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Help me pick a battery and alternator setup!

alansupra94

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
1,909
Location
Wayne,NJ
My battery is pretty much shot. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif I will be upgrading my battery to maybe a 120amp or 140amp alternator for extra juice. Also my battery will be in the truck connected via 0 gauge wires. The alternator wire will upgraded to a 2 gauge wire as well as the starter.

1. Should I go with a dry cell or wet cell? Deep cycle or normal? Keep in mind I a moving to my truck. I think I should be able to run a wet cell since the trunk isn't really inside my car. I could also easily vent it.
2. Do I what should I change my fuses for the alternator since it is getting larger and a 140amp alternator? Do they make fuses that large in that weird looking fuse type? It might be cheaper for me to get inline fuses or even a breaker.
3. Did you guys change anything else when upgrading your alternator? I plan on making a heat shield to divert hot air away.

Any input is appreciated.
 

Alan the 120/140 amp alternator should give you all the charging capacity you need. I would go with a optima red top or similar trunk mounted battery along with the 0 gauge wiring and upgraded starter and alternator wires like you listed. You should use a fuseable link/breaker setup at least a 150amp one.Most important is the grounding make sure you remove paint from where ever your ground is if not ground to the chassis or frame. My current setup is a mitsubishi oem alternator(avoid auto parts store garbage)and starter upgraded wires, optima red top trunk mounted with 0 gauge power and ground to the trunk and 150 and 200amp fuseable links(I have a big system). On my logger even at wot I'm still showing 14volts with pretty much all my accessories running good luck and let me know if you need anything bro........
 

alansupra94

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Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
1,909
Location
Wayne,NJ
I guess I want to ask where did you put those fusible links?

Also I read that the red tops are not deep cycle batteries. Is there a difference?
 

AnotherNewb

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Joined
Apr 25, 2010
Messages
1,472
Location
Orlando, FL
You should use a standard optima and not the deep cycle. Starting batteries are designed for high amp short duration where deep cycles are for low amp long duration. If you were installing a winch, huge stereo and 20 off road lights I would suggest the deep cycle, maybe two, but not for a mostly stock electrical system.
 

"You should use a standard optima and not the deep cycle. Starting batteries are designed for high amp short duration where deep cycles are for low amp long duration. If you were installing a winch, huge stereo and 20 off road lights I would suggest the deep cycle, maybe two, but not for a mostly stock electrical system"

Dude you are partially correct only lead acid deep cycle batteries exhibit those characteristics you are talking about yes the standard red top has more cca 880/910 vs 620/770 than the yellow top, but the yellow top is also dual purpose and the vr4 does not even require that much cca's.I have had both red and yellow tops in all my cars and never had a problem.I finally bought 2 new redtops(great deal from advanced online)after about 10years of use and abuse in several cars only reason I changed one was that I let it discharge too many times which is a big no no it still held 11-12v.I have power hungry amps in both cars that requires constant power all the time.The red top has 90 min of reserve vs 98 min for the yellowtop anyways so a yellow top is just overkill like you said lol unless you have a big system that you like to play with engine not running both batteries are great and they have a 3year replacement warranty can't beat that.

Alan the fuseable links are in the trunk very close to the battery.One goes to the battery the other for my amps you can also put a fuse block up front for some added security if you like just remember clean grounds are essential.....


not mine
not mine
my car
 

curtis

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Joined
May 4, 2003
Messages
11,892
Location
Clarksville TN
I'll add something to this and food for thought. When automakers build cars its as cheap as possible. If they can spot weld in 10 places instead of 50 they will. Daisy chain your grounds back up front. Its fine to ground to the trunk but also ground to the floor, under the dash and then on the firewall, inter fender well then run a ton of grounds up front on the engine and trans. the more the better. Something else about cheap auto makers. Your running a 0 gauge to the trunk. Take a gander at the wire from the alternator to the battery fuse block and also from the fuse block down to the starter. Little huh. Next time your at the junkyard snag a cable or 2 from some junkyard galants or newer vehicles if there long enough. You can run then in parallel from the alternator to the battery fuse block. Same as the daisy chained grounds from the trunk. Just grab what you can from the junkyard, most scrap yards don't even charge you for them unless they think your just collecting copper. Last I hauled off was 3.20 a pound and 2 and 4 gauge wire adds up fast and they know this.


