battery cables to the trunk ?????

GOOD rubberized jumper cable material......not the $9.99 cheap shit will work just fine and not deteriorate in the weather. Weld a stud to the frame in the rear, run a good ground cable of the same jumper material from there to the battery and also ground the body to the frame up front. If you're running a GM car, consider wiring everything to a Ford solenoid mounted away fro the motor's heat and jumping the stock one on the starter.. If you do this, you shouldn't have a hot start problem.

Jan

 

I've used 1/0 welding cable. I think there are different grades of insulation available at some welding shops. The stuff I got was blue. I think it had silicone rubber insulation. I crimped and soldered copper ends on it. Then I put some heavy duty heat shrink over the connections -- the kind that has a soft inner core that melts to hermetically seal the connection. It makes for a really sturdy connection. It cranks over a big block easily and the insulation still looks great. Too bad it's blue though. I've had to clean oil and transmission fluid off it a few times. It didn't seem to harm it at all.

I wonder if some of the really old welding cable had plain old black rubber or neoprene on it for flexibility and that's what gave welding cable a bad name for some people? Rubber or neoprene might dry out and get brittle over time. Most other modern insulations don't dry out like that though. I guess if you go to a welding shop to buy some cable, just read the jacket on the wire to see what the insualation is. Even if it is neoprene though, it'll probably last 8-10 years anyway.

For DC, it doesn't make any difference electrically if the individual strands are fine or thick, but the fine strands in welding cable sure make a difference in how flexible it is. It's a lot easier to get it to go where you want and more flexible in places like where it goes from the frame to the starter so that it's probably less likely to crack inside compared to being made of thicker strands.

If you want to stick with some ready made lengths of cables, you might be able to make it in two lengths if you use a battery kill switch as a junction point halfway between the battery and starter. Or use a 3/8" copper insulated junction post stud. A lot of the ready made cables they sell at car parts places lately are made really crappy. They're crimped and not soldered, and they're not sealed well, so the cables corrode inside the crimped connection right away.

 

Whoa,,, back up da truck. O.K. You put the battery in the back, Then you mount a Ford type starter solinoid right next to the battery. Hook your Positive battery cable to the solinoid and the negative to the frame. the frame is the best conductor on the whole car, its the conections that get crudy. Now you hook your welder cable from the solinoid to the starter. Then run a 10 Ga. wire from the hot side of the solinoid to where ever you fuse block is, this wire powers every thing on the car. The only time there is any voltage on the welder cable is when you crank the starter. For your chevy starter, just jumper the start post to the Bat post. You do need to put a ground strap from the frame to the block and one to the body. One more thing, if you pu a toggel switch in the wire that fires the solinoid from the the ignition switch, it works for a remote battery disconect.

"I'll let you look but don't touch my Custom machine."
Beach Boys

 

I use 1/0 welding cable on my cars, and my customer's. I just bought 30 foot of it, from the welding supply, to do a battery behind the seat of an El Camino. Cost me $95. That stuff ain't cheap!
I prefer to go directly from the battery ground to the block, so I need twice as much cable. Just my choice, probably isn't necessary. I also solder the ends on, and tape or shrink wrap them real good. Use red electrical tape to identify the hot cable.

 

Just my 5 cents worth but i've been using Welding cable for over 20 years without any problems at all, I also clip my cable every 12" with insulated Adel clamps.

Steve.

 

The only thing I can add to the thread is to put a high-amp fuse or circuit breaker close to the positive battery terminal. If the positive insulation gets chaffed you'll end up with an arc welder sitting in your trunk trying to set all your hard work ablaze without one, but with one the fuse or breaker will just pop. You can pick either of them up at any decent stereo store. Just make sure the amp rating is high enough that it won't pop during high-amperage usage like when your lights are on and you are starting the car. For reference mine is rated at 150amps and it is supposed to be enough for an LS1 in a modern chassis with a TON of electronic crap.

 

Think boats.... big boats heavy duty bigger than you'll ever need

 

I'm no electrical engineer but what your saying makes no sense to me. My house and shop are 120 volt AC and its all wired in solid copper wire not stranded. Then every car I've ever seen is DC and lots of other low voltage systems in buildings are run in stranded wire I,m sure what your saying is the truth but it just seems weird to me. LTR Dave

 

Also not mentioned here is that Mopar's direct connection parts used to offer a battery relocating kit. I used one to put the battery in the trunk of my 55 years ago. I just don't know if they offer it any more or how much it cost if they do....

 

Electronics is wierd science. I'm a degreed and licenced Electronics Engineer and I frequently stay at Holiday Inn Express (our European/Aussie guys won't get that one).

It's called the skin effect, and what happens is that electrons tend to flow near and on the surface of conductors at higher frequencies. The effect is insignificant at lower frequencies. Actually you need to be in the higher end of the radio frequency ranges (UHF) for it to have significant impact. The marketing gurus in the audio wiring industry have successfully pitched it as a problem at audio frequencies, but it really isn't, and it certainly isn't at DC.

Solid is cheaper and easier to terminate.
Stranded is easier to route and stands up to vibration better.