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Low Amps??

K

k5 beast

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memphis, tn.
Hey fellas,
I installed a battery disconnect switch a while back and went ahead and replaced the starter and installed a remote ford solenoid. I used 4g wire from bat to switch to solenoid to starter, I even ran 6g from remote solenoid to the solenoid on the starter. Now I'm having a problem with starting the truck after it sits for a while. If I drive it for a while it will start right up. I'm assumming that I'm getting too much of a drop with the a the added length of wire. So what should i do? A). replace battery with more powerful one (now has 600cca)? B). Heavier, and better wire ( right now it has home depot thick braided copper)? C).??????????????
 
Check to see how hot the wire is geting while you are cranking it. You might just be overloading the wire for what it was designed.
 
did that

Yeah, I already did that and couln't really tell if it was getting warm or not. So it's deffinetly not getting what I would consider Hot.
 
Hot would be like melting the insulation hot...

You could always double up the wires in parallel so each could carry half of the load. That would be the cheapest way to troubleshoot this.
 
I would do that, but the cut off switch is in my console so it would require larger holes in the body and console. I'm not and electrician, but I've heard too heavy of gauge can cause resistance and too light can cause voltage drop. And since it seems to start better, but not great when I drive it frequently, I wonder if the battery is not up too snuff. It's only about a year old and its got 600cca, but could a bigger beefier bat solve this possibly? But then again they only go up to like 700 or 750 if I'm not mistaken.
 
If it was the wiring. The problem should be present every time you start it. It would behave the exact same way. everytime. If it starts no problem warm, I would guess it is the battery itself with the problem. Is there a drain with all power off?

Use an ammeter and check each wire. It should have zeros on all circuits with everything off.

Load test your battery. Your battery may be weak and is now showing its age with the additional wiring.
 
I'm running a 1500 cold crankin' amp battery in my 77. They are expensive, and are meant for big diesel tractors, but work extremely well in trucks like these :)

As George can attest to, it gets real cold up here in the dead of winter, and often I'm the only guy who has enough battery to get his rig fired up when its minus 40F out. Kinda funny at school, they'd all sit inside while I ran out, got my truck started, then another kid would come out, I'd boost him, then he'd boost someone else while I boosted another kid till everyone was boosted and on their way, lol

As far as your battery goes, if you can I'd suggest upgrading to 1 gauge welding cable. That 4 & 6 gauge stuff might be a bit light for a starter, as they can often draw well over 200 amps while cranking. Assuming of course that you are completely bypassing the stock solenoid on the starter, and drawing all your power through the Ford remote solenoid.
 
600cca? That is barely enough to turn over a civic Maby your battery is getting weak.
Even my cheapo wally world battery puts out 850 CCa
 
Here is a resource:
http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

The 4 gauge wire is pretty standard for most stock applications. If you have a built motor with higher compression, you may need to adjust things a little. You may need to upgrade the wiring depending on the run length. Putting a battery cut-off and remote solenoid should not dramatically impact the run length.
 
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