So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

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So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

August 21, 2008, 04:00:40 PM

I'm gathering up some stuff to relocate my battery to the trunk area when I install my 3G and electric fan. I just wanted to know who else had done this, and what they liked about their install and what they wish they would have done different. Also what battery box / hold down did you use and how did you secure it to the vehicle. Of course Pics would really be nice :D Thanks

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #1 – August 21, 2008, 09:22:55 PM

How much are you willing to spend, and what's the purpose?

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #2 – August 22, 2008, 08:42:38 AM

Spend - I was figuring around 100 to 125 maybe. I have access to the wiring and connectors at wholesale, so I figured the expensive part would be a nice battery box.

Reason - clear up some underhood room, move some weight from the front left of the car to the right rear, make it easier to mount up the "kill" switch at the back of the car, just your normal racing stuff.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #3 – August 22, 2008, 02:15:36 PM

I haven't done it in my 'Bird, but I did it for my Mustang. My only suggestions (if you haven't already thought of these) is to move the starter relay (some call it a solenoid) to the trunk as well. This way, you don't have an always hot, #00 positive cable running the length of the bottom of the car. I mounted the relay in the rear and ran the cable from the relay to the starter--yeah, it's hot as well, but only when starting the car. Then, just to have a power takeoff under the hood, I ran a 8 or 10 gauge wire through the interior to the engine compartment. The smaller wire was easier to run to the front and it's not exposed so there's little chance of it getting damaged.

Also, run the biggest battery cable you can find/afford. I ran #0000 welding wire myself. Then, be sure to have an extra cable grounding the block to the chassis.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #4 – August 22, 2008, 08:52:17 PM

+1 to what BlackCardinal said.

These guys make a relocation kit to do what BlackCardinal suggested.
http://www.madelectrical.com/
I personally haven't dealt with them but they come recommended (for whatever that's worth)

Autozone carries "welding cable" that will work. The big hardware stores carry appropriately sized cable. Not sure which is cheaper.

Both of my birds have trunk-mounted batteries. I did one, the other came that way.

Since I've been digging around the trunk the last few weeks I've been looking at ways to maximize the trunk space. IF you want to get creative and are willing to spend (a lot) more money, it would be possible to mount two mini batteries over the wheel wells or in other out of the way places . I don't think a single mini-battery is going to be enough for our cars.

Optima makes a 3-core 6V battery. You could mount two of those in different places (eg outside the frame rails).

In any case where you have multiple batteries, you want to wire them a little differently than you would a single battery. A lot of diesel engines come with multiple batteries, you might check out how it's done.

For a std-sized battery, there are plenty of choices. If you look at Gumby's bird, he chose a pretty good place from a performance standpoint. Nestled up next to the rear seat, near the premium sound gizmo is out of the way, but you get a different flavor of weight distribution as compared to moving it nearer the bumper.

Some Mercedes Benz's have batteries mounted in wierd places - like under the passenger seat, and are really hard to access. So MB has some std. terminals conveniently located in case you need to jump the car. You might think about something like that when mounting yours if the battery is going to be out of the way and/or encased.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #5 – August 22, 2008, 09:11:37 PM

I was going to mount mine in the trunk, then I decided to get one of these 13# Odyssey batteries

I still have the aluminum box and hardware/cables etc. if you are interested.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #6 – August 22, 2008, 09:17:06 PM

Cougar, how long have you had that Odyssey, and is yours a DD?

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #7 – August 22, 2008, 09:39:18 PM

I've had it for a couple of months now - the car is a weekend warrior. So far, so good...

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #8 – August 22, 2008, 10:45:18 PM

Do you put a trickle charger on it?

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #9 – August 22, 2008, 11:15:43 PM

No need to - the SLA batteries can hold a charge for more than a year. I may put a trickle charger on it in the winter time just in case.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #10 – August 23, 2008, 12:07:03 AM

what is the runtime on that battery at 1hr?
Is there a discharge rate at 1.75vpc?x6

Who makes the battery,, DEKA, GNB, Marathon, Excide?

I prefer Deka first and Marathon next followed by GNB Gell Cells.

BTW, just so you size the cable right, the formula goes like this.....

11.1 x loop lenght x ampacity / voltage drop

11.1- constant k factor of copper
loop lenght- distance of the pos and return combined. Your typical return is going to be just a jumper to chassis.
ampacity-100% breaker or amperage of the alternator output.
Voltage drop- how many volts is allowable to be lost across the wire, we will use .75 here

11.1 x 20 x 140 / .75 = 41440 cmil copper which equals 4awg.

4awg is not large enough to use on 140A circuit so you have to default to the "in raceway" chart for your amperage.
In short,, a 1/0 wire is sufficient to carry the rated current of the alternator at 75degc. 2/0 would be best.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #11 – August 23, 2008, 01:00:26 AM

Not sure if you were asking me, but Hawker makes the Odyssey batteries.

Anything you might need to know about the Hawker/Odyssey battery is here -> http://www.stealth316.com/2-dynabatt.htm#g16ep

A good site with specs for the Odyssey batteries -> http://www.odysseybatteries.com/index.htm

There is tons more info at the two sites I listed. Full up-to-date info on the Odyssey is in the Documentation section of the 2nd site.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #12 – August 23, 2008, 03:25:48 AM

Good run time at 30min but i wish they had the 1.75vpc instead of the 1.67vpc. I can plot it ,, no biggie.

Sounds like a good battery though. Let us know how it holds up. Those numbers are pretty close to the typical VRLA batteries i deal with.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #13 – August 23, 2008, 05:15:03 AM

When i got my car had a py box with a wetcell battery and now i added a summit racing box and optima Red Top works good now and its safer in the new box and it being a dry cell now.

So who relocated the battery to the trunk?

Reply #14 – August 23, 2008, 11:46:40 AM

Quote from: jcassity;233289

Good run time at 30min but i wish they had the 1.75vpc instead of the 1.67vpc. I can plot it ,, no biggie.

Sounds like a good battery though. Let us know how it holds up. Those numbers are pretty close to the typical VRLA batteries i deal with.

The first site has tables for 1.67vpc & 1.85vpc(11.1V) for the PC680 which should help as 1.75 is about halfway between them.