Relocated battery

[lbzook]

Hey guys,
I'm in the process of relocating my battery to behind the passenger seat at the moment and I was wondering what size cable you guys who have done similar have used in the past?
Cheers

Leigh

[christover1]

Keep heavier passengers in mind, with the positioning of battery.
Gregs battery was fine until he took me for a ride.
My weight made seat touch battery, and set fire to the seat.
Warm bum on a cool night is ok though.
Greg hasn't let me in his car since

[lbzook]

Haha! I'll remember that! At this point I'll be tucking it behind the seat with the terminals to the back of the car, so hopefully I'll avoid turning my car into a BBQ!

[porter.8.luke]

12mm fine cable is ok I think.
It is what I have run and my battery is the same spot.
I bought it from Jaycar for around $12 per mt.

[lbzook]

Just what I wanted to hear! Thanks mate!

[gwagensteve]

I don't want to create confusion here Luke/lbzook, but I'll try to clarify this stuff a bit.

I've relocated a few batteries under the passenger seat in Sierras. I think it's an excellent modification.

For cable ratings, it's important to recognise the difference between overall diameter, conductor diameter, conductor cross sectional area, and "rating"

I'm using cable that is 12mm overall diameter. (Is this what you're talking about Luke?) I think I might have got it from Jaycar. It's ratings are as follows

* Stranding: 145 x 19 / 0.12mm
* Wire Diameter: 35.16mm2
* Total Diameter: 12.0mm
* Current Capacity: 160A

160A looks a bit low, but when you compare the size of the conductors in a factory loom, it's pretty heavy cabling. It seems to be working pretty well for my car, (it cranks fine and I don't see any issues with voltage drop etc) but I'm not winching on this cabling. I used to run the battery above the rear axle so the cabling was much longer, and it was still fine.

I'm not sure where you were planning to run the cabling, but I'd recommend one of these:



That's a Moroso bulkhead feeder - it will allow you to run the battery cabling inside the firewall and pass the power through to where the battery used to sit. Greg, Gallagags and I all run these without issue.

I'm going to assume you're using an AGM battery (or an Optima) I wouldn't recommend a wet cell battery in the cabin at all.

You might want to run a isolator switch, especially if the terminals are hard to reach. You can run it on the negative.

Also make sure the battery is VERY well retained. You don't want a battery to come loose in an accident and short out or smash around in the cab.

Just some ideas.

Steve.

[lbzook]

Thanks for your words of wisdom Steve. I've ordered one of those feeder studs already and will be running an isolator too, but was just unsure of the cable size that was required given the extra distance to the engine. I will be using a sealed dry cell battery too. In terms of securing it, and suggestions on what to do? Or more importantly what not I do? I believe you've used a ratchet strap to secure them in the past, is that adequate to hold them?

Thanks again
Leigh

[gwagensteve]

The ratchet strap was a bad idea- too much give. You'll need a steel plate or similar.

[lbzook]

Good to know before I stole that idea! Thanks!

[porter.8.luke]

Yep that is what I have run and it was the largest wire count i could find so I don't know what the comp guys are running on there winch's?
You would think it would be a higher capacity cable?
As for battery solid mounted sealed wet-cell in a battery box. I think this will be fine until I have a money for a sealed dry cell.