Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Has any one come up with a good way to insulate there second battery under the bonnet? We all know that engine heat lowers the life of the battery so was thinking why not insulate it.
The insulation would have to be thin but highly effective, if there is suck a thing.
Any comments welcome.

cheers


Shane.

Try your local wreckers as a lot of model 4x4 already have them in the vechilces even you have a n70zz size you should be able to find one

As I work in battery shop I see them all the time in model cars

Cheers lightbulb

Thanks Lightbulb, I already have one on the main battery in the patrol but there is no insulation in it, air just blows in and around the battery.
If this is not what you mean let me know.

cheers.

does yours have a box around it?

try lining it with some 10mm closed cell foam, it is available with a foil lining on one side, it is a good thermal insulator and easy to cut and shape. you can get from somewhere like Clark rubber

Numbnuts,
I used three flat sheets of aluminium spaced apart using nuts, then bolted this in place off the battery clamp upright. This works very well, is low profile and easy to knock up in the garage. I bought the aluminium sheet from Bunnings. It does not need to be very thick as you are using the air gap between the sheets as your primary insulator. I used 5/16" bolts with the nuts clamping each sheet and creating the automatic air gap. You could use two nuts to increase the gap and insulation effect. I don't have to top up the battery level as often in hot weather now. This stops the radient heat from the turbo, but will not insulate the top or sides of the battery from under bonnet temps as they rise - for that you need to get the hot air out - by venting somehow, or try wrapping in some of the foil/foam as suggested. Watch out for foil and battery terminals though!!

80's_delirious wrote:does yours have a box around it?

try lining it with some 10mm closed cell foam, it is available with a foil lining on one side, it is a good thermal insulator and easy to cut and shape. you can get from somewhere like Clark rubber

Good thread.

That sounds like the shizzle to me.. might look at some this week.

The trick isn't insualting it - that just slows the heating.
You need to block the hot air - mostly from the radiator, and give it some fresh air from somewhere.
Batteries also release heat when charging, not much but some. AGM's realease much more when fully charged.

http://neuralfibre.com/paul/4wd/battery ... -my-hzj105

Windscreen sunshields work really well. THey are radiant reflective, light, don't rub, non conductive, insulating.

Paul

http://www.aclperformance.com.au/prod_heatshield.htm

I'm planing on making a shield for my extractors. SS on the top this stuff underneath, rivet the two together (nods to me3@neuralfibre.com). In this case I'm addressing my heat source rather that covering my battery but it could work in your application.

You can get this stuff from repco and I imagine others.

PCRman wrote:http://www.aclperformance.com.au/prod_heatshield.htm

I'm planing on making a shield for my extractors. SS on the top this stuff underneath, rivet the two together (nods to me3@neuralfibre.com). In this case I'm addressing my heat source rather that covering my battery but it could work in your application.

You can get this stuff from repco and I imagine others.

idea of cost?

HR140-GTR 700mm x 290mm ~$65
HR143 700mm x 580mm ~$90
HR140-1600 1600mm x 580mm ~$160

PCRman wrote:http://www.aclperformance.com.au/prod_heatshield.htm

I'm planing on making a shield for my extractors. SS on the top this stuff underneath, rivet the two together (nods to me3@neuralfibre.com). In this case I'm addressing my heat source rather that covering my battery but it could work in your application.

You can get this stuff from repco and I imagine others.

I found the primary heat source was the hot air from the radiator.
You can tell as the battery is evenly hot all over, and the same temp as the rad exhaust air - about 60-70c. Fans tend to push the air sideways rather than directly backwards.

The turbo that faces the batt - although hot - didn't heat that face of the batt much much with the radiant heat. The airflow obviously cooled the radiant heating.

I think I'll use the same stuff over my turbo - but that's to keep heat off other things nearby.

Paul

Heh, I've been looking at that stuff too. There is a guy selling it on ebay btw.

For me it will just be to make some shielding for the exhaust manifolds, they are pretty close to lots of other things that ideally should not get so hot.

If it's heat from the radiator as Paul suggests perhaps just generally improved venting for the engine bay would be helpful.

I'm sure I've seen cars that have a fan cooled battery housing. If you could hunt one of those up and duct the air from in front of the radiator it would make a cool system. Even better you could make an air tight enclosure, run the intake pipe from your snorkle through it an into the engine. The whiff of H2 the engine would get while the battery was charging would (according to the interweb) allow you to drive through multiple layers of gravity Of course the regular whiff of H2SO4 might not be so great

chimpboy wrote:Heh, I've been looking at that stuff too. There is a guy selling it on ebay btw..

pretty much same price as Repco by the look of it :(

my 80 series has the battery in a 3sided box/cradle with a rubber seal against the underside of the bonnet. It fits neatly against the edge of the radiator. Fresh air would get in from around the headlights.
This keeps the battery well sheilded from hot air in the engine bay. If you were worried about the heat, an arrangement like this with some additional thermal insulation of some sort would be the go.


I dig the ACL stuff looks like a great concept.

So can that ACL stuff be worked/formed/cut by hand?

Yep, but apparently leaves very sharp edges when cut with tinsnips

bogged wrote:

chimpboy wrote:Heh, I've been looking at that stuff too. There is a guy selling it on ebay btw..

pretty much same price as Repco by the look of it :(

You dont need thermal insulation if there is a constant flow of fresh air. Won't hurt, but radiation + conduction won't equal convection with the airflow rates under a bonnet.
Exception is exhaust / turbo radiation - but that only heats one "face" - easy to test and touch.

Paul

That stuff certainly looks for exhaust components. Would like to try it for better manifold shielding, turbo shield and possibly even the dump pipe and first segment of exhaust to minimise heat radiating into the driver side floor.

whilst this could also be used for my air con pipe anyone know of a good source for some insulated tubing covers that can be out over my A/C pipes that run near the turbo. The 80 has somethign originally but it is all but rooted and whilst everything is apart now is the time to sleeve it. A sleeve like original would be nice.

me3@neuralfibre.com wrote:

bogged wrote:

chimpboy wrote:Heh, I've been looking at that stuff too. There is a guy selling it on ebay btw..

pretty much same price as Repco by the look of it :(

You dont need thermal insulation if there is a constant flow of fresh air. Won't hurt, but radiation + conduction won't equal convection with the airflow rates under a bonnet.
Exception is exhaust / turbo radiation - but that only heats one "face" - easy to test and touch.

Paul

My issue is the heat from turbo on second battery...

Bogged, have a read of my original post. This simple method works very well. It fixed the issue I had with the battery losing water from close proximity to the turbo.