WARNING - Ballistic Evo 2 battery users

[Shady195]

Originally Posted by JDKane527

The ballistic battery has 480 cranking amps, significantly more than the stock battery, rated for 270 cranking amps. The main benefit is to drop 25lbs from the front of the car.

What does cranking amp have to do with it? Clearly they chose a battery with a lower crank amp for a reason.. Seems to start the car just fine..

Not to mention loosing any significant weight in one end and not the other is going to upset the balance of the car.


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[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by JDKane527

The ballistic battery has 480 cranking amps, significantly more than the stock battery, rated for 270 cranking amps.

And yet the stock battery seems to be able to crank the car and handle peak load just fine without catching fire.

Originally Posted by JDKane527

The main benefit is to drop 25lbs from the front of the car.

Nah, not buying. It might be a factor if this were a completely stripped track-only car, and that 25 lbs were part of a larger overall weight reduction strategy. But by itself, 25 lbs. is less than 1% of the weight of the car. It's a non-issue for a street car and unlikely to make any significant difference on the track, especially when the OP is still running a full interior on the car which weighs a helluva lot more than the battery.

[ZionsWrath]

Thanks for this thread, an eye opener for sure. I honestly didn't know these lightweight batteries were "not intended for road car use"

I have heard the off road use disclaimer before but wow.

I really want that shorai kit but I think I'll have to do some more research now.

Thanks OP

[Canehda]

Most catless headers say that they are "intended for off road use only", but I don't really worry that they will catch on fire and possibly destroy my whole car and surrounding objects and neither do many of you. The distributors should really explain the risks of the products they are selling rather than just use a vague line to cover their a** in case of a serious failure.

[Shady195]

Originally Posted by Canehda

Most catless headers say that they are "intended for off road use only", but I don't really worry that they will catch on fire and possibly destroy my whole car and surrounding objects and neither do many of you. The distributors should really explain the risks of the products they are selling rather than just use a vague line to cover their a** in case of a serious failure.

You're comparing a piece of metal to a piece of equipment that has current passing through it and is very volatile when pushed beyond its limitations..

It does explain it, that power drain may be to high for the battery. If you are unsure of what that means then there is always Google.

Thats all that should need to be said.

[Rampage]

It is still a good and informative post. A lot of owners who mod their cars know very little about the side effects and compromises to performance and reliability. They make changes because it seems to be the thing that the "cool" guys do or to emulate the "because race car crowd". Hopefully experiences like this will be educational to them.

[raptor87]

Originally Posted by Canehda

Most catless headers say that they are "intended for off road use only", but I don't really worry that they will catch on fire and possibly destroy my whole car and surrounding objects and neither do many of you. The distributors should really explain the risks of the products they are selling rather than just use a vague line to cover their a** in case of a serious failure.

That is different, it is against federal law in the US to sell something that removes emissions equipment. "Off-Road" vehicles are not subject to NHTSA regulation which is how it can be sold. It is like when you go to the bong shop and there is a sign that says for tobacco use only.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by stugray

Actually when the car is running, the battery takes very little load.
The alternator is handling all of the load and putting current into the battery.

SO normal operation of a good running car should be fine for one of these batteries.
However, if you sit for long with the accessories on and the engine not running, OR if your alternator dies, then you are putting a HUGE burden on the battery.

That is why the OEM battery is so big in the first place.

The battery is part of a closed system. Yes, during driving the alternator is doing the bulk of the work and charging the battery but there is still draw that the batteries are not designed for.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Rampage

It is still a good and informative post. A lot of owners who mod their cars know very little about the side effects and compromises to performance and reliability. They make changes because it seems to be the thing that the "cool" guys do or to emulate the "because race car crowd". Hopefully experiences like this will be educational to them.

Nope they won't learn! Just blame the car, parts, techs, dealerships, etc,etc. Had this conversation MANY times on here. Mod to your heart's content but don't blame everybody else in the world when something that should have been upgraded breaks due to what YOU did.

[JDKane527]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Nope they won't learn! Just blame the car, parts, techs, dealerships, etc,etc. Had this conversation MANY times on here. Mod to your heart's content but don't blame everybody else in the world when something that should have been upgraded breaks due to what YOU did.

