550 battery position and ground pole

Do NOT jump start it. You may FUBAR the electronics. Disconnect the battery and charge it.

 

Not sure what you mean by pin. The main ground cable runs from the battery negative terminal to the battery disconnect switch/knob and the switch is attached to ground. There may be other smaller wires which bypass this on some Ferraris. Because of this not all electrics will be shut off with the battery disconnect switch.

Most batteries don't like being run completely flat. I would just buy a new one.

Read some of the negative reviews on the NOCO. Several people claim it will not start a car with a totally dead battery.

 

What's it worth being wrong? Airbag module?

 

Why not just connect the charger to the negative pole of the battery?

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There is no pin, just a bolt at "304" on the opposite side of the battery cutoff switch. As long as the battery cutoff switch is not in the cutoff position, you can charge the battery using anything bolted to the chassis, including the engine block. If you think the battery is ok, I would still disconnect the battery anyway and connect your NOCO directly to the battery.

 

Ferrari have very poor electrical systems. Interestingly my battery just died because my hardwired tender failed on my 550. It has been dead for at least a month. This is what you do when you have a total discharge on lead acid battery. FIRST disconnect battery from car. Mandatory with ferrari because all kinds of bad things can happen. Take battery out is best but it's a pita in the 550. Check fluid level in the wet cells. To have a hope of reinvigorating a fully discharged battery your need to hit it with some amps. I use a full power battery charger for this not a tender. My full power charger has a 50A setting and I just hit for 15 mins. I made sure the battery case did not get hot but I could feel it warm. Then I hit it for another 15mins. Then I charged it until I went to bed at 4A setting noting the battery voltage read 12.57V with charger off for 1 min. Then in morning I checked voltage and it was 12.2V. That's still not a fully charged battery but it started the car just fine. Over the last few days I've topped off the battery to 12.7V and it drops to 12.5V about a 90% charge and lets see how it holds charge over the next couple weeks to see if I'm good or if I'll need to replace it. So far It's looking pretty good!

There are some ways to blast a battery using your welder set around 100A. Don't do this unless out of the car in a safe area well ventilated. You can boil your H2SO4 doing that but it can breath new life in. Blasting the battery desulfonates the plates allowing the battery to accept a regular slow charge.

 

I guess the absence of power from the battery simulates a car thief cutting the battery cables (to try to stop the alarm going off). On the up side, I guess that proves that your siren backup battery is working. I can't recall if a really long push of the fob button cancels the alarm in this situation.

Probably best. They can be surprisingly heavy (and hard to get to). If you do try it, use the battery cutoff switch AND disconnect the negative cable first (and install it last)

 

I would recommend a small hoist to get out the battery on Maranellos. I am kind of small and could not remove the AGM battery in her last time I tried. Very large tech pulled it out and replaced.

 

I've replaced mine several times; the last time about a year ago. It's a real PITA and thinking back, I'm not sure a hoist will help much. IIRC, it wasn't a straight lift out but required tilting and twisting to remove.

 

Coincidentally I had my battery out yesterday while replacing the passenger side catalyst ECU. Its much easier if you move the overflow tank. You dont have to disconnect coolant lines. You can just swing it out of the way once you remove the 3 mounting bolts.
Time for another battery rant...just go to Costco and buy an H6 battery. Perfect fit. Reasonable price. Mine is going on 9 years now in the 575. I have Costco batteries in every one of my 8 cars. They have lasted anywhere from 8-14 years. If it dies within 3 years , free replacement , no questions asked , prorated after that.
Easy peasy...

 

costco bats for me too! My Ram diesel uses 2 and the OE bat is like near 700bucks. @ costcos that fit the hole and nearly the same CCA are about 175ea. The 1st costco set lasted 5 years.

 

Yes Sir FBB...4 in my boat too
Those batteries rock...and we are all familiar with the great return policies

 

This is probably the biggest advantage of @Antigravity Batteries, ha! What is the weight savings?

