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Poor Reliability of "Classic-Look" Batteries.


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Hi All,

Came to take the TR for a spin today but the battery is dead (reading 3V), despite me driving the car only last week when all was well. This is a period style battery (black rubber case and the cell connectors exposed), labelled as "Shield 242" and the second such battery that has only lasted a little over a 1 year. The previous one was a Lincon which lasted 1 year and 2 months, the current Shield lasted 1 year and 4 months. The car is almost always connected to a CTEK conditioning / trickle charger and are never allowed to go flat. At around £220 each, these batteries are costing more than my insurance!

Is there a reliable period-style battery? Or, should I just give up and buy modern?

 

Thanks,

Ian

Edited by boggie
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Go to Halford's and purchase a type HB096 (or similar to get the terminals where you want them).  This provides 640CCA, 70 Ah, 3 year guarantee and costs about £94.  Mine was installed in 2015, and I use Halford's batteries for the family cars, one of which is a 2 litre diesel.  When I had a problem with the battery in the diesel, Halford's replaced it immediately with no quibbling.

I know that Roger Hogarth also uses Halford's batteries.

The Kwik-Fit battery fitted to the TR in 2002 lasted until 2015.  Companies such as Kwik-Fit and Halford's cannot afford to supply rubbish as warranty claims would be a pain.

Ian Cornish

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The Caravan Club carried out some tests on leisure batteries for caravanning. These batteries are famous for being abused, maybe used for a 2 week period every year and then ignored until the owner anxious that his holidays are in peril from flat batteries hastily charges them about 48 hours before he's off to Scotland or his other holiday choice. 

They carried out a quality test on the batteries offered as" leisure", the initial testing comprised of buying a bunch (dozens of them) of the familiar brands, ...and cutting an initial batch of them in half with a large cross cut saw as last seen in use by lumberjacks pushing and pulling across the tree trunks of mighty Oaks and Pines etc. Then the composition of the batteries were dissected by an electrical research firm listing and rating the components inside the battery cases...that caused a kerfuffle !

Of the multiple makes of battery classified as "leisure" grade (more than a dozen makes being surveyed) there were only 3 different battery makes that had internals of the heavier composition required to be classed as a " leisure" battery. The other batteries appeared to be of standard construction as offered to the normal car owning motorist and could not be tested in the heavy and continuous discharge testing about to be embarked upon.

Of the 3 heavy duty leisure batteries tested I can remember 1 was Yuasa and another was Varta, the other has slipped my memory. But on the basis that a firm that constructed it's leisure batteries correctly and to a good quality would do so for it's more mundane battery offerings, I believe buying these 2 makes at least gives an owner the chance of a quality battery.

Mick Richards     

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+1 for Halfords.

Had a battery breakdown in the Cotswolds in 2014 ('76 MGB GT). Halfords changed it (thank you very much for the Service!) and the Halfords HB063 is still going strong! Much better reliability than Bosch Silver.

Edited by Black Forest TR3A
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Roger's HB072 is as my HB096, but with the terminals the other way about.  I use the HB096 because I have the connectors near the bulkhead - I'm guessing that Roger has the terminals nearest the engine.

Ian Cornish

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I use Halfords batteries too, if you want a slightly classic look then the stickers will come off and you can fit a period Lucas sticker ;)

Stuart.

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If you do remove the labels from a new battery keep them somewhere safe. If you need to take the battery back under guarantee they may well refuse a refund without the original labels
 I have a Halfords battery and the label has a space for the dealer to write in the “Date sold”.
 (Not that anything was written in it by the dealer…)

A receipt won’t be a lot of good if it is for a Halfords item, but the label on the battery says “Lucas”.

Charlie

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I have a Halfords battery and the receipt is in a plastic bag taped to the back(bulkhead) side of the battery. Just in case. 

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3 hours ago, ianc said:

Roger's HB072 is as my HB096, but with the terminals the other way about.  I use the HB096 because I have the connectors near the bulkhead - I'm guessing that Roger has the terminals nearest the engine.

Ian Cornish

If you want the size of an 096 battery but with terminals around the other way around, an 096R is available. Slightly more capacity than an 072 from memory.

Bob

 

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Thanks All, great info (as ever) and very much appreciated. I ended up opting for a Yuasa 3086. 680 cold cranking and 76AH is a little more than the TR needs really, but it is a good fit in the battery box, and significantly lighter than the Shield or Lincon classic style batteries.

I chose the 086 layout, as I want the terminals at the rear, and turning the battery around (and the fact that it is black) meant it looks a little more in keeping with a classic engine bay.

It is a real shame that the Shield and Lincon classic batteries don't last much beyond a year, as they look great. However at 1.5x the weight, nearly 3x the price (the Yuassa was £80 online, which my local MF nearly matched at £90), and at least 3x the lifespan of the Shield or Lincon, it makes sense to go contemporary.

Cheers!

