How to relocate battery to the boot ?

[toprpm]

Yeh , what steps do i have to take to relocate the battery to the boot ??? What do i need to use and is there a special box to put it in ??

Pics will be good !!

[The Renegade]

It's fairly straight forward.
Remove the Battery and cables from the front. I made a little junction box where the positive terminal used to be, and the new positive cable will be connecting to this.
Next run a RED zero gauge cable from the boot where the battery will be. Most ppl run it thru the car, but the Exa I just bought had major burns in the carpet and under the back seat caused by a fault. So I will be running it under the car in some protective conduit.
Next, buy yourself a battery box from a local auto or marine shop. You will need to secure this firmly so that it's road worthy.
Next, place the new battery in the box, cut out the holes you'll need for the cables, and make a major league earth strap from black zero guage that will go from the negative terminal to a nice paint free bolt.
Next, connect up the positive terminal to the RED cable, and connect the other end to the little junction box. Most importantly PUT A FUSE AT THE BATTERY END OF THE CABLE!!!!! 200A should be big enough.

I'll be doing mine properly in the next few weeks, so I'll get you some pix.

[Ben Hewitson]

sweet. i'm going to give this a go this weekend. i spend a few hours last night making up terminations. i also decided to put a marine switch in th eengine may to mount all the fusable links off and the starters power cable. its insulated and works fine as a junction box.

also is 200A fuse enough..? what about a Jaycar 200A circuit breaker on the battery box. reckon that will work..?

cheers

[angel]

sweet. i'm going to give this a go this weekend. i spend a few hours last night making up terminations. i also decided to put a marine switch in th eengine may to mount all the fusable links off and the starters power cable. its insulated and works fine as a junction box.

also is 200A fuse enough..? what about a Jaycar 200A circuit breaker on the battery box. reckon that will work..?

cheers

im naughty i dont have any fuse on mine, i thought it would create to much resistance, im probably wrong

[shanec86]

im naughty i dont have any fuse on mine, i thought it would create to much resistance, im probably wrong

maybe somthing that would be noticable when the fuse blows

plus any good technician will refer to them as current limiting devices. who wants to send in somthing to get repaired and charge them for a 'fuse' hehehe

[Ben Hewitson]

so what size current protection device or circuit breaker do we need.. i though that our starters could draw up to 300A on cold starts.. but i could be wrong. if its higher than 200 then the fuse will pop every time you try to start your car...

any ideas peeps.?

[dahurldog]

I just ran a cable thru the rail under the car to the starter and ran everything off that. Earthed it into the boot. Worked fine.

[Ben Hewitson]

sounds good. which rail did you run it through..?

also a fuse is probably needed if you have a short or your starter burns out. dont forget that a short can result in the battery leads melting and/or catching fire. you dont want that happening for the sake of a $20 fuse..

[Callumgw]

I have relocated my battery to the back seat of my Exa (no seats installed). I haven't used an extra fuse because I figure the car comes with fuses and I'm not changing the circuit or adding much load (less that 2m of very large wire, much bigger than the standard).

With that said its been this was since 2003, no problems.

So why are other installing fuses?

[Ben Hewitson]

you can probably get away with it cause you've had no shorts and the cable is faily heavy.

a friend didn't have one in his car and one of the power cables (stereo not main power) got caught in the bodywork between a damage seat rail and the floor. the wires heated up and melted causing the cabin to fill with toxic smoke, we jumped out and couldn't get back inside becaue of the smoke. luckily he pulled the boot release and we pulled the positive from the battery. it would probably have causes a fire and we would have been stuck watching his car burn to the ground, nothing we could hve done.

this is a worse case senario but it will only result if you have a short on the + side.. you could say "dont have a short" but thats not always within your control. figure a chopped battery shorting on the body in an accident and then you have a fire to worry about as well while your trapped in your car.. etc..etc.. i could go on.. a fuse is between $15-25 and if situated close to the battery, will blow and disconect the battery incase of a short. better safe than sorry i say.. especially for that price.

dont forget that most electrical riggers have been told not to coil 240v or 3 phase power cables as they will cause a magnetic field for one and also they will heat up and smolder into a pile of copper and plastic. very dangerous.

my question still remains unanswered though. is 200A enough for cold starts with a weak battery (current increases when voltage drops I = V/R) or ca i just get a 200-250A circuit breaker.?

[Callumgw]

Hey Ben,
From how I read that he put in a new power line to a stereo. I would have a fuse on that line. But reading on, he then crushed it with a seat rail, sounds like the installation was a little poor.

I beleive the Exa/ET has a main power fuse and by moving the battery you should ensure you don't remove that from the circuit. If you are running new power lines straight from the battery, as suggested above, then they will not be protected by the standard system. So these require seperate fuses.

Just my thoughts, feel free to disagree.

[Callumgw]

Only half your message was up when I first looked. To address your other concerns.
DC current will not cause the same problems as AC current in coiled wires. To have the EMI/EMC effect you refer to the current needs to be alternating. Thats why you should ALWAYS uncoil an extension cord before use. Yep very dangerous, and more so with bigger loads....

I'm not sure about the current draw for the fuse you refer to, but when have my house rewired my sparky clearly said many times: A circuit braker is much more reliable. Not sure how this address your question, but you can put more things on 15A house circuit breaker than a 15A house wire fuse.

[Ben Hewitson]

ok cool. you definately need a fuse in the main power line then. and what size curcuit breaker do you think. i heard someone had a 150A breaker and it would be fine most times unless the car was cold or the battery was down. it would trip all the time. he had to tape it locked to start the car somtimes..

i really need to know as i dont want to purchase a range of breakers at $40 each ranging from 200-250Amps. i would have though 200 was not enough.. but i could be wrong.

[Ben Hewitson]

http://www.automedia.com/Relocating/a/B ... 010301br/1


http://www.modularfords.com/forums/refe ... 28052.html

1. DO NOT do (like some) and run a large gauge cable directly from the battery, through the floor and to the starter. Hack jobs are done like that and it is a recipe for a fire. Buy a solenoid kit (Summit # SUM-G1750 or similar) and mount it in the trunk and use it as a switch to let current flow to the starter when you start the car. The solenoid will disengage and cut current off as soon as you release the ignition key after the engine starts. With this setup, the positive battery cable is only HOT when the key is turned to "START". To control this solenoid, you have to buy a small 30 amp relay ($5 at most auto parts store). This relay is energized by the wire that used to go to the starter solenoid. Make sure you use grommets where any cables go through sheet metal. Very important. I cannot stress that enough

http://www.coolcats.net/stockmod/modified/battery.html

[shanec86]

200amp and 250amp? just get the 250amp if your worried it will trip, if there is a short it will pop the breaker anyway