Hey guys I know this has probably been covered somewhere but for the life of me couldnt find it!
What size positive cable are youse running? Its gotta suit a 304, so prob fairly high CCA battery.
I bought stuff thats as thick as my thumb! Wayyyyyyyyy over kill, so I wont use it.
Ide love to run it through a conduit but cant find any black flexible stuff. Everything Ive found stands out like dogs balls on a canary!
Whats everyone else done??
Cheers DOLLER
Battery in Boot
Re: Battery in Boot
I ran 50mm welding flex in my '57 , that starts a 510 with 10.5:1 compression no trouble at all. If you go to an auto sparky supply place you should be able to get black corrugated conduit in the correct size to just slip over it. The cable is about 14-15mm in diameter
I started with nothing and still have most of it left.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Re: Battery in Boot
Thanks mate. Ill check out the local fella and see what he's got.
Dunno if hes got conduit thats big enough...........................
Dunno if hes got conduit thats big enough...........................
Re: Battery in Boot
You can get that black conduit up to at least 20mm , that will be heaps big enough for 50mm cable
I started with nothing and still have most of it left.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Foundation member #61 of FB/EK Holden club of W.A.
Re: Battery in Boot
Yeah, ok - I wasn't, but I will......
I have run some pretty hefty 3 B&S cabling in both my Hilux and 200 Cruiser - for caravan charging purposes.
Yes, it's as big as your thumb.... but voltage will drop off over distance - and you need some hefty stuff if you are running those high amps from the boot to the engine bay.
It's frightfully expensive - have you considered going to the wreckers and gutting out the cabling used by GMH in their late model commodores... I believe the batteries are located in the boot of late model C'dores.....
Finally, they realised that batteries don't like heat... and the boot is the logical place... not to mention that there probably wasn't much room for a battery in the bay anyway... as primary reason....
Conduit - I have not had one issue with the grey convoluted and flexible conduit from Bunnings.... you can get a multitude of fittings for it.
It is well suited to running sub-floor and securing with clamps to your body frame.
Because the length of an FB/EK is not so great and there is an abundance of space to run the conduit to the engine bay - you can probably design a pretty impenetrable and secure pair of conduit lines from the battery.
I would seriously suggest you consider running both positive and negative leads from the battery to the bay.... there is just as much amperage through the negative as there is in the positive... and using the body for earth is really not a suitable concept.
I would further suggest you fit resettable circuit breakers near the battery - it will avoid you losing your car to fire should a short result....
frats,
Rosco
I have run some pretty hefty 3 B&S cabling in both my Hilux and 200 Cruiser - for caravan charging purposes.
Yes, it's as big as your thumb.... but voltage will drop off over distance - and you need some hefty stuff if you are running those high amps from the boot to the engine bay.
It's frightfully expensive - have you considered going to the wreckers and gutting out the cabling used by GMH in their late model commodores... I believe the batteries are located in the boot of late model C'dores.....
Finally, they realised that batteries don't like heat... and the boot is the logical place... not to mention that there probably wasn't much room for a battery in the bay anyway... as primary reason....
Conduit - I have not had one issue with the grey convoluted and flexible conduit from Bunnings.... you can get a multitude of fittings for it.
It is well suited to running sub-floor and securing with clamps to your body frame.
Because the length of an FB/EK is not so great and there is an abundance of space to run the conduit to the engine bay - you can probably design a pretty impenetrable and secure pair of conduit lines from the battery.
I would seriously suggest you consider running both positive and negative leads from the battery to the bay.... there is just as much amperage through the negative as there is in the positive... and using the body for earth is really not a suitable concept.
I would further suggest you fit resettable circuit breakers near the battery - it will avoid you losing your car to fire should a short result....
frats,
Rosco
I used 000 gauge flexible cable. It is rated for 328 amps and had a resistance of 0.2 Ohms per kilometre.
I ran it from the boot, through a hole in panel behind the passenger rear quarter, on the inside of that "V" bit (through a nice fat grommet), tucked under the wheel arch, then along the inner sill, at the bottom, protected all the way by 20mm flexible steel conduit with a PVC coating (available from electrical wholesaler, like Middy's or NHP). At the front, attach to the sub-frame and bring it to the starter main terminal. Seal the ends of the conduit with heat-shrink and the cable is well protected.
Make sure the negative of the battery had a solid connection against the sheet-metal in the boot. I cleaned up a spot and welded a very large washer in (about 75mm diameter) and then attached the negative lead to that.
The same deal when grounding the engine, but more important to make sure the cable will flex nicely.
I ran it from the boot, through a hole in panel behind the passenger rear quarter, on the inside of that "V" bit (through a nice fat grommet), tucked under the wheel arch, then along the inner sill, at the bottom, protected all the way by 20mm flexible steel conduit with a PVC coating (available from electrical wholesaler, like Middy's or NHP). At the front, attach to the sub-frame and bring it to the starter main terminal. Seal the ends of the conduit with heat-shrink and the cable is well protected.
Make sure the negative of the battery had a solid connection against the sheet-metal in the boot. I cleaned up a spot and welded a very large washer in (about 75mm diameter) and then attached the negative lead to that.
The same deal when grounding the engine, but more important to make sure the cable will flex nicely.