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      02-17-2010, 06:34 AM   #1
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Braille No-Weight Battery / EAS Macht Schnell Aluminum Enclosure **FULL REVIEW/DIY**

I wrote this for E90post, but I thought our M3 friends might be able to use this as a DIY in the future as well.

If you are like Ricky Bobby (well me too) and you just want to go fast, then you know this is about power to weight ratio. More power at the same weight and you will be moving faster. The truth is most of us have focused on making our car faster by adding power. The other truth is we must also realize that making our car lighter will make it faster from a standstill or from a roll. Weight reduction is a very important / very efficient way to make your car fast and it makes your car faster in all rpms which is nice.

I have saved about 20 lbs in my exhaust, 20 lbs in my downpipes, about 20 lbs in my wheels and tires, and maybe 15 lbs on my coilovers. Those are nice weight savings, but there is one heavy item on the car that can be easily changed to free up some weight and that is the battery. I felt the battery was a good way for me to make a serious push into reduction and this started my search.

There are a couple companies that make lightweight batteries, but I kept coming back to Braille. Their reputation in the racing community is unmatched, they have a superb lineup of lightweight batteries, and they are proven already on all the fastest N54s in the world. Braille makes a "No-Weight" line-up, "Carbon Fiber" line-up", and "Lithium" line-up. Since the battery sits in our trunk and heat is not an issue, I chose to go with the No-Weight Braille battery. Braille has a 15 lb, 17 lb, and 21 lb battery for our application and vary in the amount of power they provide.

The 15 lb Braille No-Weight:

1067 Pulse Cranking Amps
20 Amp/Hr Reserve

The 17 lb Braille No-Weight:

1191 Pulse Cranking Amps
23 Amp/Hr Reserve

The 21 lb Braille No-Weight:

1380 Pulse Cranking Amps
31 Amp/Hr Reserve


Great, more decisions! LOL. The 15 lb is really going to be tight on the power we need for our cars. The 17 is a great option for those without too many accessory items. The 21 lb is what I chose because I do have random current draws on some of accessory items I have on my car.

Now that I had the battery chosen, I had to figure out how to mount it because it has a smaller footprint than the stock battery. EAS has a superb option... the Macht Schnell - Aluminum Lightweight Battery Enclosure for Braille Batteries. Since EAS sells the Braille battery and the Macht Schnell - Aluminum Lightweight Battery Enclosure, I decided that I would purchase everything from them. I honestly have never had any experience with EAS thus far, so I also felt it was a good chance to see how they stack up as a vendor.

EAS Experience

I called Tom at EAS to order the Braille 21 lb battery and the Macht Schnell Aluminum Lightweight Battery Enclosure. I was fortunate enough to chat with Tom a little and I really got the impression that improving our cars without sacrifice what EAS is about. They don't just offer products to our community, but it is of paramount importance to EAS that their products will make our cars better. I doubt you will ever see a part on their website that is not intended to improve the performance and luxury of our car. Tom always responded to my emails within 24 hours and gave me the technical support I needed. I had one issue where the wiring packet contained an 8 gauge wire with two ring connectors, but the E92 needs the 8 gauge wire to have one ring and one male quick connect blade connector. EAS overnighted the part to me so I could finish the install before the weekend. That was not only generous, but superior customer support.

Immediately following my purchase, I received an email confirming my order and the items shipped that night. I was pleased to see a shipping confirmation email the next morning so I could plan the installation as soon as it arrived.

EAS packaged the items nicely to protect them in the shipment process.



The Braille battery and Macht Schnell Lightweight Battery Enclosure were seperated within the package. You can also see the top terminals taped to the cardboard box.



The Braille 21 lb. battery a nice compact item.



It has traditional top posts with a right hand side positive terminal.



The Macht Schnell Lightweight Battery Enclosure is individually packaged and sealed to protect each item.



The EAS "MS" enclosure has the following specs:

- Machined from 6061-T6 aerospace aluminum
- Overall footprint are exact dimensions of stock BMW battery
- Black anodized finish for additional strength and corrosion/wear resistance
- Macht Schnell logo engraved in holder
- Weighs only 2.5lbs
- Includes corrosion-resistant hardware

You can see the nicely done MS logo.



The MS enclosure is extremely well built and quite rugged.



Overall, my experience with EAS was positive in all aspects.

Installation

The first thing I did was assemble the Macht Schnell Enclosure. This is very easy as there is absolutely only one way it can go together. It took about 5 minutes and you will need an allen wrench to secure the bolts. I left the top bolts off during these pictures because I had not mounted the battery yet.







From here, I moved onto removing the battery. On the E9x, it is located inside passenger side of the trunk. You simply turn the black knob shown in the picture below to expose the battery.







To get the stock battery out of the car, you first need to remove the brace above the battery.



