Battery Cable terminations?

[hotrod1]

SO I located my battery on the rear frame rail and wonder what to do with the battery cables. I am open to ideas. I do not have a running truck to use as an example and I would like to do something that is cool instead of standard.

Do you run the cable(s) up to near the engine and then terminate them in a bulkhead on the chassis rail - and connect other wires from the bulkhead to wherever?

Does anyone run the negative all the way up from the rear-mounted battery all the way up to similar locations as you would the hot wire? Bulkhead maybe?

Thanks in advance for your answers.

[Accelo]

Does anyone run the negative all the way up from the rear-mounted battery all the way up to similar locations as you would the hot wire?

I would run both the hot and the ground all the way to the starter/block.
You just need to do this for the 200 to 400 amps starter draw. Only other option is grounding the battery to the frame and then running another battery sized cable from the frame to the starter.

Be sure you have all the factory grounds in place. Consider adding some also.

From the starter positive I would then run a 6g or 8g wire to a mega fuse to somewhere in the engine compartment.
That will give you a place to terminate the connections, for the rest of the motor/vehicle draw, with a minimum of unfused wire.
Maybe you will want the mega-fuse closer to the battery. You could even use two of them to reduce the unfused wire even more.

Everything will have to be first class as any short to one of the large positive cable is nothing short of a vehicle fire. The battery isn't likely in a location you could get to easily to disconnect it.
If it is accessible consider adding a battery cut off switch to the battery negative terminal as a last resort.

[franken]

67-72? Silly me but why not put the tray where it belongs and run the + cable as designed and the - to the block, say a front 50s style motor mount hole on an SBC?
I'd pretty much say the same for all years since this might be for 47-54.
Big battery cables should run to the load--the starter, which means to the + solenoid, and the block for -.
For the low + side, feed that from the shortest path to the big + side. Ground the frame at the battery and ground the crap out of lots of body parts and the core support.
Understand the high and low current side of things--the high current side runs the starter. Fill in the blanks.
Use a fusible link or some current limiting on the low side.

This agrees with the statements of Acello above so I guess I'm just talkative tonight...

[LS short box]

On my 68 frame mounted battery I ran 00? heavy gauge welding cable for both pos and neg.
Pos straight to the starter lug. The neg cable I ran to the engine block and the back to the frame. A bit over kill but then smaller gauge wires from the frame to the cab. Smaller gauge wires from the the radiator support to the frame.
I used a Painless 21 circuit kit to rewire the truck.
Here's a poor pic of my battery mounting. Made "L" brackets to hold the battery box.
Lot's of rubber lined cable clamps to hold the cables in place.

[1967-C10]

connect gnd. cable to frame near battery. You will then add short gnd cable to engine block/starter. positive will require routing to Starter, usually routed along passenger side frame .
(this is how all Corvettes are wired),using the frame as your main Ground, Welding cable works great for battery cables.

[cj847]

On my Willys wagon, I had to mount the battery inside the frame rail in the rear. I ran about a 1' red to a cut off switch (like a race car has). Them the long run to the starter. Then a short piece up to a stud on the inner fender to run the rest of the truck and for jump starting. I ran the ground the full length as well to a stud (overkill).

The cut off is nice theft protection if you locate it in a hidden spot. Also great for storage if your truck sits for long periods.

[hotrod1]

Lots of great info - thanks, everyone.

Are any of you running a fuse in the positive cable between the battery and starter?

I have an American Autowire kit and it comes with a megafuse holder but it's junk - cheap thin plastic with a plastic flex hinge. I am looking for a good one and could use suggestions.

[Hatzman]

Originally Posted by hotrod1

Lots of great info - thanks, everyone.

Are any of you running a fuse in the positive cable between the battery and starter?

I have an American Autowire kit and it comes with a megafuse holder but it's junk - cheap thin plastic with a plastic flex hinge. I am looking for a good one and could use suggestions.

No fuses on the positive. I am also using the AAW mega fuse and I love them. Any casing will be plastic and I haven’t seen anything that size in a different company.
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[Accelo]

(this is how all Corvettes are wired)
My C2 Corvette has a ground that attaches directly to the starter retaining bolt.
Yes, it's stock. "All" can be a tough word on this forum. .

I have never seen a fuse between the battery and the starter. Doesn't mean they don't exist just never observed one installed. With a typical draw of 200A to 400A and a surge the instantaneous load can be double that. It would require a huge fuse. None of the OEMs use fuses and you shouldn't need one either. Just be careful and retain the wire and ends like a pro and you will be fine. You can get excellent cables made at most welding shops.

[KQQL IT]

1/0 cable to the ferd relay
Short ground "not group" to the frame
Another short one to block.

