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Remote mount batteries under the truck

n8in8or

I never met a project I didn’t like
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I am really thinking hard on relocating my batteries to under the truck on the driver's side - in front of the rear axle. This is where I had the heat exchanger for my intercooler and there is plenty of room to physically do it. For anyone that has remote mounting experience, is this a bad idea? I am interested in doing this to free up the under-hood space for my WMI water tank where the driver's side battery is now and to open up the real estate on the passenger's side for whatever the future holds.

So I am already planning on upgrading the gauge of the hot wire - is 2/0 big enough? 3/0?

What about venting?

What about sealing?

Is it better to have things open as much as possible and just protected from damage or is completely sealed with a vent of some kind the best?

What about draining any water that does manage to get in?

Heat?

Anything I'm missing?

I was just reading @Will L.'s thread about Optima batteries and at first was thinking that would be a smart thing to use in this application, but now I'm not sure. I have AC Delco batteries that are about 8 months old right now, so I'll likely just use those. But also, if I'm making a remote box I have the opportunity to use a different class of battery since I can adjust the dimensions of the box somewhat. So are there other batteries that would work better?

Feedback is appreciated. Thanks!
 
Stick with same battery size. It's plenty big for use.
Build the battery box to cover both aspects. Built it to stay closed and keep out road debris and water. But you could add venting if you feel too much heat gets in there. I would think you want to trap some heat in there for your climate.
Build it with a drain,but you can do a threaded port so you can add petcock if you choose to close it up.

Add a battery cut off inline imo. May never need it, but if you ever do it sure is nice to have.
 
Stick with same battery size. It's plenty big for use.
Build the battery box to cover both aspects. Built it to stay closed and keep out road debris and water. But you could add venting if you feel too much heat gets in there. I would think you want to trap some heat in there for your climate.
Build it with a drain,but you can do a threaded port so you can add petcock if you choose to close it up.

Add a battery cut off inline imo. May never need it, but if you ever do it sure is nice to have.

Thanks Will. For a vent I was just thinking a rubber hose like a trans/trans case/axle vent. Also good call on the battery cut off, I was thinking that too.

Any ideas on a circuit breaker with enough capacity to be a primary? Something I could put in the boxes with the batteries possibly? It's a little worrying with that much cable, carrying that much amperage running from one end of the truck to the other.
 
You vent battery compartments to keep explosive hydrogen gas from building up. Sparky, the worked loose battery cable, is all you need... Never seal a battery box up as pressure can build up from charging/overcharge etc. Even sealed AGM batteries have relief valve vents. Sealing is a bad word! Weatherproofing is a better term.

Some batteries come from the factory with insulating blankets on them: is it to keep them warm in the winter or cool from under hood engine temps? :p
 
You vent battery compartments to keep explosive hydrogen gas from building up. Sparky, the worked loose battery cable, is all you need... Never seal a battery box up as pressure can build up from charging/overcharge etc. Even sealed AGM batteries have relief valve vents. Sealing is a bad word! Weatherproofing is a better term.

Some batteries come from the factory with insulating blankets on them: is it to keep them warm in the winter or cool from under hood engine temps? :p
Yes....weatherproofing, thank you for the correction. :)
 
I bought welding cable when I relocated my car battery to the trunk. Its pretty flexible and has decent abrasion resistance.
I thought I had read somewhere that welding cable wasn't the appropriate wire to use in an automotive applcation, but I know a lot of people use it. When I search for 2/0 cable on Amazon most of the search results come back as "welding/automotive", so some places even market them as the same.
 
I would not hesitate to use welding cable in anything that needs lots of current flow. It's severe duty stuff made to be handled. When you think of the wire being clamped to a frame rail, it is still being 'handled' in a way, in the truck world stuff moves and shifts around even though it's securely fastened.
 
The problems with welding cable is the insulation used.

There are different insulation ratings, but most welding cable is not rated for oil, salt, and acids. It is also only rated 90c. Also IS NOT SELF EXTINGUISHING!!!

Iirc the best rating for our use is "sxg" with Marine rating (I cant remember the marine designation that follows).

I have been the route of regular welding cable and have experienced how fast you can get to the fire extinguisher, thankfully didn't have to open the hood, and rip the battery cable off via prybar, followed by a little more fire extinguisher action becasue even that technique was too slow.

A new battery where the post melted, battery cables, separate harness and hoses above the flames, new starter, new fire extinguisher, and a funny story the next week (that week- not so funny). The starter stuck, possible oil damaged insulation allowed an arc to frame- we couldn't be sure which was first and second- arcing happened so fast was about same time, and my 69 camaro had 1 piece tilt front end. I had the hood off because I was tuning with different fuel mixtures, so it was easier than open &close a ton of times. I obviously had it well secured with insulated mounts- didn't matter in the end.

You can not put in a circuit breaker that carries the load and trips fast enough.

Can it be done safely? Yup. Just not cheaply. 1 1/2" seal tight flexable conduit of proper rating. Why so large? Remember that wire gets hot in there and has to have space for airflow to cool it off or the insulation will be damaged. What is used by the big boys currenty for cable protection and where can you buy it? https://m.grainger.com/mobile/produ...eries-Flexible-Metallic-16R018?fc=MWP2IDP2PCP
Yup, 50' for about $3660, but shop around and save $200, by all means. Haha. yeah- $20 or $30 a foot for the right wire is cheap. Some of the heavy equipment comes stock with it. Many indy and formula 1 cars run it over the sxg marine cable so when the cable insulation fails the conduit keeps it isolated.

Obviously we dont need that much protection, to use both, but please dont try "upgrading and cheap savings cost" go together. Buy the right stuff. It is cheaper in the long run.
 
I have a thread to around here when I diid my bats under driver side. To get up close to floor board you'll need side post bats.
 
I'm still researching this topic off and on. I was thinking about a main circuit breaker today. I went to Powermaster's site since that's the starter I'm using. They say that a starter can draw as much as 500 amps. Ok, so that was a number to guide me. Then I thought about how the glow plugs are also running during cranking sometimes, so that's how much more amperage? So what if I guess wrong and buy a breaker that's too small and have to spend more on another breaker? And how reliable are these breakers? I don't want to add a new, possible failure point into my electrical system. So maybe this is a path that just isn't worth going down and instead I need to really focus on protecting the main cable instead. I found this product. Pretty pricy, but if I could buy just what I need and not a whole spool it would be reasonable.

http://www.firesleeveandtape.com/ho...-thick-wall-pro-nylon-sleeve-scuffsleeve.html

I'll keep searching, but I feel like I need more than the typical plastic corrugated cable wrap protecting the cable......any suggestions?
 
Oh, I guess I didn't hit send on this one, it's still sitting here in the post box.......


Tech Flex makes a lot of good products. They have a selector tool and it looks like their Gorilla Sleeve could be a good one. I found a place that sells 50' of 3/4" for $40.

https://www.techflex.com/prod_nhn.asp
 
I put my cut off switch on the ground side cable.
Yeah, I still want to do a main cut off switch. I had also read of other people putting them on the ground cable so it was easier to bypass if necessary, though it seems like it could be bypassed easy enough on either cable by just moving both cables to one of the studs on the switch - in essence making it a junction terminal.

I tried looking for your post, but haven't found it yet. I'll try to keep looking. In the meantime, what rationale did you use for putting the disconnect on the ground?
 
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