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Movin the batteries to the back how should I wire them?

4X4HIGH said:
Thank you, someone else understands the reasoning besides myself.
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I guess you guys are missing the point. You need to consider the "effective length" of the wire. Even if the wire is run to the starter which is all kinds of bad and I'll get to that in a moment.

If your current is water and a hose is your cable. Running a small hose to a bigger hose doesn't accomplish anything. You should have the proper size wire going from the Alternator to battery. On my Truck the wire runs staight from the Alternator to battery and it looks factory. Maybe someone changed it I dont know.

Now the reasons running a wire to your starter is bad is that when the starter kicks in its pretty much a dead short. You have basically shorted your alternator to ground for that brief period of time, limiting the life of your alternator. You could argue that the motor hasn't started yet, but I would argue that for a brief amount of time they are both on at the same time. Secondly its unfused, thats a fire hazzard. Any newer car that wire runs to a fuse box and then to the battery. Thats done for a reason!!!
 
I have NEVER seen one of our trucks have an alternator wired directly to the battery. EVERYONE i've seen goes from the alternator to the junction block on the firewall (with a fueable link near the junction block) and then that goes down to the starter.
 
Alot of good info. My truck is a cuvc so I have those two big + and - junction boxes. My alternator wire is like a 2 gauge going to the + junction box. Thats where my starter and batteries are connected also.
 
4X4HIGH said:
I have NEVER seen one of our trucks have an alternator wired directly to the battery. EVERYONE i've seen goes from the alternator to the junction block on the firewall (with a fueable link near the junction block) and then that goes down to the starter.
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from the factory. :wink1:
 
Technically, the first gen stuff has a charge wire from the alternator directly to the battery and I'm pretty sure it's factory. It'll work either way since the re-located batteries now have massive cables that are already much larger than the stock charge wire. Upgrading it won't be much help in that case.
 
bp71k5 said:
Technically, the first gen stuff has a charge wire from the alternator directly to the battery and I'm pretty sure it's factory. It'll work either way since the re-located batteries now have massive cables that are already much larger than the stock charge wire. Upgrading it won't be much help in that case.
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Actually, if the alternator charge wire was factory from the alternator to the battery and you want to keep it that way instead of running it to the starter then the "charge wire" needs to be increased in size since the run would be much longer. In a system where this wire goes from the alternator to the starter however the wire size does not need to be any larger.
 
You're right, somehow I forgot from the time I started typing to the end of typing that the batteries were no longer in the factory spot.
 
just to throw my 2 cents in... I know someone mentioned to use sheet metal grommits when passing through sheetmetal... I dont know where one could find such a thing, but when i was in need I picked up a universal box of pvc grommits. The things that normally keep you pcv valve snug in your sheet metal valve covers... I found a couple that fit around the batt cable, and just drilled the hole to fit the grommits.
 
ok i got lazy and skipped to the end im not sure if its been said but electrical wiring is like plumbing power can only flow as much as the smallest wire kinda like water can only flow as much as the smallest pipe. my opinion is toss walmart in the trash purchase some dry cell and go double ott to the engine for ground 00 to the starter and 00 from the alt. fix it right the first time as my previous employer would say.
 
However you do it, I cannot emphasize enough, INSULATE!!
I watched one truck burn to the ground because his remote battery cable chafed and welded its self to ground and caught the gas system on fire.
Another brand new pickup stalled right in front of me and started smoking when I was following it to a job. It turned out that the folks who had just installed the 12 volt lift gate had attached the power cable to the exhaust system!!
It finally got hot enough melt through the insulation.
I have mounted a couple of lift gates and several winches to the back of trucks. Every one of them I ran the power cable inside rigid PVC conduit.
Sure its overkill, but its cheap, and I have never had a fire.

J.
 
wasted wages said:
I run mine thru 3/4 heater hose...works good too...

also, I run a Flaming River Battery disconnect switch... mounted right on the battery box...has a pull rod on it, so in case of a roll or major cable short I can kill the power from the battery. - cheap insurance...

http://www.flamingriver.com/index.c...tegory_id=133/home_id=231/mode=prod/prd62.htm







.
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Good call on that.



So if I do an alternator upgrade to 100 amp, would the best charge wire route, be directly to the battery, with say a 8 ga. wire?
 
bp71k5 said:
Technically, the first gen stuff has a charge wire from the alternator directly to the battery and I'm pretty sure it's factory. It'll work either way since the re-located batteries now have massive cables that are already much larger than the stock charge wire. Upgrading it won't be much help in that case.
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originally it had the alt wire going to a voltage regulator first in my 72,then up to the battery.i replaced mine with a single wire 100 amp from summit and went 6 guage wire strait to the battery.havent had a problem with that for 10 years.for you running 6 guage to junction box or starter will work and the thick guage wire back to the batterys.and as said make sure to properly insulate the wiring from chafing or rubbing the frame from body roll.
 
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