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HYDE16 Reviews - Braille GU1R Green Lite Lithium Battery Combo

HYDE16

Ready to race!
After rounding out the suspension upgrades on my car, I wanted to continue shaving weight off of the car when replacing OEM parts or worn out components (exhaust, control arms, brakes, battery, etc). As my trusty 40+ pound LEAD-ACID battery was getting near the end of its service life, I wanted to be proactive in replacing it before it could eventually leave me stranded (2010 build date). This was the perfect opportunity to drop some front end weight while adding an efficient and powerful lithium battery for an upcoming dyno test of the Ignition Projects (Okada) Ignition Coil Packs and Plasma Lift kit. I read over a few reviews of the Braille and Deka lightweight batteries and then scoured feedback on proven battery options that wouldn’t leave me stranded in the harsh New Jersey winters. Several friends have had success with Braille batteries but said that the harsh winters and below freezing temperatures can be a little tricky.

Most recently, Braille released the GU1R Lithium ION battery which is their first model for automotive use that is not geared directly toward the professional racer or high end exotic/sports car market. I was interested to hear more about the improvements in lightweight lithium technology and how this would be suitable for a daily driver and weekend warrior car. When I was ready to place the order I got in touch with Gary Savage at Braille who gave me an amazing technical rundown of their batteries in addition to their latest achievement, the GU1R. After a long conversation I purchased the Braille GU1R Green Lite Lithium Battery Combo (battery and lithium charger).

GU1R Lithium ION Battery Product Description:
The GU1R model is designed specifically for the Import Tuner market (4 & 6 cylinder) for street/track vehicles and has enough cranking power for V8 race cars and hot rods with low to moderate electrical demands/accessories. This unit comes from the popular U1R Group size (Mazda Miata), so it's small & light enough to mount in a variety of locations. This combo is the best "bang for the buck" in a lithium upgrade on the market and incorporates the same technology as our race winning batteries used by nearly every OEM in their factory race cars and champions ranging from SCCA to Formula 1. The GU1R offers excellent off-season storage performance, brass terminals, high amp deesign, RoHS and is environmentally friendly. All of Braille’s lithium products are DOT approved and offer a 1 year FREE replacement warranty and up to an additional 2 year pro-rated warranty depending on model.

GU1R Weight = 6.6lbs / 3kg
Length = 7.68" / 195mm
Width = 5.13" / 130mm
Height = 7.13" / 182mm
Polarity = Right Side Positive
Voltage = 12
Full Charge Voltage = 13.8
Pulse Cranking Amps (PCA) = 947
Amp Hour (AH) = 13
Lithium Amp Hour (LAH) = 39
Reserve Capacity (RC) = 32
Life Cycle @ 10% DOD = 5000


1232 Lithium ION Battery Charger Product Description:
Output Amperage = 2a
Amp Hour = 2
Voltage = 12
Voltage Output = 13.8-14.4
Voltage Input = 110/220
Output Connectors = Med. Clamps & Ring
Battery AH Usage Range = < 200ah
Reverse Polarity Protection = Yes
Microprocessor Control = Yes


Unboxing:




























Size Comparison:




Installation:
To my surprise, all Braille lithium batteries are hand built at time of order, so I was told it would be a 5-7 business day production time. This gave me some time to figure out how to mount the battery in the OEM battery box with the 9” J-hooks I purchased as well. Since the TyrolSport Master Cylinder Brace uses the OEM battery tray, I decided to keep the Braille GU1R battery in the battery box to hide the wiring, protect the brass terminals and to retain the OEM look. Installation was easy but started with a trapezoid work out when removing the OEM anchor of a battery. With access to the battery tray, I mounted some L brackets back to back with short self tapping screws on each side of the battery so the J-hooks had a solid mounting point. I cut a sheet of foam to protect the bottom of the battery, wedged the battery in place and tightened the J-hooks down. The universal 9” J-hooks don’t work very well with this specific battery as they only hold the battery from moving forward or back as per the pictures below. Now, on any other battery this would be a huge concern, but once the battery terminals were connected this battery wouldn’t budge due to its extremely light 6.6lb weight. After everything was fitted, I used a dremel to trim the top of the J-hooks so the battery cover would lock into place. Here’s to a clean and stealthy weight reduction, all from a battery!













