Battery Relocation Tutorial

This is a tutorial I wrote a while back. Please note that there are a lot of New Zealand references.

I advise you to find out what is required for a battery relocation from your local authorities and adapt this tutorial to suit.

Cheers,

DC

Introduction:
Okay folks, much waited upon as I never seem to be able to find the time or patience to write this thing out.

I'm going to go short and sweet in my explanations but i'm sure that its all there.

Notes:

1) If you are going to move your battery, talk to your local Warrent of Fitness person / mechanic. Generally as long as you explain what you want to do and the steps you will take to achieve this safely then you will be fine.

When I went for my warrent of fitness after relocating the battery, I alerted the WOF officer of the relocation, and explained to him what I did and how I did it to ensure that he understood that I did it safely. After I noted the welding of seperate bolts to the boot floor, safe routing of wires and fusing on the cable, he said that it was done well and care was taken to do it properly.

2) Ensure that you use the appropriate wire guage and appropriate fusing. This is to ensure safety if failure in cable/battery/overall electrical system occurs.

3) follow the current to gauge chart to assess your wire requirements.
unfortunately there is no defined rule for doing this - i always say minimum 2ga wire and preferably 1ga with with at least a 150A fuse on the cable.



4) take all safety precautions in relocating your battery. I take no responsibility for your actions based on my tutorial. It acts as a guide only. If you are not confident in your abilities seek professional help to relocate your battery.

Supplementary:

This information was supplied to me (sorry if i can't remember who supplied it to me, I deleted the PM. If it was you, could you please contact me and I will acknowledge your contribution.

From the Motorsport New Zealand Regulations:

From the Motorsport New Zealand Regulations Manual:
-> Regulations -> Manual 33 -> Appendix 2 -> Schedule A.

(3) Batteries:
(a) All batteries shall be securely mounted and have the live terminal adequately covered,
(b) Batteries located in the cockpit shall;
(i) Be mounted on a flat metal base, and
(ii) Have two insulated metal clamps affixed by a minimum of 8 mm (ISO 8.8) bolts and nuts in combination with underfloor counter plates, and
(iii) For ‘wet cell’ batteries an independently attached leak-proof box vented to the vehicle exterior is required.
(iv) For a sealed “dry cell” (i.e.: may be fitted in any orientation, without any loss of fluid) may be mounted in the cockpit without a leak proof box.

Click to expand...

Equipment Required:

- Craft Knife
- Screwdrivers
- Cable cutters
- Socket set
- Wiring: 4ga and 1ga
- Wire terminals: 4ga and 1ga
- Battery Terminals
- Distribution Block
- Large Fuse and fuse holder (in this case a 250A ANL)
- Plastic split loom
- Electrical tape
- Battery brace
- Battery box

Optional:
- 1 gauge lugs
- heat shrink
- nut and bolt (8 - 10mm thread diameter)

1. First of all, assess how you will run the wiring from the engine bay to the boot.
For me I had previously run 1ga from a grommet in the firewall to the rear of the vehicle. This was achieved by removing the seats and various panelling through the car to get the wire from front to back.

I removed the air box to ensure that I had enough room to shift and expose wiring where it was required.

There are 4 wires in total that have to be removed and relocated from the battery.
There are 2 wires connected to the positive battery terminal, the starter motor wire and the wire from the fuse box. There are also 2 wires connected to the negative terminal, the engine ground and the battery ground.



2. Remove the battery and associated brackets and grab your knife. Start removing the electrical tape that covers the wiring on the positive wires. Try not to cut the plastic split loom as well use it later to recover wiring.

This photo shows the start of removal of electrical tape and plastic split loom and identification and separation of wiring.




2. I started disassembling the fuse box. As you can see from this picture, I have exposed the wiring to the fuse box by removing the bottom cover.



4. After identifying the wiring to the starter motor, I removed the electrical tape to expose the wiring and the connection point for the wiring.



5. For my car, Toyota conveniently put a cover plug over the bolt that attaches the wiring to the starter motor. Grab appropriate socket and remove the bolt releasing the wire.



