relocating battery to trunk

[Mantis88LX]

so how do you do this? do you just wire into the existing wires for the postive and negative and run it to the trunk or is there some other way of doing this?

thanx

[mindlos]

You definitely have to run up to 4gauge positive wire only from the original terminal to the trunk, just like wiring an amp. There is no stock wire big enough to handle the alternator amps and unabridged by relays or small fuses.

For the negative you have to go from the battery to the chassis in the trunk, shortest length possible, and scrape off the paint. The original negative can just be fixed to the chassis, but may not be necessary as long as you dont seperate the bunch. Secure it anyways.

I'm sure you are considering the container to keep your battery from bouncing around and protect it.

This is as best as I understand it.

[danronian]

I believe a good place for the ground would be on a strut mount tower bolt, they are connected to the chassis and are easy to get to through the access panel, all you need to do is take the bolt off, cut a little hole in the cover, place ground on, re-tighten, done. This is where I put my amp ground(when I mounted it to the back of my seat) after plugging the hole in my floor from mounting it to the bumper support. This is the best and closest ground by far.

[jigga89SEi]

does anyone have a pic of their battery wired to there trunk?......I'm planning on doing this after I finish my trunk interior.

[RedneckRicer]

i have my battery in the trunk and i used 4 gauge wire, more space for the intake and more room for the 13" x 7" battery i got :D now the 12's can't dim the lights no more:super:

[keruhas184]

sorry again for bringing up an old post, but where do you run the Positive wire? Everyone has a question about the ground and what not but which way is the positive wire supposed to come through? Through the interior and somehow into the engine bay? Sorry for the stupid question but I really don't know.

Maybe when I take a good look everything will become clear, but its night now and I just got the relocation kit this evening.

Thanks!

[AZmike]

I ran the 2 gauge I used under the rear seat, under the carpeting near the door sit then through a hole I drilled in the firewall to the starter and fusebox. I think it was about 17 feet of cable. Be sure the wire is well-protected since a short could eaily start a fire.

[keruhas184]

So a hole in the firewall is the answer... Thanks!

[XJRiggs]

This seems to be a pretty hot topic... I only saw this thread after I posted a reply to another thread about battery relocating. Hopefully everyone will read both of my replys since I'd like to add some other info. I seem to remember a large rubber gromet under that black box on the passenger side firewall. I think it was big enough to make a slice in it and run a 2ga wire if you feel you need to run one that large. I would reccommend installing a "wafer" type fuse in the power line comming from the altanator and then split it out from there to the fuse box under the hood and to the battery in the trunk. This fuse should be rated for the same amperage as the altanator as I believe it will pass twice its rated current for a full 5 seconds before it blows. I would also like to urge everyone doing this mod to use a sealed battery, such as an Optima yellow top. Gases form a normal lead-acid type battery can build up inside the car and cause an explosion. Besides this reason the other advantages of the Optima battery more than warrent its price tag.

Riggs

[keruhas184]

thanks for the infor riggs! I knew I saw info about some grommet in other battery relocation threads, but I couldn't find it. Yeah, i got 2g wire from the summitracing kit, and I just bought optima red top, the 39lb one.

All this will lead to a carb intake in the battery place... hopefuly soon.

Yeah, ill probably put in the fuse too, don't want to deep fry anything cause of a bad connection or something ;)

thanks again

[smufguy]

Yeah, ill probably put in the fuse too, don't want to deep fry anything cause of a bad connection or something ;)

thanks again

you dont need an inline fuse, its just the sense of extending ur stock battery connection cables. If anything, ur main fuse will blow and how can u go wrong with wiring up two wires?? :)

[XJRiggs]

A fuse is good for safety... for example if the car is running the altanator is providing current for any demand. So if the wire insulation is pierced or cut (like form rubbing on a sharp metal edge for a few years or maybe the car is in a small accident that effects the location of the cable) and there isnt a fuse, the altanator will continue to pump out as much current as it can until the altanator is destroyed. The altanator probably wont give up until long after the wire has caught your carpet on fire and your car is engulfed in flames. Another obvious place you need a fuse is near the battery. I didn't mention this before because I assumed it was a commonly understood thing. The same reason applys here too... your battery will continue to provide all the current it can until the battery is destroyed.

