Learn me: battery relocation

I'm finally getting around to the next stage of development on the "commute attack mr2 spyder" project, and one of the updates it's getting will be some weight reduction. I've purchased a shorai battery for it (as the bosch lead acid was quite heavy and was no longer holding a charge), and will be relocating it to the floor behind the driver's seat to free up some space in the engine bay on the upper lefthand side of the bay where the driver's side intake duct previously kept the battery nice and cool. The old location for the battery will be the new location for the air filter, inside a box that I will be fabricating, as it is currently located on the turbo (read: dirty and hot).

So, learn me the ways of professional quality battery relocation, I want some form of circuit beaker (hopefully resettable) right at the battery to prevent possible fires etc. some grommets to help the cables pass through the firewall and maybe most importantly, I would like a reversible/safe solution for attaching the battery terminals to the extension wires that will lead to the new location. Thanks in advance for ant info you can provide.

many cars have had the battery in the passenger compartment without problem. Mostly VW and Audi, but they have never needed a circuit breaker to prevent fires.

Personally, I would not run extensions. I would buy or make longer cables to get the ends to where you need them. The less connections, the less voltage drop and the less likely you are to have an issue with a short

I have one car with the battery in the trunk and installed to be NHRA legal, and another car not so NHRA legal. I get most of my stuff from Jeg's. They have several different battery relocation kits, or you can buy the cable and/or boxes seperately. The kits come with everything you'd normally need, grommets, etc. I haven't used any type of circuit breakers, but one car does have a cut off switch within arms length. http://www.jegs.com/p/JEGS-Performance-Products/JEGS-Battery-Relocation-Kits/752215/10002/-1?itemPerPage=90&pno=1

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, but where would you buy longer battery cable leads? Jegs or SummitRacing?

welding leads

You can also buy two gauge cable by the foot at advance. That and a pair of tetminals is how i normally do it for most relocations.

You can also get 0 or 2 gauge cable at marine supply stores. They tend to be better prices since boaters often have to buy 10-20-30 foot runs of the stuff for multiple batteries. The stuff I use has a much thicker rubber sheathing than the stuff you buy at auto parts or home stores.

BMWs all mount the batteries in the trunk and are therefore a great source of high quality wire for remote battery mounting.

irish44j wrote: You can also get 0 or 2 gauge cable at marine supply stores. They tend to be better prices since boaters often have to buy 10-20-30 foot runs of the stuff for multiple batteries. The stuff I use has a much thicker rubber sheathing than the stuff you buy at auto parts or home stores.

as a boat owner.. that might be the first time I have ever heard somebody call the marine version of something "cheaper"

I was thinking car audio for wire (high strand count for low resistance). I'm trying hard to figure out the best way to connect the wire extensions to the factory terminals to keep it somewhat reversible, and retain the ability to jumpstart from the factory location.

I made a terminal block out of a chunk of plastic, that I was able to attach the stock cable to along with the remote battery cable. I used welding cable also.

I use Ford starter solenoids as terminal blocks. I stopped collecting them after I grabbed three dead ones from the trash.

I run the new positive battery cable directly to the starter. The old positive battery cable gets its little head cut off, a ring terminal installed in its place, and that gets attached to the terminal block. That becomes my jump-starting post/battery positive feed for add-on relays and such.

Old negative just gets cut off at the body, leaving the remnant as the chassis to engine ground, and the new negative just goes to the nearest convenient hardpoint, which in both of my cases so far has been a seatbelt bolt.

Home Depot sells cable fairly inexpensively. Get the next size bigger than you think you need. 2 gauge is an absolute minimum.

Sonic wrote: BMWs all mount the batteries in the trunk and are therefore a great source of high quality wire for remote battery mounting.

+1 this. They have a fat positive wire thats ran under the carpet up to the engine bay. Use that sourced from a junkyard then have good fat grounds between battery and chassis and chassis to block

GM G and H bodies (Aurora, Bonneville, LeSabre- if they have the seatbelts built into the front seats and rust between the fuel filler and the wheelwell) have the batteries mounted under the back seat and have a 0 gauge cable that is like 12 feet long..

In reply to novaderrik:

I know what im looking for at pullapart now....