Going shopping tomorrow for some battery cable. I was wondering though - I have a spare set of jump leads. What kind of rating would these have to be used as permanent battery cables? They don't really look that chunky to me - perhaps designed for that short burst of power required to jump start a car, and not for permanent use.

Do you think a motor factors would sell it? Figures of 100a rating have been batted about elsewhere.

Maplins is the best for battery cable, get it per metre.

Looks like 4awg is described as "battery cable" on there then. I'd better go place an order. Would you recommend an additional fuse on the 4 metre run from the battery positive terminal, to the wiring block in the engine bay? I'm going to have to somehow separate the wiring in the second lid of the battery box and install that somewhere in the engine bay, whilst running the main wire to the boot. I'm sure I can earth it on the chassis in the boot somewhere.

edit: Shall I ignore this? "is NOT intended to supply starter motors or other car electrical accessories"

yes i would put a fuse as close to the battery as possible. i would probably run an earth lead through too!!

Earth lead will be fine earthed locally in the boot.

For the power supply what I usually do is use a cut off switch in the engine bay and run that wire back into the car to the battery. You can then make up a bracket for the bus bar in the fuse box.

So, this 4awg wire sounds OK does it? I think I can get better audio power cable than that locally. Wish I could just get a length of whatever the battery uses now.... Wonder if there's a standard car that has the battery in the boot, and I can go round the scrapyards.

Liking the cut-off switch idea. Could be an effective immobiliser to somehow activate the cutoff in the engine bay with a hidden switch inside the car somewhere. Would make the car tricky to steal at least.

Can I ask why you're putting the battery in the boot? That power cable from Maplin is quite expensive isn't it? Go for something cheaper but with the same rating (add up the main links by the battery to find what you need). Put a fuse the same rating as the cable right by the battery. You can earth in the boot but make sure you bolt onto something substantial. You may need to run a thin cable from the battery to the head unit to avoid earth loops.

Doing it for weight distribution reasons mainly, plus I need room for a different type of air filter system, so the airbox is going as well a.s.a.p

If you nip down to the local news agent and have a look in the classified part of a Practical Classic mag, there is a company in Nottingham that sells proper batterry lead by the metre. Sorry I can't remeber the name, but they also sell wiring accessories and cut-off switches.

Found it after a bit of searching

Autosparks

I would go for something thicker than the standard cable over that length due to the voltage drop ascociated with the length of the cable, the starter motor takes hell of a lot of current to turn the engine over so there would be a fair amount of voltage drop accross a smaller cable due to the resistance within the cable.

Got some.

I had a sudden thought this morning that there are quite a few chandlerys around me (boat yard for those who don't know that word :P) - One benefit of living by the sea, so I gave one a ring and they had a reel of power cable in they used for similar jobs (on boats obviously) - Only £10 too, which was a bonus. Now I need to start hunting out some decent fuse equipment.

if you are looking for somwehere to put the battery, there is an oe battery tray available from the lupo gti which fits on that little spigot in the centre of the spare wheel recess, then the screw thing locks it in place

if you are looking for somwehere to put the battery, there is an oe battery tray available from the lupo gti which fits on that little spigot in the centre of the spare wheel recess, then the screw thing locks it in place

Umm, I have something big, round and full of propane in the way. I'll be sitting it in the boot on the left hand side, and altering the boot carpet so it sits around it. Similar job will need doing for the NOS as well.

What kind of fuse do you think I'll need for this cable? Something around 80 amps? Maybe 100?

err..... posibly more than that. the starter motor takes one hell of a whack when it turns the ole baby over!!!! something more like 140amps....

what guage cable did you get in the end??

what guage cable did you get in the end??

I don't know But if a boat engineer tells me he's used it on diesel boats, then I'm happy enough it's fine for me. I think the core is 25mm in diameter and there's a decent amount of copper in the middle.

25mm:eek:

that'll do it..... if you need a battery terminal crimping tool i've got one here, dont buy one they are really expensive!!! unless you are using screw terminals, in which case you wont need one:thumbup:

I will leave the crimping to my mate. He's got all the gear. I just need to look out for a fuseholder now and a 140 amp fuse. Edit, when I said the core is 25mm, I meant the whole wire is that across, including the insulation. I was a bit misleading in that statement. The whole wire is 25mm across. I estimate the core is around 14/15mm.

that's probably a 0000 guage wire then which is goood for over 500amps

American Wire Gauge table and AWG Electrical Current Load Limits

found this site which explains wire guages and amperage