Will the system work without installing the fuses.. of course, but it wont be as safe. So when you get t-boned at an intersection by some idiot who ran a red light, and you're traped in a car with burning carpet because you didnt install the fuses, dont say I didn't warn you.

Good luck with the project.

Riggs.

[smufguy]

cars are equipped with shock detection shit of some kind (I dont remember the exact name) it cuts off the car after certain level of shock. Every single car does that. thats why when u hit someone or something with your car, ur car automatically shurts off.

no matter what, you hit the positive cable on the floor or something, you will blow the main fuse. period. U can try that with the alternator and the alternator cannot put out anymore voltage or amps as in 14.5V or 65 amps stock. So ur not gonna be pumping all the current. and fire needs fuel to catch on fire, not just rubbing electrodes on a piece of rug :ugh:

and battery will short out internally, once ur in a crazy accident, where the battery casing is not punctured, but the plates inside touches each other beacuse of the fluid inside. so u dont have to worry about it catching on fire or exploding either.

i dont know where u got the ideas from but its cool and yeah welcome to the board :welcome:

[XJRiggs]

Because I'm new here I will sucum to your ideas for the sake of not starting anything hostile, that is not my intention, I am sorry.

Maybe I could introduce myself and descride some of my background. Hi, I'm Riggs. I started my automotive background while I was building my first car, a fiberglass kit car on a VW chassis, when I was 15. After High School I attended DeVRY Instutitute of Technology for electronic engineering and later began working in the car audio field. That was back in 1988 (when my car was built, lol). Car audio was in its infantcy in those days but I soon got involved in custome car audio installs. I became a certified judge (IASCA) for a few years and once even judged one of Richard Clark's cars... a Cadillac I think. I obtained my MECP certification in the early 90's and up until 2 years ago I was still certified. I have designed and built many custom audio systems, all of which required upgraded battery and charging systems. In my years I have witnessed many green installers burn cars because they just didn't know any better. Imagine my greif when one of my client's cars was towed in because it caught fire while he was driving it. The installer that worked for me wire tied the charging wire from the altanator to one of the emission tubes comming off the exhaust manifold. The car was still running after it caught fire and continued to until the customer wised up and shut it off. The cable had burned all the way through the 1/4" steel tube, yet the car never shut off. Needless to say I fired him that day... such is life.

*disclaimer - I am not resopnsible for any damages if you actually try this *

Do you want to try an experiment? Cut a 15" piece of 18 gauge wire. Bare each end and fasten one end to the positive terminal of your battery. Now with a pair of pliers grip the other bare end of the wire and hold it on the negative terminal of your battery, for say 20 seconds. Did it get hot? Not sure? Then hold it on there with your hand. I would bet its hot enough to start a fire.

I'm not trying to challenge you or anyone else for that matter. I just wanted to share some industry standards for safety when upgrading your electrical system.

Peace,
Riggs

Edit: While poking around this forum (a great forum by the way) I found the Audio and Security forum. In that there is a sticky pointing to this link: http://www.bcae1.com/
When the page loads look at the page selector to the right. Scroll down to page 16, click on it and then read. Very interesting.

[keruhas184]

Welcome to the board Riggs, and thanks for your input. I guess an added safety precaution never hurt anyone. Ill consider the fuse while installing that battery (sometime next week).

So, what kind of 3g are you driving?

[XJRiggs]

keruhas184,

I began writing a long history of how I got to here but I decided not to bore you again and deleted it. I had an 1986 Accord LXi HB which I just sold a month ago and I currently have a 1988 Accord LXi HB which I am trying to restore.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone.

Riggs

[keruhas184]

Cool, good choice on the efi, you don't have to deal with our bitchy carbs (sorry A20A1). Good luck with the hatchie. ;)

[smufguy]

:uh: :dunno: :rolleyes: