Moving Battery to the Trunk

[Dusty_Duster]

This is going to be my winter project. I'd like to move my Duster's battery to the trunk, because that will free up a lot of room in the engine bay that can be used to make a nicer intake. (Right now, I have a cone filter stuck on the turbo. Hot-air intake, anyone?)

I already have a power wire ran to the trunk, because I used to have an amp and subwoofers back there. It's either a 4- or 2-gauge. So the wiring is pretty much done.

Can I just purchase a battery box from Summit (like this one) and move my standard battery back there? Or do I have to use an expensive sealed battery, like an Optima Yellow Top?
The most popular toys by Santa will be encountered on a Big W Catalogue Christmas sale.

And what is the easiest way to splice the wiring in the engine compartment (alternator, power distribution, etc) into the 2-gauge wire going to the trunk?

[minigts]

Man I'd look at the dry cell batteries. They are lighter and more compact. They are more expensive, but by the time you get the extra wiring and the time you'll invest moving it, it would pay for itself AND they're safer, supposedly. Once mine goes out, I think that is the route I will take, possibly relocating it under the fender, just about where the factory one sits.

[Dusty_Duster]

Man I'd look at the dry cell batteries. They are lighter and more compact. They are more expensive, but by the time you get the extra wiring and the time you'll invest moving it, it would pay for itself AND they're safer, supposedly. Once mine goes out, I think that is the route I will take, possibly relocating it under the fender, just about where the factory one sits.

Yes, a dry-cell would save some space, but P-bodies have tiny engine bays:


I'd like to just get that thing out of there.

[minigts]

Yes, a dry-cell would save some space, but P-bodies have tiny engine bays:


I'd like to just get that thing out of there.

Try an L body on for size.

[WickedShelby88]

Also do yourself a favor and run a negative cable all the way back to the front along with the positive. Most of the time you end up with a voltage drop issue no matter how rust free your car is if you just use a neg. cable bolted to the rear of the car.

[Evilancer]

I relocated the battery to the spare tire well on my Daytona. I went to a place that sold car audio equipment, got a power distribution block that had a positive and negative side. The block I got has 1 input and 2 output spots for the positive and negative. So you just cut off the old battery terminals on the engine wiring harnes, put the wires in the output spots, then run a new positive and negative cable to the battery. It looks really clean and nice in the engine bay now, I'm real happy with how it turned out. I use an Optima red top battery now that its inside the car.

Jon

["Top Fuel" Bender]

The box you linked to isn't a sealed box
they make sealed boxed bot they're about $80 for the box alone
A dry cell would be best option all around

if you go to the track you need a rear mounted switch
and you'll have to run the alt. power out to the battery (before the switch)
so when you flip the switch the alt. won't keep the car running

[Dusty_Duster]

I relocated the battery to the spare tire well on my Daytona. I went to a place that sold car audio equipment, got a power distribution block that had a positive and negative side. The block I got has 1 input and 2 output spots for the positive and negative. So you just cut off the old battery terminals on the engine wiring harnes, put the wires in the output spots, then run a new positive and negative cable to the battery. It looks really clean and nice in the engine bay now, I'm real happy with how it turned out. I use an Optima red top battery now that its inside the car.

Jon

A power distribution block is a good idea. Do you have any pictures?

The box you linked to isn't a sealed box
they make sealed boxed bot they're about $80 for the box alone
A dry cell would be best option all around

if you go to the track you need a rear mounted switch
and you'll have to run the alt. power out to the battery (before the switch)
so when you flip the switch the alt. won't keep the car running

OK, so if I don't get a sealed battery (~$120), I have to get a sealed box (~$80). Sounds like I should just save up and get the sealed battery.

["Top Fuel" Bender]

OK, so if I don't get a sealed battery (~$120), I have to get a sealed box (~$80). Sounds like I should just save up and get the sealed battery.

nhra requires in a sealed box if not in a sealed trunk
hatchback is not a "trunk"
but I don't think a stock factory seat is going to do much good for battery fumes

mid 90's gm's (caddy's are a good source)
have nice red 12+ distribution boxes in the engine bay

[JDAWG]

battery one in town sells deka intimidators for about $130, its an agm battery, better value than an optima I would say myself

[Vigo]

You'll love the extra engine bay room. I wanna move the battery in even more of my cars.

Id be careful about using 4gauge stereo wiring, that stuff is a crapshoot. It could be plenty good or super bad.

If its 2gauge you'd be better off. Remember the biggest amp you're likely to run wont pull more than 100 amps at MOST... but the starter can pull 200-300 amps and the more the voltage drop across that long wire the more amps its going to pull when cranking.

I would try it, sure.. but make sure that wire you have doesnt get too warm when cranking. If it does, or has a spot at one of the connections thats not making good contact, extended cranking could heat it up to the point of fire.

Also, the parts stores and even walmart will sell boxes like you linked for $12-15.. a bit more, but cheaper than shipping, and cheaper than WAITING

Oh and on my car i got some big 2gauge (or something) ring terminals from some place with welding supplies.. put one on the battery cable and one on everything from the engine bay, and then bolted the two ring terminals together $3

[rbryant]

Someone should write a KC article about remote batteries...

