Delica battery setup (single or double battery ?)

[pandaselecta]

Does anybody know the setup for the delica battery, as a mate had the van running with his starter pack, but i dont know how he fitted it and i cant get in touch with him now.

All i have is a battery cable with a black box on (also has a smaller box to that connector), and the other cable has a red rubber cover and 2 small black wires (this cable disappears along the right side of the engine). Any ideas? as i dont want things going bang.

Other reason i ask is that a mechanic has said that both connectors are positive and it must be a twin setup

there is (kind of) space for 2 batteries, and there is also a black metal frame that looks like its for a 2 battery setup (correct me if i'm wrong please)

The battery i have fitted is a 334 type that i bought second hand (£10 as it was flat, now fully charged). Once i put it in i noticed that there is a good 3 inches either side of it (front and back too), so it looked like it should have two batteries.

The thing is, the van came with only one battery, so does anybody have the single battery setup and could they take a pictures please so i can make sure (virtual beer for the help Wink )

[delicaboy]

should be a double mate mines a double haha helps with the glowplugs needs the charge to start

gud batteries are worth their weight in gold

[Mr. Flibble]

The double batteries are the winterized versions to give more "oomph" in the cold. Newer batteries are more reliable and thus you don't always need two, but they are nice to have!

Pics of my setup would not be relevant though as I have an L400.

[Firesong]

I disagree, Newer batteries aren't more reliable.
The two batteries give the Diesel motor more to draw upon
after charging the glow plugs, more of a pool of power.
You can't get that from a single battery unless you go with
a huge one that can't fit in that given space.

FS

[Manitoba deli]

I agree with Firesong, while the newer batteries have a high cold cranking value, the reserve cranking amps are not much higher than the old batteries, and it is the reserve cranking power that you need after you have cycled your glow plugs and you are going to crank the starter for more than 5 to 7 seconds. The only substitue for dual batteries in a cold climate is 3 batteries. If you are in a moderate climate one battery should be fine.

Jason

[almac]

i have the dual setup in my van and my batteries are getting old.
for the last year i've been thinking of swapping them out for:
1 high CCA battery for starting, and 1 GEL battery for my camper.

still undecided on what batteries to get for this purpose. i thought of optimas, but i've heard that their quality control is really lacking these days.

any thoughts?

[Firesong]

*****
1 high CCA battery for starting, and 1 GEL battery for my camper.
....i thought of optimas, but i've heard that their quality control is really lacking these days.
*****

In a different thread it was talked about. The optimas are not a battery for diesel motors.
The design inside makes it ideal for a fast hard crank which sounds good BUT not for us. Because
the first thing we do when we start our Delica's (Diesels) are charge the glow plugs. The
glow plugs require a decent amount of power. That kinda negates why a person would get
an optima. PLus no single battery that fits in the delica's battery space will have the spare/pool
of power that 2 batteries will have. That part is simply a matter of liquid in the case of the
battery.

That being said, if you don't drive your van in the winter then don't worry about it. One other
thing is, if you go for a gel battery as your alternate deep cycle battery you MUST drain it
of power before it charges back up. I asked about those too. Make sure you know about the
specific battery your going to buy. The chap who was educating me reminded me that the gel
batteries you see in a lot of the gold carts, scooters etc have a charger that drains the battery
before it charges them. Simply hooking them up to a battery isolator will make them a huge
paper weight in no time.

My Optima that I bought for my VW is now powering my wife's car.
Oh well...
FS

[fexlboi]

One other
thing is, if you go for a gel battery as your alternate deep cycle battery you MUST drain it
of power before it charges back up. The chap who was educating me reminded me that the gel
batteries you see in a lot of the gold carts, scooters etc have a charger that drains the battery
before it charges them. Simply hooking them up to a battery isolator will make them a huge
paper weight in no time.

Do you have more background details? Would be interested why...

[Firesong]

Forgot about this thread.

'The chap who was educating me reminded me that the gel
batteries you see in a lot of the gold carts, scooters etc have a charger that drains the battery
before it charges them. Simply hooking them up to a battery isolator will make them a huge
paper weight in no time.'

I stopped in again to clarify why this is the way it is.
The gel in them must be drained of energy all the way through before
charging or have a charger that drains them then recharges them.

The gel as it's losing (or having it's charge used) changes it's consistency
with the usage. If the unused portion isn't drained it's consistency is different
than the other drained gel. When you recharge the two layers are different from
that point. If you try to drain it all after this it will only drain to the last layer.
Thus the memory effect.
Topping them off with a setup in the vehicle will ruin them in no time.

AGM gel batteries are different and don't have a memory effect.

Hope this helps
Firesong