[brucepick]

quick and cheap hookups

I didn't want jumper cables, with those spring clamp points digging into lead posts being your "contact surface".

I set the battery on the floor in front of the passenger seat. Later I moved it behind that seat, on the floor. Was fine there all winter.

I got a couple lengths of grounded outdoor extension cord. 16 ga? MAYBE 14ga? One length for the positive cable, one for negative. Each had 3 conductors. I stripped the leads and clamped all three bared wire ends onto the positive terminal with a regular stainless hose clamp, the worm gear type. Other end went to the under hood battery where I put a ring terminal on it so I could get good contact there. I just passed the wire up out from under the hood, and through the door hinge area. So the door pinched it when it closed, no biggie.

I did the same thing for the negative side. I ran the 3-wire cable all the way up to the front battery or maybe to where its ground meets the car. I really didn't need to do that. In my new installation, I have one battery grounded to the seat's rear mounting bolt. You need a really big ring terminal for that but you can get them, in a real parts store or in a battery/electrical store if you're near a big city.

For my current setup with the two deep cycle batteries, I used 4 ga cable like you use for a high end car audio system. I do have a length of 6 ga in one part of the installation but I'd prefer 4 there if I hadn't felt pinched for money when I bought that cable. The 6 ga goes to the main fuse box, not to the starter and headlight system.