Ive decided that its time to clean up the disgusting wiring in my LH. To give myself some more room and make it look neater im going to move the battery to the boot. Im curious to any legal issues i might experience in NSW. What is the proper way to mount and secure the box? I got the smallest box i could, however my battery only takes up half the space of the box. Should i get a bigger battery, or can i somehow secure it in the box? Am i going to have issues with ventilation?
Im undecided if i should run the cables under the car or under the carpet. Im going to throw a kill switch in to cut the power from the battery too.
The plan so far is:
Battery----->Wires under carpet--------->Kill Switch-------> Fuses (engine bay)--------> Accessories
Moving Battery to Boot
Started by
_Ben_
, Oct 02 2011 12:01 PM
14 replies to this topic
#2
_torbirdie_
_torbirdie_
-
- Guests
Posted 03 October 2011 - 10:00 PM
Ive decided that its time to clean up the disgusting wiring in my LH. To give myself some more room and make it look neater im going to move the battery to the boot. Im curious to any legal issues i might experience in NSW. What is the proper way to mount and secure the box? I got the smallest box i could, however my battery only takes up half the space of the box. Should i get a bigger battery, or can i somehow secure it in the box? Am i going to have issues with ventilation?
Im undecided if i should run the cables under the car or under the carpet. Im going to throw a kill switch in to cut the power from the battery too.
The plan so far is:
Battery----->Wires under carpet--------->Kill Switch-------> Fuses (engine bay)--------> Accessories
Don't know about mounting requirements, but it must be ventilated to the outside if its a lead/sulphuric acid battery.
Cables?, you only need one to go from the +ve of the batt to the starter. Earth engine to body, earth batt to body.
where to run the cable, you'll need very flexible cable and thicker(1.4 times the diameter of the original) to run it under the carpet and go round sharp corners etc, my preference would be to run it under the car in conduit.
#3
_Ben_
_Ben_
-
- Guests
Posted 04 October 2011 - 09:09 PM
Yeah im starting to head towards under the car as it reduces fire risk and is easier to get at if i need to. Going to run 2 gauge cable into a power distributor then 4 gauge from then on. There arent any sharp corners, its all going in a straight line. Thinking of throwing in a circuit breaker, but i think the power distributor i was looking at has one built in.
Ventilation is going to be my problem. How do i ventilate it? Or do i just get a different battery?
Ventilation is going to be my problem. How do i ventilate it? Or do i just get a different battery?
#4
hatchssv8
-
- Members
-
- 358 posts
Forum Fan
- Location:Melbourne
- Joined: 10-November 05
Posted 04 October 2011 - 09:29 PM
pick up a VE type battery which has a vent tube orifice (sp)
plumb a clear pvc hose from the battery to atmosphere. You should use a rubber grommet to protect the tube through the sheet metal.
plumb a clear pvc hose from the battery to atmosphere. You should use a rubber grommet to protect the tube through the sheet metal.
#6
xu1kid
-
- Members
-
- 364 posts
Forum Fan
- Name:anthony
- Location:Albury
- Car:lj gtr xu1
- Joined: 30-December 08
Posted 05 October 2011 - 08:31 PM
id run thick cables both positive and negative up to the engine and starter
#7
_torbirdie_
_torbirdie_
-
- Guests
Posted 06 October 2011 - 05:37 PM
id run thick cables both positive and negative up to the engine and starter
Doubles the length, doubles the voltage drop.
#8
Toranamat69
-
- Members
-
- 2,117 posts
Forum R&D Officer
- Location:Brisbane
- Joined: 07-November 05
Posted 06 October 2011 - 06:11 PM
id run thick cables both positive and negative up to the engine and starter
I wouldn't. It is a waste of money and adding unnecessary weight to the car and would actually be higher impedance than the body of the car provided you have a satisfactory earth connection from the battery to the body and engine to body.
Copper may be a better conductor than steel, but there is far more cross sectional area of steel in the body than there is in a copper cable.
You are talking serious $$$ for that size cable.
Doubles the length, doubles the voltage drop.
Well not quite - the earth return in the body still has some impedance. But likely you would end up with higher impedance with the cable unless you ran a very big cable.
Matt
#9
_CHOPPER_
_CHOPPER_
-
- Guests
Posted 06 October 2011 - 06:56 PM
id run thick cables both positive and negative up to the engine and starter
I wouldn't...
You are talking serious $$$ for that size cable.
I got some battery cables made that are basically 1000 amp welding cables. Last time I checked it was $13/metre and about $8 for the (extra large) crimp ends.
#10
_torbirdie_
_torbirdie_
-
- Guests
Posted 06 October 2011 - 08:10 PM
For goodness sake, good luck if you can find a way to measure it, my best guess is less than 1/100000 Ohm(some of us might even say zero) given I couldnt even achieve a voltage drop(using the 0-200 mV scale of a multimeter) in the length of a car with a 50A load going through.Well not quite - the earth return in the body still has some impedance.
Though if one is going to be pedantic, connections for battery to earth and engine to earth will each carry resistance in the cable and indeed at the contact points with the chassis and the crimping junctions(very measurable), so using two cables isnt quite double the voltage drop..
anyway, enoughs with the high tec argybargy, yep one cable should do it, its neater, has a performance advantage, perhaps cheaper(two extra terminals might make cost difference inconsequential), and yes its good enough for all the car manufactuers that stick batteries in the boot too.
Edited by torbirdie, 06 October 2011 - 08:17 PM.
#11
rodomo
-
- Members
-
- 18,050 posts
To advertise here, call 13TORANA
- Name:R - O - B Dammit!
- Location:Way out west of Melbourne Awstraylya
- Joined: 10-December 05
Posted 06 October 2011 - 08:51 PM
He! He! 
#12
_CHEV_
_CHEV_
-
- Guests
Posted 07 October 2011 - 06:29 PM
Just buy a battery with the 2 negatives and 2 positives or battery terminals with 2 outputs... Run 1 negative with extra thick 0 guage wire to the body and the other to the gearbox - block or front chasis... then you cant go wrong! This is what I have just done...
#13
Toranamat69
-
- Members
-
- 2,117 posts
Forum R&D Officer
- Location:Brisbane
- Joined: 07-November 05
Posted 08 October 2011 - 12:36 AM
^^^WtF??
One could have some fun with this :-)
One could have some fun with this :-)
#14
_gen3torrie_
_gen3torrie_
-
- Guests
Posted 09 October 2011 - 01:13 AM
or you could do what im doing and run a dry cell
#15
rexy
-
- Members
-
- 3,758 posts
Lotsa Posts!
- Name:Rexy
- Location:Melbourne
- Car:Kia grand carnival!!!
- Joined: 03-November 09
Posted 09 October 2011 - 02:50 PM
id run thick cables both positive and negative up to the engine and starter
I wouldn't...
You are talking serious $$$ for that size cable.
I got some battery cables made that are basically 1000 amp welding cables. Last time I checked it was $13/metre and about $8 for the (extra large) crimp ends.
Go to the wreckers and find yourself something suitable - I used cable out of an early 2000s alfa last time. Dirt cheap. Has the bonus of well fitted factory connections and heat shielding at the starter end. Run it under the carpet, the factory does. Extra earths cant hurt, particularly from engine to chassis. Upgrade the size of your charge wire from the alternator and run it to your starter motor. All will be good!
1 user(s) are reading this topic
0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users