Joking aside, I'll be moving to one of their units when my battery needs to be replaced.

 

The Costco H6 has a retractable handle on the top which makes it easier to maneuver it out/in place. I'm no spring chicken anymore but it was not too bad.

 

"I'm no spring chicken..."
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At 81, I'm not either; I got it done but did think that perhaps a Lithium battery might be a better option for the next replacement.

 

Thanks for considering our product.... yes it will feel crazy how light it is and you will see a definate easy of starting increase due to its power. We are having our Black Friday sale in that last week of November if the timing is right for you at that time.

Another cool thing is we have coming is our own heat protection blanket for the V12 Cars and others vehicles having the battery in high heat enviroments. We just felt that most companies weren't doing it correctly. We saw these blanket and even Ferrari themselves supplying one that was just cheap and doesn't end up covering the TOP of the Battery... just not really trying to create a good product that actually works well. So we figured we could build a better mousetrap. So the first samples of our design are coming hopefully mid next week. Then we can test and see what really works best and bring them to market. Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Can you update us on the latest with lithium batteries in cars? I come from a time when lithium batteries in cars was a bad thing. Airlines don't allow LI batteries in our checked bags. We saw them used years ago for weight savings in high heat environments in our race cars. We had several lithium batteries achieve "thermal runaway" and cause on track fires and lost some racecars. Races tend to be short and racers will take chances to win, but many of us took the weight penalty to avoid the very real and first hand experience of fire risk. I have always been prejudiced by these early experiences and would never put an LI battery in my car especially in a high heat environment like the 550/575 being discussed. I'm still racing with lead acid battery.

Thinking my knowledge is out of date, I just checked google AI and it still says:
" "...a lithium car battery is more likely to experience thermal runaway than a lead-acid battery, especially in high heat environments like those found in racing, because of lithium's higher energy density and different chemical stability. While lead-acid batteries are more robust to extreme conditions, lithium-ion batteries contain more flammable materials and are less thermally stable, meaning they can reach a critical temperature faster.""

But google can't be right. Something must have changed because many manufacturers are using LI batteries as the OEM battery including on some new Ferrari models. I do not think Ferrari or others would trade fire risk for small power increase and weight savings of 20lbs on a 3500-4000lb car. These new LI batteries must have solved the thermal runaway problem and/or new car makers are insulating the batteries from heat with better design engineering and the thermal runaway problem solved? So what has changed and what is making LI batteries save to use? You mentioned "blanket". If heat is still an issue with LI batteries are these blankets going to be marketed to cars like the 550 where Ferrari gave no consideration to a battery cooking in the engine compartment's heat?

 

For Fatbillybob,

You bring up good stuff.... I'm happy to answer, but I can ramble, so beware.....

We've been around since 2010 making Lithium Batteries, So we've been around it all. We actually supply the Batteries that are in the new Mustang GTDs, and we are also supplying Pagani for the Utopias, which are a 2 million dollar car, so these companies don't want to put a battery that will catch fire in their cars. We are in IMSA, most all the classes, Trophy Trucks, Drifting, Supercross/Motocros, Drag and Boat Drag... and are in Championship vehicles in every class, so thats a big part of our thing too. My point being not to brag, but to say... they won't use products that have any history or concern of being safe.

First about bringing Lithium on Planes... you are allowed lithium devices up to 100watt hours, on Carry-On luggage only, so if they try to call you out, you can point to the specs of your device and it will say the watt hours on it, and say... "I can bring this on for sure". I say this because we make a Lithium Jump Starters also, called the MICRO-START, and its also is a power bank I use to charge my devices and run my laptop so we all carry them on the planes going to Tradeshows and events... I can bring it on because it 88 watt hours, under 100watt hours so I'm good to go.

