# Battery Relocation



## dho (May 15, 2002)

How should a battery relocation be done? I have plenty of 4 Gauge wire and a Yellow Top Optima Battery. I was told to get a marine battery case for around $8 and screw it down to car in trunk. Do all B13 1.6's have a power wire coming from the alternator directly to the battery and the main power for the car, so basically two positive's and one negative? Also, the power wire is 8 gauge. Should that be wired separately to the battery or spliced together with the main power to the 4 gauge wire? What should it be spliced together with and how do you get the terminals onto the wire? (I'm used to 26-8 guage wires, not this big.)

Are Yellow Top Batteries sufficient for the starting battery with a medium sized stereo? I've been hearing different things from Batteries Plus, Optima Batteries, and other places. Most of them say that I'm not deep cycling the Optima and that's why I'm loosing juice. If that's true, how many of you have the Red Top Optima's? Are ya'll happy with them, any comments?

Thanks,


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2002)

I am getting ready to do the same thing, I was going to go for 4 gauge wire as well, but all the kits come with 1 gauge. What do you think about that? My thought is that quality 4 guage should be more than enough to carry the ammount of current our motors need. Anyway, I was going to put mine on the passenger side just forward of the stock jack point. Kinda between the stut top and the jack.

The ring that goes around the battery post in the stock location can be removed and with a terminal put on the end of the new wire you run you can bolt all three together, then all you have to worry about is insulating it all.


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## SergioCR (Sep 18, 2002)

....be SURE to get a GOOD fuse holder with the right amps capacity... just in case of a short to chassis... 40 amps or more makes real big sparks and/or fire... specially when our gas tank is in the back side too...


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## Geo (Apr 30, 2002)

I know some folks have done it, but I wouldn't use 4 AWG cable. I would go for 2 AWG minimum. I've got 1 AWG for mine.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I agree, 4 gauge is kind of small considering your starter can pull a lot of current. I would say go with something nice and thick like 2. I would buy brass ring terminals and solder them to the wire. I did this with my 4 gauge stereo wire, I heated the terminal up with a torch after I put flux in it, then filled the cup half full of solder, and quickly slipped the stripped 4 gauge into it while it was melted. Once it cooled off I put a big tube of shrink tubing around the joint and heated it up with a lighter. A nice alternative to battery relocation is to get one of those dinky ass, lightweight odyssey batteries. If you do decide to do the battery relocation, I'd put a big ass fuse holder right by the battery and another in the engine compartment where you connect the cable to the OEM starter cable and other electical cable. I don't know what the locked motor amperage of our starters is, but you'd want to know that so you can use the right fuse size, and remember that fuses are underrated, and you want to get a fuse size that is as close as you can get to the locked motor amps of the starter, you don't want it to take long to blow, because you can fry wiring before the fuse blows. You can also buy high amperage circuit breakers at stereo shops and those work nice, as you can use them as a switch to cut battery power while doing electrical mods. I'd find some sort of isolated terminal that you can bolt to something, and use that connect the OEM wires in the engine compartment to the cable running back to the battery.


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## sunnysentra (Jul 24, 2002)

You need a battery box with a sealed vented type unit. You need to vent the battery box to the outside with a hose. Moroso makes a box, not cheap, but its for regulation. If you are inspected by the state and its not there, you may not pass inspection. Plus, the gas is not good to breath!!!! All batteries have gasses, but are inside the engine compartment and its doesn't matter there, but in the trunk or cabin, you need to vent the gas. 
Chris 92 classic


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

the 4 gauge wire is fine. I have my battery in the trunk right now.


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## Adam (Apr 30, 2002)

Me too, I just used the summit racing kit though.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

yeah I used Summit kit too... 

don't you wish you used the Moroso box Adam???


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## Adam (Apr 30, 2002)

For ~$40 more? Eh...No, I guess I'm pretty happy with the summit one. At least I haven't had any problems with it yet. I REALLY need to get it bolted down all the way though, it's not moving or anything, but it would make me feel a lot safer. Right now it's just got that strap going over it with the mounts screwed in underneath and some bungies and whatnot. Maybe I'll fix that this weekend when I put on the rear sway bar.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

Well my box doesn't close very well and the strap has to be pulled on super tight... the box is kinda flimsy too and it isn't air tight. It's okay I guess.... I think I would have paid the extra money just so I wouldn't have these problems.


