Found this ad in the back of a Car Audio mag. They have 16 volt race & 16 volt audio car batteries. What would be the advantage of a 16 volt car battery for racing?

www.turbostart.com

Ralph

74 2.0

Well, here are some possibilities...

If you run a car with no alternator, your battery will slowly die throughout the race, which may be fine, but eventually the voltage may drop to the point where the ignition system or other systems start to fail. A 16 volt battery has more "headroom" before you reach below 12 volts.

Another possible advantage, though I'm not sure how it would be useful for racing, is that with 16 volts you can potentially deliver more power to the starter. It still depends on the internal resistance of the battery, but for each doubling of voltage, you quadruople the power, because the current doubles. So your starter might start up faster, or maybe you can get away with a smaller starter.

Seems though that 16 volts might have the potential to damage some sensitive electronics not designed for that range. Though a well designed power supply for any kind of sensitive electronics would surely tolerate 16 volts.


-Tony