Ian

20220530_125812.jpg

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1 hour ago, boggie said:

Thanks All, great info (as ever) and very much appreciated. I ended up opting for a Yuasa 3086. 680 cold cranking and 76AH is a little more than the TR needs really, but it is a good fit in the battery box, and significantly lighter than the Shield or Lincon classic style batteries.

I chose the 086 layout, as I want the terminals at the rear, and turning the battery around (and the fact that it is black) meant it looks a little more in keeping with a classic engine bay.

It is a real shame that the Shield and Lincon classic batteries don't last much beyond a year, as they look great. However at 1.5x the weight, nearly 3x the price (the Yuassa was £80 online, which my local MF nearly matched at £90), and at least 3x the lifespan of the Shield or Lincon, it makes sense to go contemporary.

Cheers!

Ian

20220530_125812.jpg

Hi, out of interest.... what colour is your car? Primrose or some sort of cream?

The battery does look good BTW.

 

Cheers Ken.

 

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1 hour ago, boggie said:

Thanks All, great info (as ever) and very much appreciated. I ended up opting for a Yuasa 3086. 680 cold cranking and 76AH is a little more than the TR needs really, but it is a good fit in the battery box, and significantly lighter than the Shield or Lincon classic style batteries.

I chose the 086 layout, as I want the terminals at the rear, and turning the battery around (and the fact that it is black) meant it looks a little more in keeping with a classic engine bay.

It is a real shame that the Shield and Lincon classic batteries don't last much beyond a year, as they look great. However at 1.5x the weight, nearly 3x the price (the Yuassa was £80 online, which my local MF nearly matched at £90), and at least 3x the lifespan of the Shield or Lincon, it makes sense to go contemporary.

Cheers!

Ian

20220530_125812.jpg

I see you have not yet gone for LED indicators !

Bob

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Another plus for Halford Batteries purchased a YUASA battery from them for my Jaguar XK8 with a 5 year warranty, it failed after 2 1/2 years they replaced it with no problem. 

Cheers Chris

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4 hours ago, ken foster said:

Hi, out of interest.... what colour is your car? Primrose or some sort of cream?

The battery does look good BTW.

 

Cheers Ken.

 

Hi Ken, yes; Primrose Yellow. It was the original colour that had been paited over with Red and Blue (judging by what we saw as we took her back to bare metal). It's quite unusual and I think she looks lovely in that colour, so decided to keep her that way. Cheers

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4 minutes ago, Chris Hubball said:

Another plus for Halford Batteries purchased a YUASA battery from them for my Jaguar XK8 with a 5 year warranty, it failed after 2 1/2 years they replaced it with no problem. 

Cheers Chris

A rare thing for a Yusasa to die so soon. My Seven has a 12 year old Yuasa that my tester says is still 90% good....

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4 hours ago, Lebro said:

I see you have not yet gone for LED indicators !

Bob

Eh? You can tell that from my engine bay? :D

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Yep, original type flasher unit.   Won't work with LED's

If you were thinking of going the LED route at anytime, particularly the stop / tail bulbs, I can help.

Bob.

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9 hours ago, stuart said:

I use Halfords batteries too, if you want a slightly classic look then the stickers will come off and you can fit a period Lucas sticker ;)

Stuart.

Funny you should say that Stuart. I have THIS in my watch list...

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52 minutes ago, Lebro said:

Yep, original type flasher unit.   Won't work with LED's

If you were thinking of going the LED route at anytime, particularly the stop / tail bulbs, I can help.

Bob.

Hi Bob,

I am particularly interested in the potential of +ve earth stop/tail lights to increase visibility of the brake lights. I had looked at a few types, tried out and discussed these on the forum a number of years ago but the positioning of the stop LED was not in the focal point of the reflector, so despite the LED cluster being brighter than the traditional filament, the overall effect was actually a lower brightness. Have better designed Stop/Tails been released since?

On the subject of indicator bulbs; there are LED items for modern -ve earth cars that have a built-in resistive load, to get around annoyances such as CANBUS monitoring, where the system sees low current and assumes a bulb is out. Do similar items exist in +ve earth land?

Cheers,

Ian

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Ian.

Where have you been ? !   I have been making stop / tail bulbs for sidescreen cars for several years now, & have sold at least 100 pairs to TR folk like you , mainly via this forum. Yes, the commercial ones do not have the light source in the right place, which is why I decided to design my own.

Here is the TR action article I wrote about the development in 2018:

2nd draft Article on lighting improvemnets ALL.pdf

I do -ve or +ve earth versions, & also special 3 function ones for TR2's & 3's which use the same bulb for indicators.  current cost £ 12 each.

I also recommend some LED bulbs for the indicators, amber for the rear, & white (sidelight), changing to amber (flashing) for the front.

You need to change the flasher unit for an LED compatible one.  I can supply these latter parts along with my bulbs at cost if required, or just point you in the right direction.

I make to order, so let me know if you wish to go down the LED route, & I can get a pair made for you in a day or so.

Cheers

Bob.

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