Then remove the negative terminal. Simple stuff. To expose the positive terminal, just pop opne the plastic hatch on the power distribution block as shown in the picture below.



That will disconnect the power terminal from the battery, but the power distribution block (big red item) is latched to the battery. Simply slip a large flat head screw driver into the tab on both sides of the battery to remove the power distribution block completely from the battery.



Lastly, the battery is secured with a single bolt on the rear of the battery (facing the rear of the car). Remove this bolt and pull the battery out.





When I pulled the battery out, I realized how heavy it is and how large it is!



On to installing the Braille Battery and MS enclosure. Here is what it looks like with the Braille battery mounted in the MS enclose. Note, the terminal location with respect to the MS enclosure.



Now install the battery in the stock location in the passenger side fender well. Use the stock bolt to secure the battery.



To wire things up, I strongly suggest getting rid of the power distribution block. It is large bulky and does look good at all. I have color coated a picture so we can talk specifically about what will be done.



You will remove the power distribution block at the green arrow. That leaves 3 wires that will need to be connection to the bolt at the green arrow. The wire at the blue arrow will bolt directly over at the green arrow with no modifications. The wires at the yellow arrows first need to be unsnapped and removed from the power distribution bloc. Then use the male blade quick connects included in the kit and insert the male blades into the plastic connectors (again the wires removed from the yellow arrowed locations). I found them to be a bit loose, so I wrapped the in elastic electrical tape to secure them into the plastic subconnections. Finally attach these to the green arrow location and you are ready to connect the terminals.



Reinstall the bracket above the battery.



Finally, I wasn't totally comfortable with the wire that was exposed on the positive terminal, so I used 4 gauge shrink wrap to protect the wire.



As you can see it looks as good as stock or even better if you ask me. If you mount the wires as I have shown, everything is hidden behind the battery to keep things very clean!

Time to push the button and see if it starts? The car started perfectly.

Weight Difference

I did want to quantify the weight difference so I weighed both the stock battery and the Braille 21 lb battery / MS enclosure. The stock battery weights about 52 lbs.



The Braille 21 lb battery / MS enclosure weighs about 24 lbs.

'

What this means is I saved about 28 lbs by going with Braille 21 lb battery / MS enclosure. That is likely the single largest weight loss I have had on my car to date.

Conclusion

Making a car faster is a combination of many things including power, tires, suspension, and weight. Making your car lighter is a critical part of making your car faster. I decided to make a real push for weight loss on my car by adding the Braille 21 lb battery and Macht Schnell Lightweight Battery Enclosure. The Braille Battery is simply superb quality. The MS enclosure it sharp, rugged, well built, and worthy of a BMW. The weight savings from the combination amounted to 28 lbs which is a great step forward.

My experience with EAS was really superb. Tom is a great representative of EAS. He was fast in his response to my questions and very helpful along the way. EAS has made a strong impression on me of their commitment to making BMW's even better than we got them from the factory. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to purchase from them again in the future.
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      02-17-2010, 01:54 PM   #2
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Already done, referenced from the weight/cost savings sticky in Suspension, Brakes and Chassis forum:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233195

Numerous problems cropped up with the light batteries. Risky mod.
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      02-17-2010, 07:10 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by J-9 View Post
Already done, referenced from the weight/cost savings sticky in Suspension, Brakes and Chassis forum:
http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=233195

Numerous problems cropped up with the light batteries. Risky mod.
Actually have been using the Braille B3121 here on our MY08 M3 with no issues at all, but you can't expect the deep cycle what the stock batteries provide. As long as the vehicle is driven at least 2-3 times weekly - there should be no issues.

Non-iDrive systems can get away with a 15lb battery.
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      02-17-2010, 10:16 PM   #4
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I had minor but very annoying problems with my B3121. I did drive multiple times per week. I even had it swapped once for free to verify. Car would often lose the time and CA would quit working. I also got low battery warnings. To be fair it would always start. My story is well documented here on the forum. Unfortunately it was never determined why different folks seem to get different results. Good luck, please give us a long term update.
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      03-22-2010, 09:28 PM   #5
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Do you think iDrive vehicles can get away with a 17lb battery if we keep the car hooked up to a battery tenderer overnight?
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      03-22-2010, 09:46 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bigjae1976 View Post
Do you think iDrive vehicles can get away with a 17lb battery if we keep the car hooked up to a battery tenderer overnight?
If this is a daily driver, you will be fine. 17lb is the limit though on iDrive.
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      03-22-2010, 10:02 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tom @ eas View Post
If this is a daily driver, you will be fine. 17lb is the limit though on iDrive.
not a dailyD for me.
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      03-22-2010, 11:17 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by saeedg48 View Post
not a dailyD for me.
Then I would recommend the 21lb or use a battery tender for the 17lb.
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