Starts my 400 sbc very well

[LS short box]

One other thing in regards to battery cable. The finer the wire strands in the cable the better it transmits power. If you look at battery cables chain stores like Fleet Farm (nothing against Fleet Farm) the strands in the cable are larger compared to welding cable. Fleet Farm also has bulk welding cable with the fine strand cable.

[Grumpy old man]

Build your own .

https://www.batterycablesusa.com/?gc...SAAEgKfjfD_BwE

[SRU1436]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Build your own .

https://www.batterycablesusa.com/?gc...SAAEgKfjfD_BwE

I used this company for the battery cables on my chevelle. Great quality cables and connections. I will use them again for my C10.

[Hatzman]

Hello!

I placed my battery tray on the frame rail behind the passenger side of the cab. I ran the ground all the way to the block. I also ran the power to the starter and then to a bulkhead I made and mounted mega fuses to it. The bulkhead his hidden on the inside of the frame rail opposite the power steering box. I have attached photos for reference.

[Grumpy old man]

Originally Posted by Hatzman

Hello!

I placed my battery tray on the frame rail behind the passenger side of the cab. I ran the ground all the way to the block. I also ran the power to the starter and then to a bulkhead I made and mounted mega fuses to it. The bulkhead his hidden on the inside of the frame rail opposite the power steering box. I have attached photos for reference.

I have to ask WHY ? What happens when the battery goes dead or the fuse blows ? Do you lay on the ground to hook up jumper cables or call a wrecker
? With all that wire length is there a parasitic drain ?

[MARKDTN]

I'm not a big fan of moving batteries but I had to on a '66 Mustang I built. Couple of things. I would run 0 or 00 gauge for the hot. It's overkill but you do not want the cable melting and bigger cable=less resistance. I would run a short 0 or 00 ground to the frame and keep the factory grounds and also run a 1 or 0 gauge wire direct from negative to the engine block for a direct ground path for the starter. Virtually all big trucks do this. There is a difference in battery cable and welding cable. I won't jump into this rabbit hole but battery cable is stiffer than welding cable. I used cushion clamps much like the post above. If you use welding cable instead of battery cable you will need more closely spaced clamps and it will droop more. Use more protection than you possibly need in the form of grommets, edge protection, loom, clamps-whatever so that the chance of damaging the positive cable are as minimum as possible. Keep them away from exhaust components and sharp edges. Avoid crossing the hot and ground cables in routing. When I made mine, I bought battery cable and terminals on Ebay and borrowed a cheap hydraulic cable clamping tool ($41 on Amazon). I crimped the terminals on and put some shrink tube over the joints. It worked great and looked pretty good too. At least on a truck you can run the cables in the rail flanges. The Mustang did not have a frame and the cables were exposed underneath. Good luck with it.

[68 P.O.S.]

You can add charging posts under the hood somewhere. That's how my old lady's Jeep is.

[hotrod1]

What about circuit breakers in line with the positive cable.

[LS short box]

No drain with longer cables. I've never seen a circuit breaker or mega fuse inline with the positive cable. On start up depending on the engine it can pull 300? amps. Both would have to huge.

[Grumpy old man]

I'm just trying to figure out why anyone would want to add all this wiring and fuses and circuit breakers to an already very simple system ? it looks like a fire hazard to me ? What are you gaining by complicating the system ?

[LS short box]

When I did my LS swap the mega fuse (Painless Kit) was for powering the 12 volt positive to the fuse block. On the pic below you can just see it below the heater housing.
NAPA also has the same mega fuse or fuses in various amperages.
To Hatzman your routing looks very clean but I would add a rubber grommet where the positive cable passes thru the frame rail.

[hotrod1]

Lots of great ideas. Take a look at this pic - how would you run the cable(s) to the starter from a rear-mounted battery? Kind of close to the headers.

[Hatzman]

Originally Posted by hotrod1

Lots of great ideas. Take a look at this pic - how would you run the cable(s) to the starter from a rear-mounted battery? Kind of close to the headers.

Is that a custom frame? Can you run wires through the frame itself?

One thing I forgot to mention, I grounded every piece of frame piece to the chassis. (Radiator support, cab, engine, and bed.)

[hotrod1]

Yep, I can run wires through the frame but not sure I want to - could weaken things a bit where it pierces. If I wanted to, are there any good grommets to do that?

[MARKDTN]

Originally Posted by hotrod1

Lots of great ideas. Take a look at this pic - how would you run the cable(s) to the starter from a rear-mounted battery? Kind of close to the headers.

If the passengers side mirrors the drivers side where the header is, I would use cushion clamps along the inside of the frame, then cross over with a twisted standoff bracket with clamp from one of the torque converter dust shield bolts, come along the starter solenoid and connect with a 90 degree terminal for the positive. For negative I would do the same but use a double stud for one of the bellhousing bolts and ground there instead of the standoff and forward. All that assumes that the exhaust is routed below them far enough to be OK.