Regarding Lithium Batteries and Thermal Runaway.... while thermal runaway is possible, even in Lead/Acid Batteries, we have to firstly understand that there are several types of Lithium Battery Chemistries, and the Media does not tell you that.... so they just say there was a "Lithium-Ion Battery Fire". So most tend to lump Lithium Batteries as being all the same, but they are quite different in their chemistries and some are massively powerful but not so stable, while others are much less powerful but much more stable. What is used in vehicle "Starter Batteries" like Antigravity's Batteries, Porsche, McLaren, Ferrari, and many others Lithium Batteries is called Lithium Iron Phosphate (LIFEPO4 or LFP). This type of Lithium is considered the safest format due to its lower energy density and high resistance to thermal runaway when compared to other Lithium chemistries like Lithium Polymer, or Lithium Cobalt, which are found in those Hooverboards and in Hobby type of Remote Control Cars/Planes. So the modern (high quality) Lifepo4 Starter Battery has a full Battery management System (BMS) Circuit board built into it so the Lithium Battery cell-pack is going through the circuit board that has built-in protections to keep the lithium battery from being damaged by over-discharge, over-charge, over current, over-voltage, over-heat, protection if close to freezing, and it balances all the cells in the battery so they operate uniformly. So they are exceptionally safe and really good these days. They were actually good back in the day too, but alot didn't understand them or didn't use them correctly, with the proper protections in place.

So, back in the day Racer/Tinkerers were using oddball Lithium Chemistries and not understanding the relationship to the charging voltages and current output of the Cars, and being ignorant of other factors like if you over-discharge lithium deeply say to 4v, then jump start it and your Car is pushing in super high current to a small lithium battery when its only at 4 volts, then this is going to cause that battery to overheat massively because it can't handle the incoming current, which then results in thermal runaway meltdown. So it was a wildwest type of use back in the day for guys who were winging it because they saw Lithium was so lightweight and powerful. Another factor was using too small Lithium Batteries for an application because they were so powerful, but they didn't understand the battery has to be large enough to absorb a certain amount of current from the Cars Charging system or it will overheat. For example we make a battery that is about 12 ounces, its 1" deep x 4" long and 3" tall... it will start a V8 Truck no problem...but if you put it in a V8 Truck the charging system will overheat it and potentially cause thermal runaway, or it just might puff up then die. So anyway, thermal runaway is extremely controlled now and even if you use a LIFEPO4 Battery without full protections and its sized right and the charging system is operating correctly you will rarely if ever see thermal runaway. With Lifepo4 you sort of have to TRY HARD to damage it to create a thermal runaway event, it very stable... and I mean a quality Grade A Lithium Cell, not a cheap Lifepo4 cell that isn't certified.

So last, you asked what is making the batteries safer now.... firstly I have to say it just more people understand more nowadays, more racers are not building their own batteries, and the biggest part of this is that there were some really nice BMS systems being incorporated into the Batteries. We were a very early adopter of the BMS to our batteries because it just eliminated User error potential to a very high degree. All the protections don't allow a User to accidentally over-discharge the battery or over-charge the battery nowadays.
You bring up alot of good stuff.... so I'm glad to answer. We've been around since 2010 making Lithium Batteries, So we've been around it all. We actually supply the Batteries that are in the new Mustang GTDs, and we are also supplying Pagani for the Utopias, which are a 2 million dollar car, so these companies are that don't want to put a battery that will catch fire in their cars. We are in IMSA, most all the classes, Trophy Trucks, Drifting, Supercross/Motocros, Drag and Boat Drag... and are in Championship vehicles in every class, so thats a big part of our thing too. So it is exceptionally safe actually.

 

Thanks for the detailed and through lesson on modern Lithium batteries!

You mentioned physical battery size to absorb the charging system output or current and voltage. In lead acid world a battery about the same size and same terminal position and approximate OEM cranking amps is all you need for a compatible battery. Is it the same for Lithium...I.E. don't use a physically too small lithium battery?

 

Where are your Antigravity batteries made?