Antigravity assitance needed developing 6v Lithium Battery

[James Davies]

Another supplier:

https://estore-sslserver.eu/oldtimer-ba ... ucts/6-084

https://estore-sslserver.eu/oldtimer-ba ... ucts/6-077

[Michael Branning]

Finally, I think you would get a lot more people to buy your battery if you made it look "period", i.e. exactly like the old 3-cell lead sulfuric acid batteries as Moll and Bosch have. Here's pages from the 1954 Porsche Service manual showing these. You can see that all brands used the exact same type DIN-spec case, but had different logos on the front.

James, that’s an interesting point. I’d think it would matter to a certain percent of buyers...and would depend on how much more expensive battery was due to the “classic” look tooling. Say the choice was between battery in standard case for $350 or classic case $600; how many would not buy due to the $600 price point?
I’m reading between the lines that Scott is trying to justify the investment to bring a 6V version to market and is looking to minimize customization.

[Dan Macdonald]

Hi Scott,
In my opinion, if you want to win the competition against Optima, you should use the correct size of the 356 battery, and just as importantly, the correct location of the terminals.
Optima's do neither of these and they make for a pain in placing them SAFELY in the 356A and early B cars.
(Personally I don't care much if they look like the original batteries.)
BTW, the photo early on in this thread showing the 356C battery is my car.

[Scott Schafer]

Hi Scott,
In my opinion, if you want to win the competition against Optima, you should use the correct size of the 356 battery, and just as importantly, the correct location of the terminals.
Optima's do neither of these and they make for a pain in placing them SAFELY in the 356A and early B cars.
(Personally I don't care much if they look like the original batteries.)
BTW, the photo early on in this thread showing the 356C battery is my car.

We would love to,but it a limited application in terms of that size battery. So tooling alone would be very expensive. So we have to do a few things differently. But hopefully a clean looking case that fits the location nicely and has a easy mounting will be the ticket. Those Optima looked very ill fitting and not really anything clean about the install. I think we can achieve a massive advantage of those things... If we see a higher demand then we can look at tooling something exact for sure. But I see this market and smaller so we have to go broader.

[Martin Benade]

A much larger audience would include all pre 67 VWs and I believe plenty of other 6 v cars. There could be a good market.

[David Jones]

Most German cars before the mid 60's were 6 volt and a lot of British cars had 2 x 6 volt batteries then but most American cars had switched to 12 volts by the mid 50's. I am betting that the introduction of AC had a lot to do with switching to 12 volt on American cars. The market may be bigger than you think. Try an ad in a vintage car mag and see what interest you get for a battery that looks more original than an Optima. I doubt Optima ever had the vintage market in mind or they may have designed the enclosure differently.

[Scott Schafer]

A much larger audience would include all pre 67 VWs and I believe plenty of other 6 v cars. There could be a good market.

Very good point! Is it the same size battery roughly?

[Scott Schafer]

Most German cars before the mid 60's were 6 volt and a lot of British cars had 2 x 6 volt batteries then but most American cars had switched to 12 volts by the mid 50's. I am betting that the introduction of AC had a lot to do with switching to 12 volt on American cars. The market may be bigger than you think. Try an ad in a vintage car mag and see what interest you get for a battery that looks more original than an Optima. I doubt Optima ever had the vintage market in mind or they may have designed the enclosure differently.

Another good point... we can always tool a new case while feeling out the market.

[Martin Benade]

I believe the vw s use the same battery size.

[David Jones]

VW did, it was the same 6 volt 84 amp hour.

[Doug McDonnell]

Old tractors also which is why we can find a 6volt battery nationwide in a pinch at places like Farm and Fleet/Tractor Supply Company

[Scott Schafer]

It is important to get all these sizes correct, as the battery covers on 356 and 356A cars depend on resting on the battery case in order to secure it. Perhaps later cars as well?

Moll also makes a battery that is the correct shape/size for our old cars.

https://moll-batterie-shop.de/MOLL-Kami ... 39-6V-84Ah

84 Ah: 230 x 177 x 220 mm

https://moll-batterie-shop.de/MOLL-Kami ... 36-6V-77Ah

77 Ah: 216 x 170 x 191 mm

Ok thanks for that info... I think I am really close here.

IF this size that you gave above is correct to fit in all the 356s then we have something very close....

You show the 84 Ah: 230 x 177 x 220 mm

I have the following size of 230 x 175 x 190mm

The only difference is we are 30mm shorter which is most all circumstances would be ok and maybe even more beneficial for other applications...

So can anyone confirm for me that the width on the center niche will fit a 230mm width? If you need that in inches it is 9-1/8" inch....

It appear this size would be a winner, but I know there are two different mounts in the 356s... the one with the "L"Bracket on the bottom and the one in the Center Niche area. So just want to see if we can fit both areas. it is appear the most important measurement is the Left to Right length dimension.

[David Jones]

Both cars take a 230 mm wide battery that will fit both the center niche and "L" bracket position. It is probable that only pre 1955 cars will have a different size and I think James has indicated that in the use of the 77 amp/hour.

[Scott Schafer]

Both cars take a 230 mm wide battery that will fit both the center niche and "L" bracket position. It is probable that only pre 1955 cars will have a different size and I think James has indicated that in the use of the 77 amp/hour.

Ok that is super awesome to know...

James can you confirm if the pre 1955 cars could get a 230mm (9-1/8") long ( left to right length) in there? And would a front to back depth work of 175mm (7") work?

If that will work in the pre 1955s then I think this case will be a good start. I can also do a cooler vintage looking graphic for the labling...rather than the racier style we have now..

[Thomas Sottile]

I respect those who like the original look but I just want a battery to do what a battery is built for. What is stuck in the corner of my battery box is not too important to me to each his own