6. Just of note, I also located the engine ground wire and removed the wire as well.



7. I partially disassembled the fuse box to gain access to the fuse box wire. For me, this was just a plastic bracket that popped out.



8. I removed the wire from the fuse box that attached to the battery



9. I then prepared all my terminals and wiring terminations.



10. Grabbing some 4ga and I pressed and soldered a lug on and attached the lugged wire to the fuse box. The wire length is kept reasonably short to ensure that the wire is able to hold the electrical capacity and it connects to the distribution block that runs 1ga to the back of the car.



11. With the removal of the starter motor wire, I replaced this with 4ga as it is important that the wiring has the capacity for large amounts of current. Lugs were of similar size so I had no major problems with the upgraded wire.



12. With the replacement lugged 4ga, I mounted back on to the fuse box 12V connection point.





13. I cut a small hole in the base of the fuse box to run my new upgraded wire through and then popped the fuse bracket back into the fuse box. Then I replaced the fuse box base and reattached the top of the fuse box.



14. I re-attached the upgraded starter motor wire and put the plug back over.



15. Grabbing my electrical tape, I cleaned up and replaced the split loom where it was necessary to protect various wiring. I then attached the fuse box to another point to ensure that it was secure. I also replaced the air box voila, no more battery in the engine bay. In the future I plan to build a new air box and attach the fuse box to a more secure location than it is currently positioned.

Now my wiring is ready to go into the distribution block.



17. And all connected up.



Note:
With many people not having access to compression fittings and distro blocks this is what you do if you are rangi :lol:

don't forget to put heatshrink on before you attach lugs to wires :up:

- 17.1 lug up the other ends of the 2 x 4ga leads from the starter motor and the fusebox
- 17.2 put a lug on the 1/0ga
- 17.3 connect altogether with a nut and bolt, something that is large and will fit nicely in the 4ga lug hole
- 17.4 cover in heatshrink/electical tape. No metal to be exposed as it is constant 12V

18. With the removal of the engine ground which was terminated at the battery, I upgraded the engine ground and attached to a point on the body of the car. I found a mounting point, sanded back to bare metal and attached the engine ground wire.



19. Just as of note, the routing of the 1/0ga went through the inner guard. I first of all removed the inner guard plastic and found some nice brackets for me to attach my wire to. Thanks Toyota 



20. You’ll have to use your imagination as I can’t be bothered taking off my wheel and documenting the actual wire in the brackets, but it was kinda fitted like this.



21. I also routed the 1/0ga through a grommet in the body of the car. The wire is fed through into the cabin and comes out to the side of the AC unit and down the kick.



22. To ensure that I protect the cable and don’t get any additional crap coming into the cabin, I carefully cut the old grommet to allow for the 1ga and replaced the grommet back into the hole with the 1/0ga fed through.

Replacing the inner guard, there is no evidence that there is wiring routed through the car and the wire is protected from debris that may fly up from the road. Nice and safe.

This step may change according to your boot and where the fuel tank is located.
For my car, the fuel tank is located underneath the boot floor and there is approximately 10 - 15mm to the top of the tank. I got Mr Kat to weld some bolts to the floor of the boot to ensure that I had solid mounting points for the battery and the future boot install.

For other cars, an alternative method may be to drill through the floor of the boot and attach the battery box to the floor of the boot. You can also use the side panels though in my car I found the metal to be rather flexible and unsuitable to mount to. Use a solid mounting plate underneath the battery to ensure that the battery remains stable at all times.

I then made up a solid bracket that attached to the welded bolts and added mounting points for the battery bracket rods.





23. I cut some holes into the rear of the battery box for the positive and negative wires and fed the wiring through. Grounding for the battery was located at a bolt hole on the rear factory strut brace. I sanded back and attached the ground wire and also fused the main 1/0 gauge power wire with my ANL fuse holder and a large 250A ANL fuse.

Note:
The engine starts off the battery initially and then the alternator provides constant current for the car. With the battery in the engine bay, the positive wire from the battery to the starter motor is short and can allow a large amount of current through its short lengh.

