i have the PC680 in the passenger side bin, and after about 2 or 3 years i have to start it at least twice a week or else the battery be to weak to start the car i believe it goes down into the 70% since when i used a charger thats what it said it was at.. When i used to keep my car in the garage during that time, i used to keep it on a trickle charger, but now i cant so i believe im going to need a new battery soon, so i might give Braille a try next.

 

Why don't you guys just use a battery tender to prevent the battery from dying. Also, I've used Deka, they're awesome for the price but the CCA are a bit lower than braille but it doesn't matter unless you try to start the car at 32 degrees F.

 

I would like to know if Braille uses a different testing method or reporting method than Deka. For example, CCA could be tested at 0F or 32F or 72F. I'm not sure I care enough to dig out the answers about testing, but if you're concerned about the apparent difference, I suggest you look into it further.

 

^ AFIK, CCA is ALWAYS at 0 degrees F. CA is always at 32 degrees F. I think it is a standard to make the rating and comparing of batteries easier.

From the Braille website:

http://www.braillebattery.com/index....does_cca_mean/


John

 

Not for Braille, they use some estimate of CCA based on the conductance test:


"Can Conductance testing measure CCA?
The actual SAE J537 Cold Cranking Test is a manufacturing process control test applicable only on new, fully charged batteries.
It does not produce an actual value of cold cranking amps (CCA), but is a pass/fail test based on the battery’s CCA test rating.
The CCA rating is the discharge load, in amps, that a new, conditioned battery can supply for 30 seconds at 0°F/-18°C while
maintaining a voltage of 1.2 volts per cell (7.2 volts per battery) or higher. Thus, the CCA test sets the minimum power requirement
for a new battery as rated, which means that a battery rated at 500 CCA must measure 7.2 volts or above for 30 seconds when
a load of 500 amps is applied at 0°F/ -18°C.
In automotive applications, the conductance of a new, fully charged battery under normal conditions can be directly related to its
rated CCA, the industry gauge of starting power. Therefore, conductance can be translated into working units of CCA so that the
power level of a battery can be compared to its cranking rating. The Midtronics CCA value derived from conductance does not,
however, determine the actual Cold Cranking Amps of the battery because that test includes a lengthy discharge of 30 seconds at
a very high current rate. The conductance CCA corresponds better to the starting current that the battery can normally deliver for
a second or less normally needed to start a vehicle. In this regard, the conductance CCA can be considered even better than the
cold cranking test. Cold cranking tests run on batteries taken from service often give poor results because they cannot sustain the
long duration of discharge (30 seconds) that is not required to start a vehicle. The Midtronics CCA values are designed simply to
mimic the initial starting characteristics of new batteries with a given CCA rating under the same operating conditions.
For example, if a battery that is rated at 600 CCA is measured at 500 CCA, it can be thought of as having similar starting characteristics
of a new battery having a rating of 500 CCA if that battery is substituted with the test battery. It does not mean that the battery
will pass a Cold Cranking Test at 500 CCA. It should also be remembered that the cranking power of all batteries increases
with temperature and decreases with discharge and degradation. "

Even if the estimate is accurate, I have to wonder if they chill the battery to 0F just for the final conductance test. I doubt it. Testing at higher temps would boost their numbers.

Let's be real: compare the size, weight and construction of the Deka and Braille battery. They are the same as far as I can tell. The weight is especially telling - how could Braille bend the rules of electrochemistry and have higher output than the Deka?

 

I've used deka & braille. Deka is a better bang for the buck but it will die sooner than braille. Whether braille is re-branded deka, we need someone to take both apart and compare.