What are the legal requirements for relocating the battery to the boot

[LordWorm]

Hello,

I've had a look at the transport qld handbook relating to modifications but i cant find anything on the subject..

What do I need to have to legally move the battery to the boot of my car?

I know when racing, there needs to be a blue triangle on the back of the car...but does this follow through to street use? I don't wanna have to have a blue sticker on my car when its doing its daily driver duties =)

[2brag]

I dunno the legal stuff but i know 2 of my mates off top of my head have batteries relocated to the boot....one is ina civic, with it between the rear seat and his boot install, the other is a bj protege and has his in the boot in a massive metal box. Neither have a triangle on the back of their car

[chipa]

Going from memory you need a battery box and it needs to be vented from the box to outside. Even if you have a sealed battery. The battery box must also be secured in a safe fashion. I cannot remember what the law said on how it should be secured, but common sense would say it be bolted down to prevent movement in an accident.

[LordWorm]

Going from memory you need a battery box and it needs to be vented from the box to outside. Even if you have a sealed battery. The battery box must also be secured in a safe fashion. I cannot remember what the law said on how it should be secured, but common sense would say it be bolted down to prevent movement in an accident.
by vented outside, you mean outside the box or outside the car?

[boostedbatman]

Outside the car
But you have some vents behind the rear bumper on the sides you may be able to use
Dont know if this a requirement for Dry Cell Batteries though

[LordWorm]

Outside the car
But you have some vents behind the rear bumper on the sides you may be able to use
Dont know if this a requirement for Dry Cell Batteries though
Cool

definantly going drycell... theres this baby little odyssey thing that absolutely whoops my giant heavy duty battery for cranking power and prolonged draw...
weights about a quarter of what the big'n does =)

[chipa]

From what I looked up when I was running dual batteries the venting was required to go outside the car, and it made absolutely no mention for exemptions if you had a sealed battery.

Of course I'd like to see you rig up a way to vent a sealed battery, would be very interesting :p This is why I didn't bother as my big battery is a sealed HD marine battery. 1/4 the cost of an optima and the same amount of warranty. Not saying the Optima's and other high end batteries are not good, but when trialing the Optima we found no difference in electrical performance compared to the marine battery I'm using.

[LordWorm]

From what I looked up when I was running dual batteries the venting was required to go outside the car, and it made absolutely no mention for exemptions if you had a sealed battery.

Of course I'd like to see you rig up a way to vent a sealed battery, would be very interesting :p This is why I didn't bother as my big battery is a sealed HD marine battery. 1/4 the cost of an optima and the same amount of warranty. Not saying the Optima's and other high end batteries are not good, but when trialing the Optima we found no difference in electrical performance compared to the marine battery I'm using.
Big marines would do a fantastic job...but i need to shed weight... so a high power, light weight alternative like what i'm looking at is the go for me...

this venting shananagans will make my idea for the boot design go up in smoke :(

[chicaboo]

You can vent a battery box the same why I ran the electrics for my towbar out the car... There are two hard rubber grommets down the side behind the wheel arches that you can punch out to put a tube through. You would just need to snorkel out the battery box I spose.

[chipa]

You can vent a battery box the same why I ran the electrics for my towbar out the car... There are two hard rubber grommets down the side behind the wheel arches that you can punch out to put a tube through. You would just need to snorkel out the battery box I spose.

That just becomes a lttle useless as you would need a fully sealed battery box with a vent pipe. And unless you want to spend a fair bit extra most basic battery boxes are open enough the allow different wiring setup's. Of course you could build your own, run the wires and the silicon the holes.... But that was too much hassle for me :)

[chicaboo]

Sounds like battery boxes are either designed vented because the boot is vented, or they don't comply with ADR?

[chipa]

I think they're designed that way as vented batteries often have a pipe fitting to allow a pipe to be run somewhere for venting.

[LordWorm]

That just becomes a lttle useless as you would need a fully sealed battery box with a vent pipe. And unless you want to spend a fair bit extra most basic battery boxes are open enough the allow different wiring setup's. Of course you could build your own, run the wires and the silicon the holes.... But that was too much hassle for me :)
I'll be building my own, stealthed into the boot install (which will be designed to be released in one hit, taking the sub box, the 4 amps, and associated wiring out in one fell swoop for track days....battery box will stay behind of course :P)

sorta need to know the legalities of it before i start...

Any idea who is best to talk to? just ring up dept of transport and see what the score is?

[chicaboo]

My dune buggy's battery has a tube which I run away so it won't drip acid on stuff. If a tube is run through one of the various opening in the battery box to the holes I mentioned, that could be legal. But I've never seen any car batteries with tubes...

I was looking at getting an ACDelco battery for the car next, I can't remember if it was drycell or not, but it had heaps of CCA. And then for the buggy I was going to run another brand that escapes me right now (the brand Harley use), and it was a drycell for sure.

[chipa]

Any idea who is best to talk to? just ring up dept of transport and see what the score is?

Either that or else their website / google.

BTW make sure you check out welding flex for the cable. The amount of money you'll save is massive and is easily comparable to the audio brand stuff you can buy.

[platypus]

beema batteries sit right where the jack sits..... just a thought....

[LordWorm]

Either that or else their website / google.

BTW make sure you check out welding flex for the cable. The amount of money you'll save is massive and is easily comparable to the audio brand stuff you can buy.
was going to go with big fat zero guage stuff from fusion...you think not?

[chipa]

Considering it cost me between $50-70 for 8 metres of 50mm2 (0 guage)....

The actual wire itself is near identical and will carry the same amount of current as any brand name power cable. The real difference is in the insulation which is not as thick as you might be used to. It also tends to be a little bit harder to bend around corners.

Like many other products you are paying for the brand name and looks, not extra functionality. Why do you think people who make their own decent home-made jumper leads always use the stuff......