Remote locating a deep cycle battery to trunk
 

Hey guys, I've got some questions to throw out there.

My starter battery finally died after way too much abuse from EOC. I was draining the battery much too far and well, starter batteries are not made for this application.

As I only had the cash for one battery, the stock location has been deleted. Right now the positive wire connecting to the stock positive lead is pretty red neck. It's wrapped in a load of electrical tape and duct tape and zipped to my plastic air intake to avoid contact with the chassis. (1) Could I get ideas on how to do this in a safe sano way?

I've routed 1 gua positive wire (Welding wire) through the interior of the Civic to the trunk hiding it nicely along the passenger side (17' holy cow). Installed an Trojan 24 AGM deep cycle in a box with hold down straps in the trunk in the well for the spare tire (they both fit). So I've made the connections and it works great but I want to make this a safe setup!

(2) I understand I should fuse the positive wire close to the battery in case of a short due to chafing or accident to prevent a fire, so what rating of fuse should I be looking at that won't hurt power to the starter but will blow in the event of a short?

I'm going for the same setup in my Civic. Check out my thread for a couple idea's on mounting the positive cables in the engine bay: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post384677

I ended up just bolting 3 copper lugs together.
here is a picture

I drilled a hole in a random plastic mounting tab I had laying around to stick the bolt through and secure it. Then I used industrial double sided tape and stuck it to the fuse box.

As for the fuse, right now I am using a 150 amp ANL type fuse. The fuse should be close to the battery on the positive cable. Car audio stores have the inline type fuses you need. Again, check out my thread for an example. I got mine off ebay for $7. I keep a 200 amp spare in the car as well.

DC Cable Sizing Tool - Wire Size Calculator - MM2 & AWG - solar-wind.co.uk

Is saying that you need 00 gauge cable if you want 5% losses for a 300 amp draw (about what a starter can draw) and I would either use a 300 amp fuse or better yet a 100 to 150 amp slow blow fuse that can candle 300+ amps for a few seconds.

If you want to make the connection to your under hood battery lug safer then put it in a piece of radiator hose with zip ties, also make sure everything is very clean and coated in electrical grease or you might melt something.

I had an ammeter on my Paseo (1.5L engine) once for testing my alternator delete. The starter only pulled 150A for a split second before dropping way down to about half that. Of course this was in summer, in winter with thicker oil I'm sure it pulls a bit more.

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input. I'm leaning towards a nice clean setup under the hood like cbaber did with his junction block before he changed to the 3 lug/bolt system, except I want to find one without fuses in it. Then I know it's good and safe.

So far EBay seems to be the place to locate these items for cheap. I just have to remember how to use paypal, I only used it once over a year ago. Ha ha. Any other ideas?