iv got my battery in da boot normal size and specs no prob so far the earth on my just got bolted to the rear wheel hub in the boot there's a flat section that comes out perfect spot i can post pics if you want ? also i dont see a prob with what you want to do cutting and joining the wire just make sure you solder it good and even melt some of that plastic rubber stuff on top to seal it good luck

man can someone please to a tech article on this with pics and stuff

holy sh!t theres some misconstrude ideas going on here. I'll post up a tech article soon when i can be arse'd - actually I might get the boys at PHATT audio concepts to do some piccies for me. First off optimas are great but an Orbital by Exide will do just as good a job if not better for less. make sure if using two batteries you run them in parrallel and use batteries of the same brand type size and age. and if you can use one as a starter and one as an auxillary and when you service your car swap them around (hey it takes a couple of minutes and makes your batteries last alot longer). If going a single battery in the boot then you want to run an 8ga or larger (prefferably 4ga) from the positive stud on the alternator to the starter solinoid then a 0ga (or multiple runs of 0ga) to the battery in the boot and then run anything that connected to your positive battery terminal to that stud point on your starter. This is the most basic way of doing it and is very GHETTO but its a safe GHETTO way. The best way how ever is to run a 0ga (or multiple to a distrobution block (hidden if you want the clean look)) then run 4ga to the starter and 8ga to the alternator (again go bigger if you can, bigger = smaller number. ie 4ga is double the size of 8ga etc) and then all your misc wiring to the distroblock. Make sure you fuse within 30cm of the alternator with a fuseable link (prefferably the first 10cm of wire should be fuseable wire rated within 10% greater than the output of the alternator) and similarly at the battery end with either a fuseable link or a 300amp ANL fuse will normally suffice. VENT YOUR BATTERY TO THE ATMOSPHERE - this is important. I have a freind with a burned face because of a battery. batteries give off gasses while charging. Especially when they are within 5% charge which is where most of your batteries will be after 3 - 7 minutes of starting your car. batteries - even sealled AGM batteries heat up and give off gasses some batteries will swell however most will vent. this is part of the chemical reaction creating a charge. THIS GAS CAN KILL! its explosive - its hydrogen FFS. Battery boxes arent expencive and there are a few grommets in most boots to vent out of with a bit of rubber hose. If using two batteries make sure you use a solinoid that switches the charging onto the auxilary system once it reaches 13.8V (or there abouts) and off again if the main battery drops below 12.6V. You'll find your batteries will last longer because the addtional internal resistance of parralleled batteries is lost. oh an last but not least the best way of buying cables for a boot mount battery is to go to your nearest electrical warehose and get 50mm^2 flex cable and suitable flex lugs get them to cut it to the lengths you need. (use string to detirmine the lengths if you dont already know) and get them to terminate it most will do this for a minimal charge - and unless you have a set of $400 crimpers that will do cable that size youve got buckleys or none chance of doing it your self - the next best thing is to use a vice and a butane torch and a **** load of solder - but thats extra resistance in your path (although FA its still there if your after the most voltage like car audio enthusiast are). An electrical warehouse will sell you 50mm^2 (or the equivilant of 0ga) for around $10 per meter and terminals for about $2 each. Stinger will cost you about $30pm and $8 per terminal. Aerpro i wouldnt touch and Scosche is only just starting to come into australia thanks to E-Gear and i have no idea what the pricing on their gear is like. But knowing Scosche products and knowing the boys from E-Gear i'd expect it to be competitively priced and superior in quality. Welding flex is ok but harder to manuver and comes in sh!t colors - normally bright orange - not exactly stealth and is generally about $15pm. Its also less conductive because it has a lower strand count - and we all know that electron flow is greatest along the outside there fore the higher the strand cound the more TSA and therefore greater electron flow. Well I hope that helps. Oh and you can join the old wires to the new ones - its just that it looks **** and it is another potential area for a connection to fail. if you do do it though make sure you stip back atleast 3cm from each and force them together so the entire connection is only 3cm and then get the butane torch out and solder them together and cover it with heat shrink and then tape. and sucure your wires with cable ties. I dont know why you would do this though - its a little cause cause it negates the whole reasoning behind battery realocation

**** man i dont wanna do itmyself now, i might just pay someone to do it lol

Go see either : Moorooka - Northfield Car Sound or Toowoomba - Rod Meagher Radio Both are Australian dealer network approved in car entertainment specialist and would have loads of experiance in doing this kind of work. Otherwise good 4x4 specalists should be able to do it for you no worries. You could try an autoelectrician - but i wouldnt trust too many auto elecs with putting driving lights in let alone doing a battery relocation 300amp circuit breakers arent that hard to find. and 300amp fuses are even easier to find. ANL fuse holder $20 300Amp ANL Fuse $30 or circuit breaker for $65. Thats stinger brand. Scosche would be similarly priced i would expect but you can get self resetting ones from the auto elec or 4x4 specialist for abit less

thanks komodowagon

awesome post komodowagon ! finally some decent information, pretty much what i was after to confirm my setup. If i have time ill take some pics.

