Darrel Cox lithium battery issues

[Ricky Racer]

Just received my Darrel Cox battery a few days ago, the install was nice and easy, simply take out the old battery and put in the new one. So I decided to do some testing at home before taking it to the track to make sure this new lithium battery can take the abuse I was going to throw at it. The battery came about 75% charged so I charged it up with the supplied 4 amp li-po charger, the demon started right up voltage around 14.2 all good so far. The problems started when I put the car in drag mode, more specific the after race cool down mode. I brought the car to operating temperature activated the race cool down button shut off the car and let the cool down fans and pump run through there cycle, (about 5 minutes) so far no problems so I started the car again drove home and parked in the drive way shut the car off and let the race cool down fans do there thing for 5 more minutes. That’s two runs, so I started it up again and put the car in the garage leaving the race cool down feature on a third time, it ran through its cycle but I could hear the fans starting to slow down a little, well that third cycle all but killed the battery, car would not start after that. This is a brand new fully charged battery designed for this car and I killed it in less than an hour. If I’m having problems with this battery at home what’s it going to do at the track! I can’t trust this battery to do the the same job as the original AGM battery that has never let me down at the track. I really wanted this light weight battery to work. I will call them Monday to see if we can work something out but for now it’s not looking good.

 

[jonx96]

Have you tried reaching out to him? Darryl is a great guy and will have the answers for you no doubt

 

[Paladin06]

Wow, I have a 6 year old AA that is nothing but GOLD. Good luck.

 

[jonx96]

I talked to daryel about this. Call him Monday he will get you figured out.

 

[vortecd]

One thing we know about Darrel is he will make it right.

 

[Doublewide]

My DCR has been going strong for 3 years now. Absolutely love mine

 

[DRAGRCR]

Just received my Darrel Cox battery a few days ago, the install was nice and easy, simply take out the old battery and put in the new one. So I decided to do some testing at home before taking it to the track to make sure this new lithium battery can take the abuse I was going to throw at it. The battery came about 75% charged so I charged it up with the supplied 4 amp li-po charger, the demon started right up voltage around 14.2 all good so far. The problems started when I put the car in drag mode, more specific the after race cool down mode. I brought the car to operating temperature activated the race cool down button shut off the car and let the cool down fans and pump run through there cycle, (about 5 minutes) so far no problems so I started the car again drove home and parked in the drive way shut the car off and let the race cool down fans do there thing for 5 more minutes. That’s two runs, so I started it up again and put the car in the garage leaving the race cool down feature on a third time, it ran through its cycle but I could hear the fans starting to slow down a little, well that third cycle all but killed the battery, car would not start after that. This is a brand new fully charged battery designed for this car and I killed it in less than an hour. If I’m having problems with this battery at home what’s it going to do at the track! I can’t trust this battery to do the the same job as the original AGM battery that has never let me down at the track. I really wanted this light weight battery to work. I will call them Monday to see if we can work something out but for now it’s not looking good.

You're kidding, right? You can't use the race cooldown with that battery. There is nothing wrong with it. It just does NOT have enough capacity to run that system. ALSO, it has a higher voltage, so the battery check mark or permissive will NOT work with the race cooldawn system and it WILL drain the battery to Zero. It will. 100%.

The battery will be fine but it is not intended for that system. Does not have enough Amp Hours. Heck if you have to move the car up like 8 times in the staging lanes it might go dead (fail to start). I always fast idle the car a bit if I am in that situation.

 

[Ricky Racer]

Ron; thanks for the info, so the battery will work as long as you don’t use the after race cool down feature. That’s good to know, there web site does not mention this anywhere. Im glad I tested it out at home first before taking it to the track.

 

[Magnified]

You're kidding, right? You can't use the race cooldown with that battery. There is nothing wrong with it. It just does NOT have enough capacity to run that system. ALSO, it has a higher voltage, so the battery check mark or permissive will NOT work with the race cooldawn system and it WILL drain the battery to Zero. It will. 100%.

The battery will be fine but it is not intended for that system. Does not have enough Amp Hours. Heck if you have to move the car up like 8 times in the staging lanes it might go dead (fail to start). I always fast idle the car a bit if I am in that situation.

But is it billed as a direct replacement? If not I would advise them to review their marketing materials.

 

[DRAGRCR]

Ron; thanks for the info, so the battery will work as long as you don’t use the after race cool down feature. That’s good to know, there web site does not mention this anywhere. Im glad I tested it out at home first before taking it to the track.

Yes, my Friend drained his at the track. He had enabled the race cooldown feature and it ran every time he shut the car off. Whithout that battery condition function/checkmark in the permissives for the race cooldown system it quickly ran his battery down. Then he lost the SRT Pages.
I even drained my Braille at Famoso way back doing the same thing. Even though it has extra capacity the protection is not there. I had the race cooldown enabled and it was hot outside and every time I moved the car up in the lanes the system kicked of for the 5 minute run. Battery, GONE!

Darryl will make you a battery with 4 cells instead of 3 for extra capacity. But I still would not chance it. I have not used Race Cooldown since I drained my Battery at Famoso.

I think the Battery is Direct Fit. Not direct replacement. Not as far as capacity anyways........Just sayin.

 

[vortecd]

My lithium has more capacity then the stock one and weighs 15 lbs. I wouldn't be afraid of using the cool down. I know bmason tested the arc angel with running a cool down I believe in the garage with no issues

 

[Ricky Racer]

I will call Cox racing tomorrow but for now it looks like I will be putting the original battery back in for the race track. I never had a battery problem using the race cool down feature before. It’s supposed to be 92 degrees at the track this Wednesday so I will be using the cool down feature. track temperature will probably be around 130 degrees so there will be no grip anyway.

 

[jonx96]

I will call Cox racing tomorrow but for now it looks like I will be putting the original battery back in for the race track. I never had a battery problem using the race cool down feature before. It’s supposed to be 92 degrees at the track this Wednesday so I will be using the cool down feature. track temperature will probably be around 130 degrees so there will be no grip anyway.

I just bought an ice box. I haven’t had good enough luck with the cool down feature.

 

[DavidKFla]

I just bought an ice box. I haven’t had good enough luck with the cool down feature.

I removed my burnbox because it would flat my battery everytime i used it. Went through 3-4 batteries before I finally wised up.

 

[moparjim]

My lithium has more capacity then the stock one and weighs 15 lbs. I wouldn't be afraid of using the cool down. I know bmason tested the arc angel with running a cool down I believe in the garage with no issues

He tested it for more than a half hour but it was with a Tazer turning on the fans .

 

[Ricky Racer]

Just got off the phone with Darrel Cox, and he explained the correct procedure for using the race cool down feature on the demon with the lithium battery. Darrel said the battery just needs a 15 to 20 minute charge between cycles. You can’t run the after race cooler function every time you shut the car off multiple times without charging it back up, unlike the OEM battery which I never had a problem with but is also a 48 pound chunk of lead. Darrel is sending me a 6 amp charger (for free) for the track. So I’m going to give the battery a go this Wednesday. Stay tuned.

 

[Magnified]

Charger for the track runs off of?

 

[Marc W]

Charger for the track runs off of?

$350.

 

[Magnified]

Interesting

 

[Deano]

I'm waiting to see if the battery can be charged sufficiently between runs with that charger.