Any experience with a light weight battery?

[Injuneer]

Anybody run a light weight racing battery?

I've seen several different brands, and the prices seem to vary quite a bit. Obviously the weight savings is attractive, but will they hold up to the electrical demands of a high HP fuel injection application? I've got a lot of extra loads on the system, so the battery has to have enough reserve to hold the system voltage high all the way form the pits to shutdown.

-dual fuel pumps
-nitrous solenoids
-fan assisted tranny cooler
-"big" ignition system - 8 LS1 coils.
-lots of instrumentation
-dual computers
-Gear Vendor solenoid
-78# low impedance injectors

Last thing I want to do is have the system voltage trail off going down the track, and lose fuel system performance.

[fastTa]

We put a Odyssey PC680MJ gel cell in my buddies '41 Willys last summer and so far it has held up just fine. Bought it from a local boat dealership. We had seen quite a few people at the track using the Odyssey's so we though we would give it a try

We go to the track with it at least once a month. He runs quite a bit of electronics as well. It's got a BBC 502 with a high torque starter, air ride suspension, Vintage Air HVAC system, dual HO fuel pumps, HEI ignition, 2 electric fans(1 for radiator, 1 for trans cooler), and a bunch of Auto Meter gauges as well. Probably more that I am forgetting. I think we measured close to a 70 amp draw with everything purposely running at once.

The only drawback(if you want to call it that) is that you have to get adapters to bolt the cables to the Odyssey batteries. We got out adpaters for less than $10 at our local Car Quest.

Holley also makes a dry cell battery as well, but they are heavier than the Odyssey's. They do have "normal" automotive posts however.

All the hardcore guys are using the 16 volt AGM batteries. They are not cheap though.

[Kevin - Blown 95 TA]

Fred, are you going to still run your alternator? If so, then it does all the work once the car is running unless you have a deficit at idle and low speeds. So, basically, any battery that will start the car reliably, and not fall too far under 10 volts during cranking, will work. Once the car is fired up, it should be charging the battery, not draining it. Bigger batteries just have more reserve for starting when it's needed, and they last longer because they don't wear out as fast because they don't discharge as much on every startup. That's also why, if a kid puts a giant amplifier in the back of the car and 1000# of stereo equipment that draws more thant he alternator puts out, a big battery or cap won't really help if he needs more alternator to begin with. When the car's running, the battery kind of works like a capacitor and smooths out the power for the electronics, so that might be a good feature too - low ripple. If I was to get one of those small batteries for racing, I would keep it on a battery maintainer when not in use adn I bet it would last quite a while, especially if the car fires up quickly when the key is turned.