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Battery In The Boot

Started by _Viper_ , Feb 05 2009 07:52 PM

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39 replies to this topic

#1 _Viper_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 07:52 PM

Hey guys, whats the pro's and cons for putting the power and earth wire from the boot to the engine bay either under the car or through the cabin?

IE is it better to run the main power cable under the car or route it through the cabin?

Also is it better to run a earth cable from the battery up to the enginebay or just run it to the chassis in the boot... or both? Can you ever have too many earths?

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#2 _CraigA_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 08:06 PM

Earth to chassis rail at the rear of the car direct from the battery, and earth the block to the chassis at the front of the car.

This has always worked well for me.

I'm not a huge fan of batteries in the boot as they must be vented to pass engineering. If you want to then running the +ve cable inside the car would be my preference but I'd check with an engineer in your state. Don't want to be going to all that effort and end up having to change it.

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#3 _Herne_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 08:46 PM

I am fairly certain my +ve cable has been run under the car, not sure where he routed it though, I will need to check next time its up on the hoist.
Earth to the chassis in the boot and most importantly earth the engine to the chassis in the bay (we forgot that most critical point in our rush prior to Summernats ) I had to ring Jeremy to come over urgently and sort it out, I didn't realise we had overlooked the engine bay earth nor did Jeremy until he started checking for the problem. Funny thing was for the first day of use the car started and then failed completely until the fault was detected.

As for venting the battery, all you need do is run a breather pipe from the battery box through the boot venting it under the car, obviously this requires drilling a small hole.

Hope this helps

Herne

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#4 Bart

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:06 PM

I am fairly certain my +ve cable has been run under the car, not sure where he routed it though, I will need to check next time its up on the hoist.
Earth to the chassis in the boot and most importantly earth the engine to the chassis in the bay (we forgot that most critical point in our rush prior to Summernats ) I had to ring Jeremy to come over urgently and sort it out, I didn't realise we had overlooked the engine bay earth nor did Jeremy until he started checking for the problem. Funny thing was for the first day of use the car started and then failed completely until the fault was detected.

As for venting the battery, all you need do is run a breather pipe from the battery box through the boot venting it under the car, obviously this requires drilling a small hole.

Hope this helps

Herne

Iv seen you mention this breather pipe before. Could you explain how this pipe is installed?? Is it next to the battery/through the floor and pops out under the boot floor??

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#5 _Herne_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:16 PM

Iv seen you mention this breather pipe before. Could you explain how this pipe is installed?? Is it next to the battery/through the floor and pops out under the boot floor??

Hi Bart, You got it, nothing technical, just from the lid of the battery box through a hole in the boot - probably be a grommet used.
I am changing the battery tomorrow so will probably vent it then, if I remember I will take a photo, providing we get around to the venting bit.

Edit***Oh if you use a fully sealed battery then no venting is required.

Herne

Edited by Herne, 05 February 2009 - 09:17 PM.

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#6 _SS Hatchback_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:29 PM

Was just about to say that with a optima battery the vent is not needed, dry cell battery . They are expensive but good especially for the extra cranking amps :spoton:

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#7 Bart

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:35 PM

ok
So what size pipe, and also my battery is not in a box but it is in the boot, i suppose it still needs venting?

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#8 _Viper_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:35 PM

Yea Ill be using a Drycell...

Just went and had a look at my shell and looks as tho there is a channel long the edge of the floor that would be ideal for a cable to sit in (it probly is for the stock wiring, ive got no wiring in the car atm)

But yea It looks as tho it would be a safe spot to route it?

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#9 _Herne_

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 09:37 PM

supped to be in a box (usually plastic store bought ones for the purpose) as far as I know. Thats the only way you can vent it given that the boot is not airtight anyway.
They dont want fumes from the battery entering the cab... Size of vent pipe surely dont matter that much, use common sense.

Herne

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#10 ls2lxhatch

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Posted 05 February 2009 - 11:17 PM

In WA the battery has to be in a sealed box vented to the outside of the vehicle. This applies to dry or wet batteries. It makes as much sense as the rule that you have to have an unleaded filler and warning label even though you can not buy leaded fuel.

http://www.vpw.com.a...p;PrdGrpID=3364

http://www.vpw.com.a...p;PrdGrpID=3319

A wet battery that is not vented in the boot, can cause the boot to rust out and possibly an explosion.

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#11 _Viper_

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Posted 06 February 2009 - 06:57 AM

A box isnt too much drama anyway, Ill make up something custom and as Herne said, the vest is nothing hard.

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#12 _Herne_

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Posted 06 February 2009 - 08:32 AM

I paid around $30.00 for my box (new) and I saw one recently at around the same price, you don't have to spend $150.00 to get the same result

Herne

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#13 _Herne_

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Posted 06 February 2009 - 07:06 PM

We put this in today, I forget the size but a little around 740 CCA. Cost $142.12 and that's trade.

Posted Image

Note the vent pipe buit in....And you wil see it can be moved to either end of the battery by removing the red plug.

Posted Image

The extra wire you can see with the green plug on it is a jump point, yet to be positioned properly. the other is the vent tube.

Posted Image

Whilst I was there I took a couple of photo's for you of one of my sponsors toys.

Posted Image

We didn't get my car up on the hoist today as the workshop was chockas with customers and their cars.

Going back next week to have a balance pipe fitted so it will be up on the hoist then.

Cheers
Herne

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#14 _torbirdie_

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Posted 07 February 2009 - 10:37 AM

IE is it better to run the main power cable under the car or route it through the cabin?

Run it under the car, given that you are running it twice as far, it needs to be much thicker than the standard +ve cable going to the battery. or you may not get enough voltage at the starter to crank it fast enough. Putting the cable in conduit under the car has gotta be easier than threading it through the cabin, trying to hide i under the carpet etc. If the two earths are fairly short in length, they can be conventional diameter

Edited by torbirdie, 07 February 2009 - 10:40 AM.

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#15 antelopeslr5000

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Posted 08 February 2009 - 12:59 PM

I would personally run the cable inside the car, less exposure to the elements.

I ran mine down the left hand side inside the car. No lumps or bumps, very easy to do.

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#16 _Viper_

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Posted 08 February 2009 - 04:12 PM

Thing im worried about is if the cable shorts out if I run it through the cabin and heats up, the carpet will light on fire.. and then the whole car :/

But if its under the car and it gets damaged and shorts out wont the cable just glow red hot untill it melts right through? or what will happen?

In my Gemini i ran it through the cabin, and Put silicone around it where it went near anything that was semi sharp and vibrations might damage it and I havnt had a problem... been meaning to pull the seats and carpet out just to check and make sure nothing is starting to wear through.

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#17 Bart

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Posted 08 February 2009 - 07:31 PM

Thing im worried about is if the cable shorts out if I run it through the cabin and heats up, the carpet will light on fire.. and then the whole car :/

But if its under the car and it gets damaged and shorts out wont the cable just glow red hot untill it melts right through? or what will happen?

In my Gemini i ran it through the cabin, and Put silicone around it where it went near anything that was semi sharp and vibrations might damage it and I havnt had a problem... been meaning to pull the seats and carpet out just to check and make sure nothing is starting to wear through.

If it shorts out it should boil/over heat the battery and that may go open circuit before the entire cable melts??
If you feed the cable through the floor make sure you have a rubber gromet around it. You may have to put a cable tie around the cable on both sides of the gromet so the cable dosnt move inside the gromet and wear through the insulation. (just for reasurance)