 

HYDE16

Ready to race!
Overall Feedback:
The GU1R battery is Braille’s first model for automotive use that is not geared directly toward the professional racer or high end exotic/sports car market. The GU1R’s stats seem right on for the GTI’s electrical requirements, especially with 947 PCA! As per Gary Savage at Braille, lithium batteries are electrically superior and not just because of their weight savings. Lithium delivers a higher, cleaner voltage, so we can expect quicker starting, improved engine management performance (fuel pumps, ignition system, etc.), less horsepower draw from the alternator due to efficient charging (5 times faster than lead-acid), will last 3-5 times longer and is much lighter, hence why this battery is ideal for 4 & 6 cylinder street/track cars.

Gary commented that their lithium batteries have a fraction of 1% failure rate. General battery failures are typically caused from a runaway alternator or bad charger (overcharging which would damage ANY battery), improper maintenance or used out of spec. There isn’t a lead-acid battery company or other lithium battery company that has their level of reliability. Braille introduced the first commercially available 12 volt lithium starter battery nearly 6 years ago and has several race teams which are still running the original lithium batteries. The products they produce today are designed to be even more powerful & reliable than those designed just a few years ago.

As for extreme cold weather, Gary mentioned that another benefit of lithium batteries is that you can self-warm them. Meaning, you can turn on the lights for 30-60 seconds, warm the battery and get full pulse cranking amperage. If not done that way, each time you crank on the battery, you will get a stronger and stronger power delivery as it warms, where a small lead-acid battery does just the opposite. Lithium also has nearly 3 times the useable power of lead-acid in the same size, as it will deliver close to 13 volts over 90% discharge of the battery, where lead-acid has a linear drop in voltage as higher amperage is drawn from the battery. While I haven’t tested this battery and cold-starts below 30 degrees due to the timing of this install, I have noticed faster and more successful starting whereas in the past, every 9th or 10th push-button cold start would crank once or twice then stop, forcing me to press the push-button again to start the car.

One of the coolest benefits Gary mentioned is that lithium does not self-discharge, so if there is no draw on the battery (power disconnect switch or disconnected), the battery can sit for over a year and will still have over 13 volts to start the car. Since I do not have a power disconnect switch, Gary advised that if I planned to leave the car for longer than 2 weeks, I should use the 1232 Lithium ION Battery Charger as a trickle charger while the car sits otherwise I should use the charger to top the battery off before putting it back on the road. When I installed the battery, I connected the charger that evening which ran for roughly 2 hours until the green LED showed a fully charged battery.

After a full charge, I let the car sit to test a true cold start the next morning and as expected, the car fired up immediately. With this Braille GU1R battery, I haven’t had a push-button hang up yet but will definitely be paying attention for this. The major benefit again is the weight savings and with a fine tuned front end suspension is that you can ABSOLUTELY feel the difference in weight transfer, braking and steering feedback with this ~40 pound weight reduction on the front driver’s side. I would assume that even with an OEM front end suspension, the feedback from this weight reduction can still be felt. Just as a reference, my front end suspension consists of Audi TT Strut Mounts, H&R Front 26mm Sway Bar, HPA Red 75 Durometer Lower Motor Mount, ST Coilover Kit, SuperPro Performance Control Arm Kit, TyrolSport DeadSet Rigid Front Subframe Collar Kit & Whiteline Sway Bar End Links.

Gary said his biggest goal is to educate the enthusiast crowd and battery market on the difference between cheap Chinese made lithium batteries and Braille products. I’ll leave you with Gary’s final explanation on available lithium battery options in the market today: “With lithium, ‘you get what you pay for’. We are never going to be the least expensive lithium battery out there, but our performance and reliability is at a level where we are the only lithium battery that nearly every OEM will run in their factory race cars and even consider using as a factory option in their road cars. We are a factory option in the BWM Alpina cars and working on several other performance/sports car manufacturers. There is a high failure rate of cheap lithium batteries where people are trying to use a 4 pound battery to replace a 40 pound lead-acid battery, which is not feasible with any sort of long term reliability. We focus on giving the customer the right battery for the application and will deliver the kind of performance they expect for 5-10 or even more years in everything from a pro factory race car, to weekend warrior track car or daily driver.”
 

flat tire

Go Kart Champion
Location
USA
Car(s)
Electric + 135i
I'm running a 6Ah Shorai LiFePO4 battery and everyone got on my ass about it. They hate me though. No problems with the battery so far and I've had it in the car a couple months. Weight of the battery itself is under 4 lbs.