Quote: Originally Posted by wluckie30 **** man i dont wanna do itmyself now, i might just pay someone to do it lol Its not as hard nor as complex as he's trying to make it sound man...... komodowagon-when you say its GHETTO (running to starter solenoid) what does that mean or is that some special Auto Elec talk that the average person wouldnt be familiar with? Mine runs off Starter solenoid, we cut and shotened the loom pulled it down behind the booster and its neat as. Wouldnt call it GHETTO.... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Ghetto because its not really as good as doing it to a dist block and running the wires from there I'd say. I've heard the starter can break from the extra weight, fairly common apparently? So dist block would be the way to go

Extra weight from what?

Having a heap of wires hanging off the end of it.

Not trying to be smart but its literally like two wires secured by the bolt on the solenoid, one wire is the main power supply (battery cable) the other one on mine is the fusable link. Little to no additional weight. Really depends I guess what you do with the loom etc. If you trim it and discard the excess theres really nothing there.

i just did this i used 2 isolator switches and mounted them were the charcoal cannister was and just ran 2 cables from the boot to the isolater switches and just ran the exsisting cables that went to the battery off those isolator switches ill get some photos up when i get a chance. ohh and i ran my alarm off the constant 12v side of the ground and the positive isolator switches so my allarm still works. when ive got the keys out of the isolator switches

Wyndup, its all good, just going by what a few auto electricians have told me around town. Apparently the link inside the starter is weak as piss.

What I mean by ghetto is that it is proper and works. It just isnt the most ideal way of doing it. basically by adding the wires to the starter solinoid your making the starter solinoid become the distrobution block. As i said there is nothing wrong with doing it this way its just not the most ideal way of doing it. We quite often do battery relocations on the show cars we build. Im currently building a HQ ute with over 1,000AH and around 10,000CCA with a 3000watt 240V pure sine wave inverter and a 120amp Mansons power supply unit (actually its not the 120amp version its 3 of the 40 amp versions parralleled as this give me the ability to adjust the voltage upto 15V @ 120 amps). Just gotta work out where to put the airbags the batteries are going under the ute tub which the metal is being cut out and having a recessed lip installed so a timber tray can be inserted. Blanky is organising a big mofo alternator for me too. Havent decided if it will be a show car of if it will do the car audio circuit as well... Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Quote: Originally Posted by komodowagon What I mean by ghetto is that it is proper and works. It just isnt the most ideal way of doing it. basically by adding the wires to the starter solinoid your making the starter solinoid become the distrobution block. As i said there is nothing wrong with doing it this way its just not the most ideal way of doing it. We quite often do battery relocations on the show cars we build. Im currently building a HQ ute with over 1,000AH and around 10,000CCA with a 3000watt 240V pure sine wave inverter and a 120amp Mansons power supply unit (actually its not the 120amp version its 3 of the 40 amp versions parralleled as this give me the ability to adjust the voltage upto 15V @ 120 amps). Just gotta work out where to put the airbags the batteries are going under the ute tub which the metal is being cut out and having a recessed lip installed so a timber tray can be inserted. Blanky is organising a big mofo alternator for me too. Havent decided if it will be a show car of if it will do the car audio circuit as well... fark me, what sound system are you gonna be running??? or what compression are you gonna use cause for a battery to be that strong must be bloody hard to crank your engine over :P Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Most show cars use external power supplies to keep the systems cranked all day. I want the abity to have the system cranked with now external power. But there will definately be some Oz-Audio or Treo engineering subs going into it powered off some big arse Oz-Audio 2000watt monos. Competing in SPL has taught me that you can never have enough batteries :P Ask Angelo from dB Drag racing australia. The other reason is I'll have a **** load of batteries left after the Van has seen its days as an SPL monster. Team PHATT are gunna try take the title from the CarTunez boys next year at wagga wagga finals - Well thats if Blanky and me have our way, dont know how Sammy (XRQTOR or the TEKKEN RX7) feels about it. We'll be using either Oz power 15's or Treo SSi subs Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

hey guys im in the middle of putting my battery in the boot an i have been an talked to every auto elec in my town an all of them say u dont have to vent the battery box to the atmossphere! an if u did have to u would have to use a sealed box an the battery box arnt sealed!

id prefer to vent it any ways i dont think id like my boot filling up with hydrogen gas and blowing up

Technically theyre venting anyway arent they? Most boxes have little breathers in the lids anyway...and the boot is never completely air tight, thats pretty hard to achieve.