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

> You need to vent the battery box to the outside with a hose.


Good point. Unless you have a sealed battery or gel cell you've got potential gas. Shouldn't be a problem to vent with a hose, as there is a trunk vent right below the jack, where you can run the hose. Or better yet, drill a hole through the trunk, install a rubber grommet and put the hose through that, maybe even silicone the hose in place if it's not snuggly fit into the grommet.


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## Adam (Apr 30, 2002)

James said:


> *Well my box doesn't close very well and the strap has to be pulled on super tight... the box is kinda flimsy too and it isn't air tight. It's okay I guess.... I think I would have paid the extra money just so I wouldn't have these problems. *


Well yeah, but for me, on a college budget, I couldn't really see spending that much on a box, so I can't really complain now.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

I think I'm just going to buy the Moroso Box and remount it...


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2002)

James, did you fuse the battery in the trunk? If so, what size fuse didya use? Looking at battery cables from AutoZone and Pep Boys, alot of those are 4ga.


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## Geo (Apr 30, 2002)

toolapcfan said:


> *A nice alternative to battery relocation is to get one of those dinky ass, lightweight odyssey batteries. *


Or, you could do both. We have a battery relocation box available for the WestCo batter. The box is 8x8x7. Nice and small. It's sealed (and a vent is available to make Bubba the tech inspector happy) and the same all-thread that bolts the box to the trunk also holds the battery down (an nice safety feature). Team "Kickback" in SE-R Cup runs it.


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## James (Apr 29, 2002)

R33Dreaming said:


> *James, did you fuse the battery in the trunk? If so, what size fuse didya use? Looking at battery cables from AutoZone and Pep Boys, alot of those are 4ga. *


actually I ran the cable to the original battery mounting position in the front so whatever fuse size OEM is. I haven't had time to clean up all the wires and pull the original ground off the starter yet.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2002)

Yeah, I wanted to put a fuse right next to the battery so I didn't have 12 ft of hot wire with no fuse running the length of the car. I just don't know how to figure the right amperage for the thing. Anyone got any ideas?


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## toolapcfan (Jul 10, 2002)

I have a fluke clamp meter and can figure out what the amperage pull during starting is. However, that might not help that much because I've yet to figure out how DC fuses are rated. I know AC fuses are rated at 125% and you only load them %80. So a 20 amp AC circuit will actually handle 25 amps and you only load it to 16. However I was helping a guy out that I sold power windows to for his Tempo, and even with the motor locked, it didn't blow a 5 amp fuse, despite that my clamp meter read well over 20 amps of current. I didn't hold it there until it blew though, wasn't sure if my test wiring would give out first and didn't want to find out. So, even if I were to tell you what the current draw of my starter is, not only would it vary depending upon temperature, but I couldn't tell you what fuse size would safely protect the circuit. You'd want the fuse size to be as close to the actual current draw as you can get it, without it blowing the fuse. But remember, when the temperatures are extreme that will change and you might have to up the fuse size. If I find out more I'll let you all know.


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## Sentra_Industies (Oct 31, 2002)

sunnysentra said:


> *You need a battery box with a sealed vented type unit. You need to vent the battery box to the outside with a hose. Moroso makes a box, not cheap, but its for regulation. If you are inspected by the state and its not there, you may not pass inspection. Plus, the gas is not good to breath!!!! All batteries have gasses, but are inside the engine compartment and its doesn't matter there, but in the trunk or cabin, you need to vent the gas.
> Chris 92 classic *


I thought Optima batteries didnt vent cause they were special type or something.


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## Geo (Apr 30, 2002)

Sentra_Industies said:


> *I thought Optima batteries didnt vent cause they were special type or something. *


No, you need to vent an Optima. It is a gell cell. You don't need to vent a WestCo since it's a dry cell battery.

That said, Bubba at your local track or autocross may still like to see the vent.

You should never use a non-sealed battery box and a 4AWG cable is too small. That is the size cable the factory uses for the short length under the hood. For the long cable you must run from the truck, a 2AWG cable should be considered the minimum size.


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