Great review and clean install. Did you get a good price on the battery?
 

boki

Ready to race!
Location
Serbia/Bronx, NY
Here's the battery:
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/braille/product_batteries/gu1r
$577.49

And here's the combo:
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/braille/product_batteries/gu1r_combo

Looks great and I bet it performs great too but the prices have to come down a bit - I wonder how is our car's charging system going to affect this battery technology since they require high tech home chargers that are able to load balance and have overcharge protection - what happens if you drive for 5-6 hours at a time, could there be a overcharge condition there? I've been using ballistic evo2 12cell lithium battery in my motorcycle and I've been happy with it for over a year now but also worried about the life and for the overcharging it.
 

HYDE16

Ready to race!
Here's the battery:
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/braille/product_batteries/gu1r
$577.49

And here's the combo:
http://www.braillebattery.com/index.php/braille/product_batteries/gu1r_combo

Looks great and I bet it performs great too but the prices have to come down a bit - I wonder how is our car's charging system going to affect this battery technology since they require high tech home chargers that are able to load balance and have overcharge protection - what happens if you drive for 5-6 hours at a time, could there be a overcharge condition there? I've been using ballistic evo2 12cell lithium battery in my motorcycle and I've been happy with it for over a year now but also worried about the life and for the overcharging it.

From Braille:

"Braille lithium batteries are 100% compatible with standard charging systems. The only reason that our lithium charger is required (when charging externally) is due to several reasons, most due to the inadequacy of lead battery chargers. Lead chargers typically put out a voltage in the low-mid 13 volt range at a pulse rate (cannot take constant current or they will cook a lead battery). Lithium chargers put out 14.4 volts at a constant rate, as they charge 5 times faster than lead. Additionally, a lead charger (if used on a lithium battery, which is NOT recommended) would only charge it to roughly 50-60% state of charge and some have a desulfation mode to knock the crud off of the lead plates, which can potentially damage lithium since it doesn’t have any lead in it. A lithium charger put out roughly the same voltage as most alternators and anything at 14 volts will keep the battery at 98% state of charge.

Many lower end lithium battery require special chargers or electronics to balance cells depending on quality, cell type, cell chemistry, etc.. This is a condition that does not exist with Braille lithium, as the construction and cell type/quality does not need any sort of external balancing and does that itself.

An overcharging situation would be where a charger or alternator failed and the output voltage exceeded the tolerance of the battery. Braille lithium can handle up to 14.8 volts sustained and would take a long charge of 16 volts are higher to cause damage to the battery. So, if the charging system is putting out 14 -14.5 volts the battery will be happy running like that for a decade or longer!

Corvette Racing used to go through over a dozen AGM batteries per year in the Le Mans racers. They finished their 3rd full season with the same Braille ML30C lithium batteries (most with 7,000+ race miles including a win at Le Mans) and the batteries tested with less than a 10% loss in performance and some were up to 2% better than when they left our facility brand new 3 years ago! Lithium will almost always improve in performance once they have been cycled a bit."
 

boki

Ready to race!
Location
Serbia/Bronx, NY
^Sounds great, I wonder what kind of special technology they are using that they don't require load balancing when charging of the cells/series of cells - since uneven voltage of individual cells could potentialy create chaos inside the battery. I also wonder if my Ballistic charger could charge the Braille battery too so I could at least save money on the charger but I guess I'll have to ask Braillle.
 

HYDE16

Ready to race!
^Sounds great, I wonder what kind of special technology they are using that they don't require load balancing when charging of the cells/series of cells - since uneven voltage of individual cells could potentialy create chaos inside the battery. I also wonder if my Ballistic charger could charge the Braille battery too so I could at least save money on the charger but I guess I'll have to ask Braillle.

Great question, shoot Gary an email at 'savage@braillebattery.com. He is always open to providing a really clear technical understanding. Reference this thread link as well.
 

HYDE16

Ready to race!
Just an update, I went away for a week on vacation and didn't opt to leave the trickle charger on (included in the GU1R combo). Car started up right away after not being started in a week. I LOVE this battery. Next up, feedback over the winter time and extreme New Jersey temperatures.
 

TecklenburgVW

Go Kart Champion
Location
Saint Cloud, FL
Just an update, I went away for a week on vacation and didn't opt to leave the trickle charger on (included in the GU1R combo). Car started up right away after not being started in a week. I LOVE this battery. Next up, feedback over the winter time and extreme New Jersey temperatures.
Hyde, sent you a private message regarding the install.

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