Questions for fitting a Battery relocation kitt

[LeaThaL]

hey all,

as the title says ive fitted a battey relocation kitt in my soarer, i dont know much about the power side of things with the battery so when i got the kitt it just asked the dude at repco what wire id need to do the job and he gave me a thick red wire, basicly the same as what ive used to connect my alternator back into the loop, and ive removed the positive battery clamp and basicly soldered all three wires together and then wrapped it up nice and properly, and then run it thru under the carpet in the center and thru under the back seat (cause i was a little short and that was the only route that gave me enought length,

and thats just it for the positive, and for the negitive/ground, ive got a z21 so it had that massive computer in the boot, ive binned that and its got a large bracket it use to sit in, i just cleaned up the top of it and bolted it in nice and tight, just used a ring clamp like i used to put on the alternator,

like thus



now the reason for all this is ive not started my car since ive put the kitt in, i just simply fitted the kit and then turned the engine over once or twice to i knew it was wired in and it did like it had a dead battery, it turned over a little so i jst guessed the battery needed a charge. i threw the battery on charge and it said it was full so i put it in and it just didnt have any power, it would allow the starter pin to pop but not turn it over, so i checked the battery and it had low water levels but ti didnt look like the chambers were warped or anthing outta place, so i topped it up with some purifided water or whatever it its called that you top them up with and charged it for another day or so, and put it in the car again, tightend it in so i knew its connecters were good and it still didnt have enought to start it, just enought to turn over really slowly till it died totly

the battery isnt new, it came from a cressida i was given and it never had any issues in it so i dont know if my car isnt getting power properly or if ive now got a dead battery, but it reads 12.78volts ATM so it looks alright but i cant test it in another car ATM but does what ive done to connect the relocation kitt good or would it leave a drain on it and not put enought power to the starter?

thanks


[/end rant]

[CrAiGzEE]

mate just check you have a really good ground, if that red cable in the pic is your groun, id try for something better than that

second make sure you have a really good connection on your + as well where did you run it to ? the starter or did you just try and splice it in with the existing

thirdly i would reccomend running a dry cell batery for both legalities and your health

oh what gauge cable is that hard to see looks like 8, i would go at least 4 gauge
cheers

[LeaThaL]

well yeah next thing to try when the rain finishes up is a better ground, but i wanted to see what others thought,
and also when you say dry cel for legalatiy and safety, is there a insurance and health risk to having it in the boot as a wet cell?

and also i didn just splice it in with the orignal cables, i trimmed the old ones as they were frayed and i made it like a T, runing from the starter to the fusebox connecter and to the new wire, i held them together and soldered them all to a solid mass and then wrapped it

thanks again mate rep for you

[WHITCHY]

That earth looks too small. Have you got a volt gauge? or a multimeter that you can connect to the starter motor to see what the volts are at the starter on cranking?
Is the +ve wire just as thin? The cables in my car are about double yours, and it still takes me a few goes to start the car due to voltage drop.
If you don't want to buy a thicker earth, your current one looks like it is plenty long enough to cut in half and run 2 identical earths to double the voltage capacity. But if the +ve wire is just as thin it will be pointless. I'd be taking the shit back to Repco and telling them they are knobs! Pics of your soldering/joining job?

[thechuckster]

Go to the wreckers and pinch a battery-to-chassis earth cable from a wreck - those size of crimp connecters are not going to carry the amperage you'll draw during startup.

Also, as others have said - bolt the earth strap to a chassis rail and make sure it contacts to bare metal.

You want a solid earth that continues right up to the front and the engine. When you removed the old battery setup, did you leave in place a substantial earth strap from the chassis to the block?

Finally, you should run the Sense wire from the alternator right up to the battery - see this thread for more discussion/info/ideas.

