I hate to do this, but all the threads I've found have broken pictures.

I have a s13 HB and would like to relocation an optima redtop to the passenger trunk side. I want this to look clean and well as have minimal problems. With that said, I want to make sure I do this right.

As far as I understand, I have the battery in the trunk. From the batter, I would have the power cord, with a circuit breaker ( http://www.google.com/products/catalog? ... CD4Q8wIwAQ) within 1ft of the power terminal.

After the circuit breaker, does the power cable just go to the previous power cable up front, with everything all hooked up still (on the OEM power cable, it has a red box with plugs in it right on the cable where it hooks to the battery post). What is a power distributer I've heard of on various threads. Is there a way to remove at OEM red box and hook it up another way?
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_211 ... osche.html

The negative terminal is ground out of course to a clean contact to the chassis.

When I order an optima redtop, how should I go about mounting the tray in the trunk, should I just drill it into the chassis (eyeing where the bolts go as to not run into anything). How would you suggest a tie down to keep it from shifting?

Thanks for all the help and please ask for clarification if you need.
Allen

my battery box is held down by 5/16 self tapping screws right into the trunk floor...dont hit anything and 4 screws plus wieght of the optima will keep it in one spot good!
holds my optima redtop (850cca) like a glove... and still fits room for my sard magic box

Anyone else?

A power distribution block does exactly what the name implies, distributes powahh. Here's a diagram a drew up awhile back when I was researching this:



I ended up going with a fused distribution block near the battery with a 125A ANL fuse and a fused distribution block up front for the three original power wires, instead of running all new power wires for the starter, alternator, and interior.



Anytime you step down in gauge wire you want to make sure the fuse is rated for the smallest gauge wire in the line, so the first fused block (near the battery )has a 125A fuse, which is the maximum recommended fuse for 4awg wire (going to the amp in my diagram). Then the fuse block for the power wires near the battery tray each have a fuse because the wires up front are smaller than the 4awg, so the 125A fuse is too large to protect the wires. I have a fuse for each wire at the recommended maximum for whatever gauge wire they were.

Haven't had a problem running it this way, maybe someone else can chime in.

Here's a link that should help. http://www.bcae1.com/fuses.htm

That link as well as your post was really helpful, thanks for the information and direction. Just to clarify, the circuit break is the fuse, correct? That will hold fine as long as its coming from the battery power line, close the the battery. And the distribution blocks, you can buy those fused, so I won't have to add any myself? So are the cables on the original power cord (red box mentioned above) for the interior, alternator, and starter? If so, did you just cut the box off and get the wires in the distribution block?

Are there any fused distribution blocks or circuit breakers that you would recommend?

A circuit breaker is an electronic switch, while the fuse in my second diagram is just an in-line fuse. Only difference is when a circuit breaker pops you can switch it back on, but the inline fuse pops you have to replace the fuse.

Circuit breaker:


Inline fuse:


For the wires up front, you can see how someone just taped the wires together here:


I cut the starter wire and unplugged and cut the two plugs from the green outlined box (which would be the red box attached to our positive cable) and ran them into a fused distribution block like this:


You have to buy fuses for the distribution block for whatever size gauge wire the starter, and two plug wires are. I can't remember what fuses I used, but all you have to do is see what size gauge they are and buy a safe fuse.

allenms240 wrote:Are there any fused distribution blocks or circuit breakers that you would recommend?

I just relocated the battery to the trunk 2 weeks ago and im using the circuit breaker in first link you posted.

IIRC Autozone had it for 27.

Let me know if you have questions its all still fresh.

Thanks for all the help Nico!

Hmmm, So I'm going to buy the fused power distributor. I'm going to use 2ga cable from the battery, to a circuit breaker, to the fused block in the bay. From there, I'm going to have the 6ga (i think that's what it is) stock cable coming out of the fused block. I'm going to cut the clips off the clip in the green box above, and plug them into the fused block as well. That should be all, correct? I'm going to buy an 80AMP for the 6ga starter cable. What are the size wires for the other 2, that come out of the plug? I'm having a hard time finding the correct sizes.

Also, can someone please confirm the size of the original starter cable (The one that goes straight to the battery)?

I feel I'm making this way more complicated that it has to be, but I do not want to go up in flames, please chime in.

Think you might be over thinking it. All i did was added a clamp to the end of the cable and bolted that to the old positive wire ran it all back to the trunk, wired in the circuit breaker and then the battery. Granted not the ultra cleanest way but when you pop the hood no wires haning all over so im happy.

Now im not running any sound, no subs i have a headunit but nothing fancy, and dont plan do so this setup will last me a while.

Well on my crx I used 0 gauge for ground and positive. Then 8 gauge for starter. For my 240sx im planning on doing the same. 0 gauge positive and negative. With a inline fuse and distributor block. I can post the parts I used on my Crx. Im buying the same for the 240.

I'm trying not to just tie the ends together. I'm going to be getting a fused distributer block. I just need to know what sizes gauge wire to use. I was going to do 4ga for the main cable, battery to block. I was going to just plug stock cables into the block so I won't have to buy new wire and redo all that jazz. What gauge wire is the stock starter cable, and the two plugs that plug into the positive terminal?

Just avoid relocation at all costs. Why relocate? Fab an intercooler pipe that clears the battery, /done.

Nah, want it in the back.

allenms240 wrote:What gauge wire is the stock starter cable, and the two plugs that plug into the positive terminal?

Stock should be 4GA... not sure on the plugs. There are also tons of custom options available for the wiring setups and battery boxes. For grounding, welding cable is your friend

My battery is in the bed of the truck, in a custom fabbed box... I love it.

I highly recommend an optima mount from artec.

http://artecindustries.3dcartstores.com ... c_146.html

some good info in here. posting for later research..

allenms240 wrote: What gauge wire is the stock starter cable, and the two plugs that plug into the positive terminal?

Stock starter cable - 4g
anyone got any info on the other two I'm talking about?

So 2g wire from the batter to the power block, then 4g to the starter, welding cable for the ground; sound good?

Those artech cases look AWESOME, i'm going to buy one tonight hopefully. They are built to order too!

Also, if I use a 0g input, can I put a 2g wire in it? It will still fit, correct, wince it's smaller than a 0g.
Same for a 4g input, i can use it for like a 6g or 8g, right?

I don't understand why you need to change the gauge of wire at all, a car isn't long enough to have to deal with voltage drop since you're only moving the battery no more than 15 ft (to account for down, across, and back up). The stock gauge wire should be more than sufficient to handle the 12/24 VDC that your battery supplies. This would make splicing into the power block way simpler. As far as just taping the connections together in the engine bay, that's just asking for trouble, why not just invest in a pair of crimpers and a box of car audio ring connectors. You're relocating a battery not installing a high power car audio system, why would you need to add components in line with the battery feeds that could fail?

I'm not changing out the gauge. I need to know what size it is so it's properly protected by the designated fuse. To do that, i need to know the size; I am still using the OE cables. I don't want to just connect it all together with ring connectors, that's almost as bad as just taping it all together.


Do it right, or do it twice.

For the plug wires, the thicker white wire is ~10awg maybe a step bigger and the two thinner white wires are ~14awg. I used a pair of wire strippers to measure what size the wires were, so they might be a little off. 14awg stripped the thinner white wires perfectly, while 10awg left bite marks/pulled wire strands when stripping off the insulation.

Awesome! thanks for the info Feadz, I appreciate it.