Feel free to reprimand every member here who has modded their car.
I've had my share of car issues with parts I've modified, but you live and learn.

OP hasn't returned, but maybe there was something that could have been done to avoid this situation. It sounds like having forced induction may have generated higher engine bay temps, potentially putting the battery out of its normal operating range, which has a published maximum of 140F/60C. In which case, would sealing off the battery position from the heat of the engine bay be advised?

[Tcoat]

[QUOTE=JDKane527;1946312]Feel free to reprimand every member here who has modded their car.
I've had my share of car issues with parts I've modified, but you live and learn.
QUOTE]
Not reprimanding anybody and my car is not stock and will be even more modded next summer.
In fact you summed up what I was saying perfectly in your second statement! I have blown engines, broke axles, and screwed up parts with the best of them. My first thought was always "HMMMM wonder what I did ?" Some times it was indeed a bad part but many times I did not do EVERYTHING I should have. What I was trying to get across was fix it and move on, not blame everybody else for what YOU did and not learn a thing!

[stonenewt]

The battery can either be an effective aux power source or the effective primary power source. For most vehicles it’s the effective primary source supported by the alternator meaning the battery has to be able to deal with the car’s entire electrical load all of the time, even if the current is mainly being delivered by the alternator.

A battery will normally have two current ratings, one for sustained load & another for instantaneous load. The instantaneous load would be the cranking load, 480A, but the sustained capacity of this battery could be just 5% of that, 24A or about 360W. If that’s the case then you could find you’re overloading the battery with a stereo, lights, etc. Long term overloading of a battery will result in overheating & eventually combustion.

I imagine this is what’s happened here, seen the high cranking power thought it’s all fine but actually the battery has less sustained current capacity & has failed because of it.

[stugray]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The battery is part of a closed system. Yes, during driving the alternator is doing the bulk of the work and charging the battery but there is still draw that the batteries are not designed for.

Im mostly agreeing with you.
To start the car and drive it, this battery would be fine.
I should never catch fire.

However since it has only 9.2Amp/Hours capacity, and assuming the BRZ pulls (wild ass guess) ~20 Amps in accessory mode with stereo on.
Then it would only take 15 minutes of operation in acc mode to drain the battery half way.
That doesnt mean that the voltage will drop to half.

The battery website does not have an actual datasheet for the battery (very unprofessional) so it is only a guess what the continuous power draw is rated at.

To cause irreversible damage to these batteries would mean that you would have to discharge it to well below 6 volts. The OP probably did not do that as the car would stop operating entirely far before that.

SO while I agree that this battery is not appropriate for a street car, it still should not have caught fire!

IME the only thing that can cause a fire with this battery is severe overchagre.
Maybe the OP needs to have his alternator checked.
Or as I stated above - faulty or damaged.

Oh - and this is good: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...php?t=1852892&

[Shady195]

Originally Posted by stugray

Im mostly agreeing with you.
To start the car and drive it, this battery would be fine.
I should never catch fire.

However since it has only 9.2Amp/Hours capacity, and assuming the BRZ pulls (wild ass guess) ~20 Amps in accessory mode with stereo on.
Then it would only take 15 minutes of operation in acc mode to drain the battery half way.
That doesnt mean that the voltage will drop to half.

The battery website does not have an actual datasheet for the battery (very unprofessional) so it is only a guess what the continuous power draw is rated at.

To cause irreversible damage to these batteries would mean that you would have to discharge it to well below 6 volts. The OP probably did not do that as the car would stop operating entirely far before that.

SO while I agree that this battery is not appropriate for a street car, it still should not have caught fire!

IME the only thing that can cause a fire with this battery is severe overchagre.
Maybe the OP needs to have his alternator checked.
Or as I stated above - faulty or damaged.

Oh - and this is good: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...php?t=1852892&

I'll agree with that, they should have the battery specs clearly listed. Also lets just say without knowing those specs that the amount of draw on the battery was not enough to cause a quick enough voltage drop to push the battery into thermal runaway.. I still would not expect him to get a warranty replacement or sympathy from the company on something that was used in a clearly unrecommended way.