Group 31's are awesome!!!

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I think a lot of off-the-shelf batteries are stale. The last Group 31 I bought was dry - and they filled it with acid for me upon purchase. Unbelievably, that was Canadian Tire.


Anyone tried mounting Group 31's behind their seat? (i.e. back of crewcab)

The battery is under the back seat of many newer cars, so it is possible.

Were I to install them in any part of the cab or "living quarters", I would be certain that they were in sealed-from-the-cab containers that were vented to the outside.

There was a write-up somewhere I saw on just how to go about safely installing batteries under the rear seat of an extended cab.




Way back in the good old days, all of our batteries came dry, along with big five-gallon plastic bags of sulphuric acid in flimsy paste-board boxes.

My father kept bunches of the stuff stacked in all sorts of dangerous places where little kids could drink the stuff if it crossed their minds.

The dimmest wits about the place were always filling new batteries, with absolutely no concern whatsoever as to proper ventilation or eye protection.

The help we now have is no better, but I have no say in that.


I sort of think a measured amount of the stuff was supposed to be mixed with distilled water, but they always just used it full strength; the battery truck provided it with the new batteries, so it didn't cost anything.


Honestly, I have seen people take the stuff home with them in fruit-jars, so they could re-fill an old battery that had gotten turned over.


It was very common for some knot-head to take a battery out of their vehicle, remove the caps and dump it on the ground in our parking-lot, and then have it refilled with new acid.


I have seen it all.

 

[leftcoastjeff]

G31

Jeff-

Where did you go for that deal?

My neighbor is a Interstate dealer, these were remans, hence the cheap price.

LCjeff

 

[Goofyexponent]

I think a lot of off-the-shelf batteries are stale. The last Group 31 I bought was dry - and they filled it with acid for me upon purchase. Unbelievably, that was Canadian Tire.


Anyone tried mounting Group 31's behind their seat? (i.e. back of crewcab)

Ok, this is totally un-related to this thread, but I didn't realize you were in Cape Breton lol. Small world!

 

[NapaBavarian]

My neighbor is a Interstate dealer, these were remans, hence the cheap price.

LCjeff

I hope I can find some remans in the north bay, I need too many batteries to spend $120 a pop!

 

[flareside_thun]

GM is the leader in placing batteries under seats...Particularly in Buicks and Cadillacs.

 

[NapaBavarian]

Bmw was doing that in the late 80s

 

[leftcoastjeff]

battery placement

My 67 Bug (VW) had the battery hiding under the back seat too.

With little or no venting.

I think I'll look at the possibilities for my G31 makeover.

LCjeff

 

[u2slow]

I'm 5000km from my truck, so its hard know exactly what will fit

I was thinking of using the poly battery boxes, only 8" wide for a group 30/31 battery. Not sure how much space is behind the seat, but I can always remount it for a little extra space. Add a marine battery switch for good measure.

Sort of what I did in my van for the inverter battery

 

[George_7.3IDI]

FWIW, Walmart started testing their batteries. I thought about running one all the way dead and charging it up backwards (ie neg would be pos and visa versa).

If I'm not mistaken someone told me once that doing that would actually blow up the battery. Never tried or looked into it to verify though.

 

[94turboidi]

Hooking one up backwards is extremely dangerous! I was doing a bunch of stuff to my truck several years ago and I was finishing up. My brother came by and was persistent he wanted to help so I let him put the battery back in and I have all black battery cables. He hooked the battery up backwards and it melted the lead right off at the battery! I think the other battery was hooked up first so it basically was like using a dc welder when he touched it. It blew out sparks everywhere and was pretty scary. I'm just glad noone got hurt and the truck didn't catch fire.

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

If I'm not mistaken someone told me once that doing that would actually blow up the battery. Never tried or looked into it to verify though.

I bought a truck once that had a battery that had been connected backwards and had reversed polarity.

I never knew anything was amiss about it until after a few years when it finally gave up the ghost.


My theory about it is that the battery must have been pretty much dead and some knot-head hooked the cables wrong; then, after either a jump-start, or a battery-charger, it took charge in reverse.

This was a single battery set-up; I am certain fire would fly were the same thing done with multiple-batteries.

 

[Exekiel69]

I have g31's, Midnightrider wrote about them so time ago, I bought a couple. This battery will take a beating before going out of power, even in cold weather. Only downside is I wish I could fit them on more applications .

I get them for $90 from a truck stop nearby with a two year warranty, I think that is a good deal.

 

[snicklas]

I know, from personal experience, that a battery can fail and reverse polarity. This battery was not connected to the system inproperly, it was connected properly, but when it failed it changed polarity. We though it was the alternator..... when we tried to hook it up, sparks...... found after testing it was reversed. This was in a dual battery setup, and it just happened the one on the passenger side is the one that inverted, so when we connected it to the solenoid, we thought the alt, we just replaced was a dead short.

Also, on a side note, does anyone know it a Group 31 will fit under the hood of a Superduty truck?

 

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

I know, from personal experience, that a battery can fail and reverse polarity. This battery was not connected to the system inproperly, it was connected properly, but when it failed it changed polarity. We though it was the alternator..... when we tried to hook it up, sparks...... found after testing it was reversed. This was in a dual battery setup, and it just happened the one on the passenger side is the one that inverted, so when we connected it to the solenoid, we thought the alt, we just replaced was a dead short.

Also, on a side note, does anyone know it a Group 31 will fit under the hood of a Superduty truck?

I believe ARGVE went through that same situation a few days ago.

 

[snicklas]

Yep, That was the battery. I was standing out there with him in the snowstorm working on it......