Another Battery relo question

[Kappa9012]

winters here or moving in very quickly, and now i'm hard starting again. I have a bad power cable running from my 2nd battery, which is already moved to the bed, but instead of just replacing it I want to know where are you guys splicing your new power cables back into the system at?

I've seen people talk about running it right back to the alternator, I currently have it running directly to the starter, but I am looking for what the most effective way to get the current back to the starter on cold mornings?

 

[JoshH]

Going directly to the starter is the best way to get it there. You could also go to the power junction block on the firewall on the LMMs. What gauge wire did you use, and how did you run your ground?

 

[Kappa9012]

i used 1/0 gauge, and the ground is currently running to the frame. I have more 1/0 on order to upgrade the grounds from the engine to the frame. It could be just the cable is bad which i'm pretty positive it is, but I just want opinions before I cut it the new cable to length.

 

[blk smoke lb7]

I just used a set of BMW cables (because the batts are in the trunk the the cables are long) and I bolted the ends to the existing cables,I extended both cables. Red and black.

 

[JoshH]

Do you still have one battery under the hood hooked up like it came from the factory? What did you do with the original ground cable from the second battery?

 

[Kappa9012]

Im going from memory but the passenger side battery ground i think is still tied up in the harness near the frame rail. Should I have grounded that to the frame?

Blk Smoke, how'd you tie the cables together??? I did this originally with the factory cable for the pass side battery and that's what got me in trouble in the first place. I used a butt style connector for 1/0 awg, and tried to seal it, and no luck, water got inside the cable and corroded the copper, hence the reason why I ordered a new run of 1/0. I ohmed the cable and its got a pretty decent resistance to it.

 

[rms2012]

Here's a guy (Vince) in the Phoenix area that does cables.
He's an engineer at Intel & likes wiring stuff on the side.
I'm planning on having him make the cable for relocating my batteries to the bed.

http://custombatterycables.com/contact_info.htm

 

[mackthehack]

+1 ^^^ I would like to know more about how the cables were connected and sealed. Do you have problems with condensation, water and corrosion? With the cables bolted together how is the resistance?

 

[Harbin_22]

I ran my lead into the the passenger side fuse block and have had no issues. I did run the ground back to the block where the factory one was and grounded it to the frame. Not sure what size wire it is since it came from a buss but it is pretty heavy

 

[blk smoke lb7]

The cable was almost perfect length I just bolted it together with a stainless 3/8ths bolt wraped it up in electrical tape and used a big piece of heat shrink tube and then used 2 hole insulated straps to screw it to the inside of the outter frame side after it was run thru the frame.Truck starts great in the coldest weather.You cant ground to the frame it has to go back to the block.

 

[Evan@InglewoodTrans]

I've never put the ground back to the block. Just a short one next to where I mount the battery.

 

[Kappa9012]

ground from the engine to the frame may not be big enough i suppose, but I see a lot of guys grounding right to the frame. So I don't see why it would be necessary to run all the way back to the block.

 

[Evan@InglewoodTrans]

I've relocated quite a few batteries and never had issue running the ground to the frame.

 

[DIESELMAFIAPER.LB7]

The block is grounded to the frame.... it makes no difference were you ground the second battery

 

[Evan@InglewoodTrans]

The block is grounded to the frame.... it makes no difference were you ground the second battery

Exactly

 

[Dallas S]

If second batt is grounded to frame I would run a large ground frame-block.

How is the block grounded to frame? May be a slow day but from what I recall block is grounded to cab.

 

[the freeze]

Also beware of eBay and amazon car stereo type wires. Lots of them the actual wire o.d. Is half of advertised but the insulation is thicker. But even 2 -4 gauge should be plenty so this post is pointless. Happy Friday.

 

[Kappa9012]

Also beware of eBay and amazon car stereo type wires. Lots of them the actual wire o.d. Is half of advertised but the insulation is thicker. But even 2 -4 gauge should be plenty so this post is pointless. Happy Friday.

And your post was super helfpul....

 

[JoshH]

I like welding cable with soldered and crimped ends.

 

[DIESELMAFIAPER.LB7]

A butt splice crimp( like I use on high voltage) and a heat shrink would do fine that's how I will do mine