Perhaps I will do it when I get a chance.

Here is the schematic of my setup:



I have some electrical background (Computer engineer) so I made a change from the normal schematic and way things are done.

I only switch the main accessories/ecm power and leave the alternator connection on the starter line. That way when the inspector throws the switch to shut off the car he is actually cutting the ecm power directly which guarantees that the alternator won't keep the car running or send a voltage spike. It also means that you don't have to run an expensive switch (or connect the switch to a remote starter solenoid) that can handle the high current line to the starter. Additionally the alternator gets to use the really big wire so there won't be a big voltage drop to the rear of the car reducing the ability to charge the battery.

The fuse in the alternator line is really optional. I didn't run one with my 8V setup.

This requires an extra 4 or 8 ga wire but it is better than the schematics I see from NHRA, etc that have only the main line switched.

I also just put the switch in the hatchback key hole on my GLHS so no cutting was required and no long push/pull bar was used. I just remove the on off lever in normal use so people don't mess with it when I am parked (daily driver).

I agree that running an SLA (sealed lead acid) battery is best. That way you can just run a simple marine battery box ($20 or less) and autozone even stocks them. I bought a sealed box but it was huge and a real PITA and it had some really nasty plastic fumes which is another thing that matters in a hatchback...

-Rich

[Mopar318]

I would realy doubt that 0 or 2 gauge would be nessecary in our cars. There is nothing wrong with over kill though. We are talking low compression 4 cylinders vs high compression 8 cylinders, so the starters down draw too much.

I would use welding cable for everything. Its cheap, and is usually rated pretty high in amperage. I have a roll of 4 gauge welding cable that is rated at 300 amps.

[rbryant]

I would realy doubt that 0 or 2 gauge would be nessecary in our cars. There is nothing wrong with over kill though. We are talking low compression 4 cylinders vs high compression 8 cylinders, so the starters down draw too much.

I would use welding cable for everything. Its cheap, and is usually rated pretty high in amperage. I have a roll of 4 gauge welding cable that is rated at 300 amps.

A little bit of overkill doesn't hurt. 0 ga wire isn't that expensive.

I got the wire and distribution blocks from http://www.darvex.com

The 0ga wire is only $3 per foot. 4ga is $1.25 per foot and 15 ft is enough to get it to the rear of the car IIRC so 20ft max.

So you are looking at $45-60 for 0ga which is not that expensive unless you have free welding cables laying around otherwise the welding cable is around $2/ft right?

-Rich

[1984rampage]

Do you have pictures of your install Rich? I'm having a little trouble understanding your diagram (I feel stupid).

[rbryant]

Do you have pictures of your install Rich? I'm having a little trouble understanding your diagram (I feel stupid).

No pictures handy.

Connect the alternator charge wire to the big starter wire connected with a distribution block. Then connect the big wire from that distribution block to the back of the car to a fuse and connect the far side of the fuse to the battery positive cable. The starter and alternator charge cable will have to be separated from the main wiring harness/battery.

The starter cable is usually connected to the battery clamp and the alternator charge wire goes thorough a big connector. I always get a second main harness so I can just steal the connectors. Get the opposite gender connector for the alternator to connect to the starter/alternator distribution block.


Then run another wire from the battery through a fuse (or circuit breaker switch in my case) though the rear shutdown switch then to the front of the car. This runs all of your accessories and computer which are the remaining wiring harness hot wires (all of the hot wires except the starter and alternator) using another distribution block.

Steal the charge line from another alternator harness and you can use that to connect the main harness into the accessories distribution block without cutting anything (this is the main power feed).

The other little lines like the turn signals connect into the accessories distribution block aswell. There are 3-4 of them that used to connect to the positive terminal of the battery that now go into this block...

The only thing you really cut is the clamp off the starter harness and the extra feed lines you stole from another junkyard harness. The car can always go back to stock.

-Rich

[Mario]

Just an FYI, you can get an Optima Red Top for $115. Dry cells are great too though. If you really want to go all out, get a Braille battery. You can get one that weighs 6.6 lbs.

[Vigo]

I would use welding cable for everything. Its cheap, and is usually rated pretty high in amperage. I have a roll of 4 gauge welding cable that is rated at 300 amps.

Thats what i did Picked up about 15ft of scraps from a friend and was able to do my battery relocation AND run some amp power wire (overkill) for a friends new yorker (free wire for the free new yorker).

[Dusty_Duster]

I'm not planning on ever racing at the track again, so I probably won't install the kill switch. But if I do intend to race in the future, I can always hook one up.

Do you think the 4ga wire I already have is too small, even if I run a dedicated ground wire back there, as well?

[amoparacer]

well looks like Ill be a battery in the trunk guy already have the Red Cell sealed time to move it. My 60 foots are 1.66 so I think the battery is in my way. IE need 4 inch turbo intake and air cleaner more.