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 Post subject: Battery
PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 3:40 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2021 10:23 pm
Posts: 13
Hi can anyone tell me what Battery and its number is for my 1972 Triumph 1500 please


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 Post subject: Re: Battery
PostPosted: Fri Jul 09, 2021 5:35 pm 
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Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 1:13 pm
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Location: Over here...can't you see me?
015 or 038


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 Post subject: Re: Battery
PostPosted: Sat Jul 10, 2021 11:58 pm 
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I fitted a Varta B34 Blue to my Sprint, it's ever so slightly longer and not as wide as an 015 but it fits the standard battery brackets perfectly and without modification! 45 Amp-hour and maintenance free!

The last two 015 batteries cost about the same and barely outlasted their 3-year warranty. The Varta is still perfect after 6 years.

_________________
1978 Triumph Dolomite Sprint (project thread)
1966 Volkswagen 1300 (project thread)
1962 Austin Mini (project)
1962 MGA 1600 Mark II
1965 Mobylette SP50 (project)
2001 Rover 75 2.5-litre V6


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 Post subject: Re: Battery
PostPosted: Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:16 pm 
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Future Club member hopefully!
Future Club member hopefully!

Joined: Tue May 06, 2014 4:38 pm
Posts: 535
Location: South Benfleet, Essex
Quote:
I fitted a Varta B34 Blue to my Sprint, it's ever so slightly longer and not as wide as an 015 but it fits the standard battery brackets perfectly and without modification! 45 Amp-hour and maintenance free!

The last two 015 batteries cost about the same and barely outlasted their 3-year warranty. The Varta is still perfect after 6 years.
I used a Yuasa battery out of my father's 1977 Honda Civic 1500 Automatic, for a total of 8 years in my 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300. In probably a similar way to your Varta B34 Blue battery, it was more slender than the 015 batteries, which was advantageous with my larger than standard 65A alternator originating from a Rover SD1

In circa April 1986, I observed that the 9 year old Yuasa starter-battery, which prior to 1982, had originally been fitted to my father’s 1977 Honda Civic 1500 Automatic, was no longer adequately holding its charge for more than a few days; this being particularly noticeable when I started the car to drive to work on a Monday morning, having not used the car at all during the weekend.

At that time, I don’t think direct replacement Yuasa batteries were readily available in my locale, so it was replaced a few weeks later with a new Oldham heavy-duty, 11-plate battery (part No. 015 | serial No. 034 376), purchased at trade discount for £21•85 + VAT (by means of a Celcon Blocks Ltd private purchase order) from Edmunds Walker in Grays, Essex. This was purchased and fitted on 10th May 1986, at an indicated mileage of 54,736. About 6½ months and 4,000 miles later, the Oldham battery was also treated with EDTA, on 30th November 1986, at an indicated mileage of 58,702.

Compared to the Japanese made Yuasa battery, the Oldham battery was not as good in my opinion and more difficult to keep clean. It lasted only 5¼ years before requiring replacement in late-August 1991.

Apart from the two winters of 1987/88 and 1990/91 when the Triumph Toledo was off the road for refurbishment, the 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 motor-caravan was always laid-up in my grandparents’ garage in South Benfleet, just 3•0 miles from my home on Canvey Island. Not wishing the VW’s large, expensive 60 Ah battery to lie idle and potentially deteriorate over the hibernation period (late-autumn, winter & early-spring) owing to sulphation, I adopted the practice of substituting the VW’s battery into my father’s 1982 Honda Accord 1600 which had enough space to accommodate it.

The VW’s battery was too large to fit in the Triumph Toledo, so I alternated each month between using the Triumph Toledo’s battery and the Honda Accord’s Yuasa battery in the Triumph Toledo; both batteries being of the same physical size, terminal configuration and 40 Ah rating.

In late-August 1991, after approximately 5¼ years of service, the Oldham “heavy-duty” battery, was failing to adequately hold its charge for a period of less than one day. Why it lasted for only this short period I don’t know, but I suspect it might have developed an internal short-circuit.

On this occasion, when home for the weekend from RMCS, I was able to purchase a new Yuasa Pafecta battery (part No. NS60(S) | serial No. 020 391 H1) from Anglia Batteries in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. This new Yuasa battery was fitted on 31st August 1991, at an indicated mileage of 85,919 and treated two weeks later with EDTA on 14th September 1991, at an indicated mileage of 86,432. It was still performing reliably in August 1999, nearly 8 years later, when I laid-up my Triumph Toledo for a long hibernation.

The Yuasa Pafecta NS60(S) battery, dated August 1991, is of the following dimensions:

235 mm long
125 mm wide
200 mm high (excluding electrical terminal-posts & electrolyte fillers)
225 mm high (including electrical terminal-posts & electrolyte fillers)

In the future, I shall substitute a positive battery-cable with bolt-tightened clamp (ex late-model Triumph Dolomite 1300, 1500 or 1500HL) in place of the original positive battery-cable with push-on helmet-shaped connector, held in place by a self-tapping screw.

I am not sure when I adopted the strategy, but in order to maximise the Toledo’s reliability re starting from cold, I decided that at the end of the autumn season, before the cold winter temperatures set in, it would be prudent to clean the battery terminal-posts and cable connectors with fine wire wool and reapply fresh copper grease, irrespective of the normal service schedule. Considering how little effort was required, I also tended to repeat this process in the spring season.

I had noticed when my father’s cars were “professionally” serviced, that although terminal grease was often smeared on the outside of the terminals and cable connectors, there was no sign that the connectors had been removed from the terminal posts to inspect the electrical-contact surfaces and remove any surface oxidation, before re-greasing. I was obliged to do this myself on at least one occasion, immediately after my father’s car had been serviced!

Sometime during the early 1980s, I learned from an article in the Motorcaravanners' Club magazine, of a cheap, analytical chemical reagent, called EDTA (otherwise known as, ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid or its di-sodium salt - C10H14O8N2Na2•H2O), which could be used to prolong the effective service life, of lead-acid car batteries, by inhibiting sulphation; a process to which motor-caravan batteries are particularly prone, when left unused for extended periods or substantially discharged, but not immediately recharged.

In late 1984, I obtained some through the Celcon laboratory at which I worked, and treated each of the cells, of all our existing and subsequent car batteries (including those of the 1974 Triumph Toledo and 1973 VW 1600 Type 2 campervan!), with a heaped teaspoonful (or two level teaspoonfuls), of EDTA powder, as recommended by the author. After that, the service life of our car batteries, have typically been 7 to 8 years, but the first battery of my father's Ford Sierra XR4x4, lasted nearly 13 years!

If not already fitted, retro-fit a voltmeter to monitor battery condition (e.g. to show open-circuit voltage when ignition is off and when cranking engine from cold, to indicate the effect of increasing internal resistance with age) and alternator voltage-regulator output (i.e. insufficient or excessive regulated charging-voltage is likely to reduce battery life).

There appear to be two present Yuasa battery options (Yuasa YBX3053 and Yuasa YBX5053) having 45Ah & 50Ah capacity respectively, of virtually the same size as my Yuasa Pafecta NS60(S) and the Varta Blue Dynamic B32

_________________
Regards.

Nigel A. Skeet

Independent tutor of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering, for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=308177758

Upgraded 1974 Triumph Toledo 1300 (Toledo / Dolomite HL / Sprint hybrid)

Onetime member + magazine editor & technical editor of Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club


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