How should a battery relocation be done? I have plenty of 4 Gauge wire and a Yellow Top Optima Battery. I was told to get a marine battery case for around $8 and screw it down to car in trunk. Do all B13 1.6's have a power wire coming from the alternator directly to the battery and the main power for the car, so basically two positive's and one negative? Also, the power wire is 8 gauge. Should that be wired separately to the battery or spliced together with the main power to the 4 gauge wire? What should it be spliced together with and how do you get the terminals onto the wire? (I'm used to 26-8 guage wires, not this big.)
Are Yellow Top Batteries sufficient for the starting battery with a medium sized stereo? I've been hearing different things from Batteries Plus, Optima Batteries, and other places. Most of them say that I'm not deep cycling the Optima and that's why I'm loosing juice. If that's true, how many of you have the Red Top Optima's? Are ya'll happy with them, any comments?
Thanks,
__________________
Dan
1992 Nissan SE-R
2001 MR2 Spyder
I am getting ready to do the same thing, I was going to go for 4 gauge wire as well, but all the kits come with 1 gauge. What do you think about that? My thought is that quality 4 guage should be more than enough to carry the ammount of current our motors need. Anyway, I was going to put mine on the passenger side just forward of the stock jack point. Kinda between the stut top and the jack.
The ring that goes around the battery post in the stock location can be removed and with a terminal put on the end of the new wire you run you can bolt all three together, then all you have to worry about is insulating it all.
....be SURE to get a GOOD fuse holder with the right amps capacity... just in case of a short to chassis... 40 amps or more makes real big sparks and/or fire... specially when our gas tank is in the back side too...
I know some folks have done it, but I wouldn't use 4 AWG cable. I would go for 2 AWG minimum. I've got 1 AWG for mine.
__________________
George Roffe
91 Sentra SE-R well modded
91 G20 turbo well modded
92 SCCA ITS Sentra SE-R occasionally borrowed
84 944 SCCA ITS race car under construction
http://www.nissport.com
I agree, 4 gauge is kind of small considering your starter can pull a lot of current. I would say go with something nice and thick like 2. I would buy brass ring terminals and solder them to the wire. I did this with my 4 gauge stereo wire, I heated the terminal up with a torch after I put flux in it, then filled the cup half full of solder, and quickly slipped the stripped 4 gauge into it while it was melted. Once it cooled off I put a big tube of shrink tubing around the joint and heated it up with a lighter. A nice alternative to battery relocation is to get one of those dinky ass, lightweight odyssey batteries. If you do decide to do the battery relocation, I'd put a big ass fuse holder right by the battery and another in the engine compartment where you connect the cable to the OEM starter cable and other electical cable. I don't know what the locked motor amperage of our starters is, but you'd want to know that so you can use the right fuse size, and remember that fuses are underrated, and you want to get a fuse size that is as close as you can get to the locked motor amps of the starter, you don't want it to take long to blow, because you can fry wiring before the fuse blows. You can also buy high amperage circuit breakers at stereo shops and those work nice, as you can use them as a switch to cut battery power while doing electrical mods. I'd find some sort of isolated terminal that you can bolt to something, and use that connect the OEM wires in the engine compartment to the cable running back to the battery.
__________________
Rob '93 SE-R
PM or e-mail me for Progress swaybars $190 shipped, B13 Progress coilovers $1300 shipped and B13 Progress LCA brace $160 shipped.
Last edited by toolapcfan : Oct 18th, 2002 at 01:31 PM.
You need a battery box with a sealed vented type unit. You need to vent the battery box to the outside with a hose. Moroso makes a box, not cheap, but its for regulation. If you are inspected by the state and its not there, you may not pass inspection. Plus, the gas is not good to breath!!!! All batteries have gasses, but are inside the engine compartment and its doesn't matter there, but in the trunk or cabin, you need to vent the gas.
Chris 92 classic
For ~$40 more? Eh...No, I guess I'm pretty happy with the summit one. At least I haven't had any problems with it yet. I REALLY need to get it bolted down all the way though, it's not moving or anything, but it would make me feel a lot safer. Right now it's just got that strap going over it with the mounts screwed in underneath and some bungies and whatnot. Maybe I'll fix that this weekend when I put on the rear sway bar.
Well my box doesn't close very well and the strap has to be pulled on super tight... the box is kinda flimsy too and it isn't air tight. It's okay I guess.... I think I would have paid the extra money just so I wouldn't have these problems.
You need to vent the battery box to the outside with a hose.
Good point. Unless you have a sealed battery or gel cell you've got potential gas. Shouldn't be a problem to vent with a hose, as there is a trunk vent right below the jack, where you can run the hose. Or better yet, drill a hole through the trunk, install a rubber grommet and put the hose through that, maybe even silicone the hose in place if it's not snuggly fit into the grommet.
__________________
Rob '93 SE-R
PM or e-mail me for Progress swaybars $190 shipped, B13 Progress coilovers $1300 shipped and B13 Progress LCA brace $160 shipped.
Last edited by toolapcfan : Oct 18th, 2002 at 03:29 PM.
Originally posted by James Well my box doesn't close very well and the strap has to be pulled on super tight... the box is kinda flimsy too and it isn't air tight. It's okay I guess.... I think I would have paid the extra money just so I wouldn't have these problems.
Well yeah, but for me, on a college budget, I couldn't really see spending that much on a box, so I can't really complain now.
James, did you fuse the battery in the trunk? If so, what size fuse didya use? Looking at battery cables from AutoZone and Pep Boys, alot of those are 4ga.
Linear Mode