As we are increasing the distance between the battery and the starter motor, we must ensure that:
a) the cable can retain the current that is going through it
b) the fuse on the cable allows enough current through it to start the motor
c) the cable has a fuse on it to protect it

In this case, because we are relocating the battery in high powered car audio systems, it is always advisable to go a minimum of 2 guage power power, preferably 1/0 gauge. Going with a lower cable size may cause cable insulation failure to occur or a cable fault and cause a fire or accident.

The fuse should also be securely mounted and protected and should be a rating of at least 150A. This is to allow adequate car starting and allow continual current draw.

Drilling some holes into the base of the battery box, I threaded the battery bracket rods through the box and fed the positive and negative cables into the battery box. I then attached my battery terminals.



24. I then mounted the battery inside the battery box and connected the terminals. I then used the brace to hold the battery in place to ensure that the battery is secured down.







25. I then put the cover on and one battery relocation finished.
(Don’t mind the extra cable. It’s there for my future setup though I have to add some more RCA’s and more speaker wire as well as the power wiring to the front).



Tutorial and all associated pictures are property of David Choong. All Rights Reserved.

Better then my relocation job

nice install, and good job using quality components.

Yeah very clean! Makes me want to go back and do mine over again.

Sticky!!

Couple questions-

-How long of each type of wire were needed for full installation.

-Is it necessary to replace the old stock wiring grounds as you did?

-Towels

WarTowels":cc5thtj1 said:

Couple questions-

-How long of each type of wire were needed for full installation.

-Is it necessary to replace the old stock wiring grounds as you did?

-Towels

Click to expand...

Not sure on the length of each cable. I buy my cable on rolls and cut to suit whatever car/application.

you could just measure with a tape measure and account for things like bends and the routing of cable up/down/side to side

I generally replace stock wiring as it is normally crap and corroded copper. Plus for multiple amplifier setups, it is important to have clean connections and electrical conductivity.

If you look at those engine grounding kits, they essentially provide a better grounding system because factory cables and terminations are corroded. If the cabling is already good, then no use having one of those spanky and expensive grounding kits.

If you relocate the battery, you would still have to reground the battery in the back, and use a suitable ground from the engine to the body anyway.
You may as well do things properly and right the first time instead of trying to save a buck or two using old stuff.

If you want to save a buck, use lugs and bolts and source those from electrical wholesalers and hardwares stores respectively

DC

*bump for a sticky*

Unless I missed it, you didn't mention which side of the car you ran the 1/0 gauge wire on, or where it reenters the cabin?

-Towels

Pictures show A piller entry point on passenger side through a grommet

21. I also routed the 1/0ga through a grommet in the body of the car. The wire is fed through into the cabin and comes out to the side of the AC unit and down the kick.

Click to expand...

WarTowels":3hhx7hmb said:

or where it reenters the cabin?

-Towels

Click to expand...

?

Dumb question, but are NZ cars right or left hand drive? Makes a difference as to which side is the "passenger side"

Great question, considering that looks like the USDM drivers side with the door on the right... which is why I was asking. But he said it's by the AC... which is on the left regardless?

:shrug:

Car is right hand drive, so the access is via the left hand side, as you can see from the picture showing the door hinge to the right of the picture.

I don't see how the AC is on the left hand side regardless as its a pretty big unit and would interfere with the brake booster and pedals. Then again, i haven't seen the stripped back dash of a left hand drive celica.

Anyway, take out the inner plastic guard and check the a piller (either side) for holes/grommets to pass the cable through.

The yellow bit above that hole in the pic is wiring loom into the cabin.
On the other side (if i remember correctly) is the hole where the rear window washer fluid hose goes through and some other stuff.

So either or, just find a hole and get the cable through

Otherwise you can go through the main engine loom grommet on the firewall which is what I do for various client vehicles.

The trick is to take the grommet out and cut it in pie sections or put a slit in it and shimmy it down the cable to the hole so that it can slip back in place and not expose the wire to a bare metal edge.

Ah I was swapping ABS and AC in my mind for some reason, nevermind.

-Towels