[TA22Celica]

Hey mate I've just recentley put the battery in the boot of mine aswell,

Im running earth wire off of a welder which I think is about 4 guage from my +ve straight to my starter motor and am running the standard Earth that came out of the engine bay and bolted it too the boot floor like you did,

I find it turns ova really slow like you described but mine eventually starts, once I have taken it for a drive it turns ova like normal,

But yeah go thicker cable from the battery and hope that that helps

[LeaThaL]

well thanks for the input, ive reped you all

and too answer questions, i did leave a earth from the block to the chassis, i think i used the orignal battery earth but i got it to bare metal before connecting it

with connecting the earth to a chassis rail, the z20's chassis is part of the body but should i make a hole somewhere and run it underneath to a clean point under the boot area and make a grommit to fit over it? or can i make a cleaner spot with a thicker gauge wire for earth as ive still got the old earth i can use?

and also i do have a mulitmeter here so ill check whats coming thru today,

the +ve is the same gauge, the dude was obviously a retard and claimed that it should be more than enought for power transfer but it seems its not! he did try to sell me a amp fuse kitt first, i should of taken that as sign but i was gettin a heap of stuff on a 20% off coupon i had so i didnt wanna get it elsewhere but i think i should of now

what voltage is normal to a starter before and during crank?
and chuckster, when you said You want a solid earth that continues right up to the front and the engine, you mean i should just run 2 leads, one for earth and one for power, just as if id strechecd it and put it in the boot so its grounded where it would from factory correct?

thanks again all

[thechuckster]

Lance (Esteban) was considering running power and earth from battery right up to engine bay ... a bit overkill maybe - but unless you know that the chassis and panels have been stitch welded, you're relying on random spot welds to provide continuity from panel to panel.

edit: fwiw - i remoted the battery in the RA40 and relied the floor panel providing conductivity thru to the front chassis rail - this proved to be a relative failure.

[allencr]

How do the headlights work? What happens to the brights when the brake lights come on?
What happens to the lights when it is cranking?
Do ANY of the wires and/or connections and/or battery feel hot to the touch???

[LeaThaL]

well as i said ive got a good solid cable here i can use as a ground, i spoke to coFF33 and he said he used the bolts at the bumper where it connects to the chasssis so i might run 2 wires like he has done and use that point also,

and as for the dash, it reacts like normal and the termnials, i havent check them but once i tryed it and it seemed dead i pulled the battery straight out and they didnt feel hot then so im guessing their not getting hot

[LeaThaL]

ok i just had a play then with the multimeter and i found that i wasnt getting a good earth were i was so moved it and working with what wire i have ATM i placed the earth between a 2 copper washers on one of the bumpers chassis bolts which i took back to bare metal and i now have a proper earth good enought that i could get a tone on the front xmember so im happy there but i will add a 2nd one once ive got some money again,

as for the power side of things, i checked voltage at the soldered connector and i was getting 6.12 on ignition and 6.5 on crank and on the starter i had 2.14 on igniton and anywhere between 1 and 4 volts depending on if the pin just pops out or if it wants to try to turn over so im guessing that it just doesnt seem to get enought power accross, i will have to get a bigger lead i think and ill make a few other earths aroudn also!

[thechuckster]

your should have 12V for ignition power - during cranking that may drop to as low as 9V

[LeaThaL]

so yeah im boned! thanks chuck, ill have to raid the stepdads shed and see if i can get a nice long wire for the power and ill make a 2nd earth on the other side of the chassis as this one is a good solid connection but i want 2 with that wussy gauge wire

[WDE_BDY]

Easy way to test the power lead (or earth leads too) is to bypass it with decent jumper cables keeping all other connections the same. If it works fine the lead is inadequate, if it doesn't then there are further problems.

Callum

[allencr]

Easy way to test the power lead (or earth leads too) is to bypass it with decent jumper cables keeping all other connections the same. If it works fine the lead is inadequate, if it doesn't then there are further problems.

Callum

++1
Also, jumper cables to the battery!!!!!!! If it works fine the battery is inadequate,if it doesn't then there are further problems, in the wires, connections or starter.