How to: Battery Relocation

Ninety-Nine SE-L · May 17th, 2004, 12:35 PM

I did the battery relocation in my SE-L just like I did in the sentra, I took pix this time to show everyone how it's done.

Parts:
>Optima battery (I highly recommend the 34/78 model in yellow or red top b/c of the side terminals)
>Battery tray and tie down, search google for an optima-specific one.
>Drill bits and Gromets. 1/4" bit for bolts, <1/8" bit for screws, 1" bit for 1/0AWG cable or 1/2" bit for 2AWG.
>Cable, 6 feet of 4AWG, 18 feet of 2 or 1/0AWG. 2AWG is the minimum recommended for the main positive wire. I used 1/0AWG which is THICK.
>Ring terminals, heat shrink, and adaptors for the optima's side terminals (autozone and home depot)
>Fuse and holder (150A is good)
>Butt-connector to tie together the cables.

Step 1:
Remove all carpet in trunk from around the battery area. You will need a custom battery tie-down (you can find one on the internet). This is a billet aluminum one specific for the Optima 34/78 batt. Wedge the tie-down in place and drill holes to mount. (be sure not to drill into anything under the metal, I only used 2 screws):

Step 2:
Drill holes to run the wire. You will need a hole in the trunk just above the seat belt and one behind the kick panel to run the cable into the fender. Be sure to gromet the holes:

Step 3:
Prep wire. Cut the 4AWG grounding wire into 5 pieces: 4-1ft and 1-2ft, strip ends and crimp on ring terminals. Finish off with heat shrink. The main wire needs a foot long section between the batt and the fuse, then the other 17 feet will run up to the engine bay. Attach the ring terminals to the wires except for the part of the wire that will be in the engine bay:

Step 4:
Grounding. The 1 foot wires must be attached to the car with bolts (be sure to shave the paint underneath the rings). The 2-foot section must replace the stock ground between the body and the engine block:

OBSERVE BLUE WIRE:

Step 5:
Running main cable. Run the cable under the carpet through the cabin on the driver's side, it'll go through that hole, through the fender (may need to remove lining) then into the engine bay:

Step 6:
Mount battery. Mount the fuse in a convenient place, put battery in, and hook up all wires (KEEP FUSE OUT MAKE SURE MAIN WIRE IS NOT LIVE UNTIL EVERYTHING IS HOOKED UP PROPERLY)

Step 7:
Stock fuse holder(s). The stock fuse holder needs to be mounted somehow now that it's not connected to the battery tray. What I did was drill 4 small holes and put in 4 screws, the screws could hold down zip ties (I USED WASHERS AS WELL TO HOLD THE ZIP TIES ON):

Step 8:
Connect main power. You will need the 1/0AWG butt connector to connect up the wires in the engine bay. It holds the wire in with a hex screw, then complete with heat shrink:

Step 9:
Connect fuse and enjoy. You will need to cut off some trunk carpet, but this is the finished product:

Engine bay (once again):

Nuskool · May 17th, 2004, 01:45 PM

Yeah great job and good pic. I did mine a while back but without a kit. Looks great

danifilth · May 17th, 2004, 04:12 PM

this write-up shall live forever!!!

jingjing · May 17th, 2004, 06:32 PM

wow, that looks really good. eventually i will do that to my se-r.

amperes · May 18th, 2004, 01:31 PM

so the ground wires are the blue ones right....are they just grounded? i dont understand how the negative terminal is running all the way to the back.?
the picture doesnt show it. it only shows two of the thick cables at the end, are those both positivew or is one of those negative also...?

Ninety-Nine SE-L · May 18th, 2004, 01:40 PM

The 4 blue wires are the 4 grounds. They are jus attached to the body. The positive wire is the silver one and it is on a fuse (the fuse is very important if you are in an accident..it already proved itself on my last car when the car was totaled):

I chose 4 little wires rather than one big wire b/c the week point in such a short length of wire is where it makes contact with the body.