Varley Red Top 25 race battery.

15th April 2014, 16:00

Hello there,anyone have any experience with this exact battery? is it reliable? have you had any issues with it? Thanks.

17th April 2014, 08:33

yes plenty
unless its a race car --do not bother and even if you do
you must use something ike lke a c-tec charger connected to it ALL the time when not in use or it will be flat when you come to it in a few weeks --and they never charge up from flat again --gell batteries have to be kept topped up ALL the time
--the wight saving is minimal in the weight of a road car
and the capacity is nothing like a real battery --never meant to be running heaters ,rea window and hi -fi etc .
you want small and good --honda type -r battery very small --cheap and easy to fit behind passengers seat in a box in you like
cost about £50 --half that of a proper gell race battery +will last and start car from cold in the winter

17th April 2014, 12:55

Right,i'm not too focused on the wieght,something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bosch-S4-C...item35cc66ac0a

It's sealed so i believe it's not needed a box for it and you should just connect a hose to let ventilate it outside the car,that's it i think?

17th April 2014, 13:09

Used a varley red top 25 for 4 years - the last two years it's been left with no activity. Was flat of course, but after being on a optimate charger for two weeks is now showing perfect health again, and I'll be putting it back in the 106 in the next month.

Ran my 106 for two years before being stored without issue - including lights, heaters, whatever. Car could be left for a month with no charger on it and would start no problems at all including in the depths of winter.

Basically, the complete opposite experience to John I'm afraid!

17th April 2014, 13:18

That's a little confusing,lol.

Anyway,if it's the case,it's going to be used on a road car,no radio,speaker or anything that can drain much current,components that drain power when car is off (ie radio memory,clock) will be disconnected,the battery will also be disconnected when and if the car sits for more than a few days without being turned on.

17th April 2014, 15:30

Get it an optimate charger (http://www.optimate.co.uk/optimate%206.htm) - really these are worth their weight in gold. If you left this on the battery when the car wasn't in use, I'm sure you'd be fine for years.

It's just my opinion of course and I may have been lucky.

24th April 2014, 11:51

only slight difference is, not that there is much, ross yours is a low comp engine? wont take much to spin one of them over, johns probably talking about the hi comp stuff, gel batteries can get damaged by flattening them but ive only ever seen a few that have never come back, granted they werent with a fancey charger, which i believe is what you really need for one..

my battery has been fine *touch wood* so far and thats been left for months without a charge (yeah ok kill switch was off) it started first time and when i first bought it, it took a right pasting as i had a starting issue, so for ages it was just being cranked and idled for a few seconds then repeated...

so to sum up, from previous comments, im neither and both lol

24th April 2014, 11:52

Ah yeah - didn't think of the compression - good shout