Battery up front

[fueltheburn]

A bit of a random one this. Is there any reason i couldn't move the battery to the engine bay?
What electrics are in the boot that couldnt be moved to the front?

Before you say anything - the battery weighs 1.6Kg.

[robertverhey]

Hello, what would be the reason? My understanding is that some weight in the boot like a traditional heavy duty battery is part of the designed weight distribution to optimise handling. I vaguely recall cap'n bob saying he placed a bag of cement to the boot on track days to make the tail behave, though that's hardly adding lightness.....acbc would be appalled!

[fueltheburn]

Electrically speaking, shorter cable runs = less voltage drops, better signals for ecu, stronger sparks, less wire and therefore less weight. Going to be using OFC grade cable as well.

I know the arse end will be very light but a 2 kilo battery is hardly ballast in the boot. Everything else up front is on a crash diet and the rear springs are going to be set a lot softer to compensate.
The front end weight loss is probably around 30 kg at the moment. And rear is 30kg.

Dimesion size is about the same as a motorcycle battery.

I hope you can see what i am up to?

[dunc]

No reason at all for it not being done.

The eclat S1 had its battery in the bay in front of the bulkhead on the passenger side.

Lotus only moved it to the boot when they launched the eclat series 2.

Whether it's worthwhile or not is up to you.

[mat grant]

Hi,

Btw the voltage drop issue is only for when starting, once running the current goes in the other direction, and running volts are from the alternator which I'm presuming you're leaving in the front

But I suppose a slightly reduced charging efficiency(?) but this must be minimal.

I've moved the battery in my S1 eclat from the engine bay to the boot, when I fitted the excel chassis. A friend who is an auto electrician thinks that there will be about 0.5 volts drop from having the battery in the boot on starting, but the elite and the excel do fine with the battery in the back.

Cheers, Mat.

[fueltheburn]

I have opted to leave the battery in the boot.
It's only 1.7 kg but probably helps keep the back down slightly more.
The voltage drops and spikes I will be ironed out by using a modern voltage regulator kit at the front of the large power connections.
I will be using larger gauge oxygen free copper cables and will also be adding a monstrous earth cable parallel to the whole length of the chassis.

Poor power connections and earthing will be a thing of the past.