Also for cheap red tops check advance and autozone daily for used batteries. They sell the used ones here for 24.99 plus a core and there's a recycler here that buys batteries and the crack heads will steal them from the auto parts store and sell them for 10 dollars and then he turns around and will sell them for 30 still with the plastic caps on her terminals.
 

adamvr4

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Joined
Sep 18, 2005
Messages
184
Location
skokie/ il
I have been looking to upgrade my alternator and called CSS in Chicago that builds alternators and they told me that i don't really need to upgrade my alternator wire. I'll be putting in a 140 amp alternator and i'm using a JL 1000 amp pushing my W7 and they said it should be fine. They said if i was running like 3-5000 watts that would be different. If that's the case maybe ill add an 8 gauge wire instead. What do u think?
 

CutlassJim

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Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
1,698
Location
Manchester, NH
I think that they are f***ing retarded. I replaced the factory wiring with 4 gauge (Alt to fuse panel and battery and battery to starter) and everything electrically related works better. I can't say the car is faster but it starts faster, the lights are brighter and don't dim and the windows do their job faster. This is with a Autozone reman stock 90amp alt and Honda battery on the subframe. I think batteries in the truck is stupid (let the flaming begin) and hate every setup I've seen for mounting or rewiring the factory battery positive terminal. Sorry for the language and strong opinions but Ive been drinking. Thank god for spell check.

A pic of my relocated battery and rewire that I love to whore out:

DSCN2316.jpg


This was just to get the car started and out of the garage. More and larger grounds were added and I changed the positive terminal because that one was a cheap POS and rusted 37 seconds after the picture was taken. If I were to do it again I would change some stuff but was happy with this as my first re-wire. Note no factory terminal zip tied or Velcro'd anywhere?
 

alansupra94

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Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
1,909
Location
Wayne,NJ
@ Cutlass Jim - Well I will try it out. It just would make my life alot easier with a few of the things I am planning to setup. Worst case I will just move it back.

I decided to go with a Yellow Top Optima. I found a local guy selling one for $50 so it seems like a half way decent deal. I guess my question is where exactly do both those fuses go? Do you mean to have one inline and the other where the stock fuses are? Also would you recommend a fuse size if I am running a 160amp alternator?

I plan on replacing the alternator and starter wire with 2 gauge wire that I have lying around. I will have to see where I am going to get crimps from now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 

CutlassJim

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
1,698
Location
Manchester, NH
I would get a 200amp breaker as a fuse. All a fuse is for is so that if the current of the wire ever shoots up it doesn't get too hot and catch fire but with 2ga you should be fine. I would only run 4 too the starter it's plenty big enough. A mistake I see a lot is the alt wire. Don't run it to the battery, run it too the fuse box. That's what needs all the power when the car is running.

I need to go work on my car so in summery

2ga from alt to fuse box, there are actually 2 inputs on it and not that much space so you will need to split to two 4ga probably
2ga from alt case to a good chassis ground
8ga from fusebox to battery. It's all that's needed to charge it
4ga from battery to starter
4ga from battery negative to starter bolt
4ga from battery to chassis ground
And I usually throw 2 or 3 grounds from the engine to the chassis to help with pathing for the sensors


Make sure to clean up all the factory grounds while you're at it, there's not that many of them.


Oh as for the factory battery terminal, it has 3 fuses in it

100 amp for alt, not needed with the breaker
30 amp for ABS pump, not needed with ABS removal
30 amp for power belts, not needed with manual belts or you can relocate it to inside the fuse box in the empty space for the ECS which is what I did. It's super easy.
 
Last edited:

Brunoboy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
2,880
Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
Quoting Blown1:
"You should use a standard optima and not the deep cycle. Starting batteries are designed for high amp short duration where deep cycles are for low amp long duration. If you were installing a winch, huge stereo and 20 off road lights I would suggest the deep cycle, maybe two, but not for a mostly stock electrical system"

Dude you are partially correct only lead acid deep cycle batteries exhibit those characteristics you are talking about yes the standard red top has more cca 880/910 vs 620/770 than the yellow top, but the yellow top is also dual purpose and the vr4 does not even require that much cca's.I have had both red and yellow tops in all my cars and never had a problem.I finally bought 2 new redtops(great deal from advanced online)after about 10years of use and abuse in several cars only reason I changed one was that I let it discharge too many times which is a big no no it still held 11-12v.I have power hungry amps in both cars that requires constant power all the time.The red top has 90 min of reserve vs 98 min for the yellowtop anyways so a yellow top is just overkill like you said lol unless you have a big system that you like to play with engine not running both batteries are great and they have a 3year replacement warranty can't beat that.

Alan the fuseable links are in the trunk very close to the battery.One goes to the battery the other for my amps you can also put a fuse block up front for some added security if you like just remember clean grounds are essential.....


not mine
not mine
my car



where would I get the first distribution block? and how many amps is each fuse?
 

alansupra94

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
1,909
Location
Wayne,NJ
Quoting CutlassJim:
I would get a 200amp breaker as a fuse. All a fuse is for is so that if the current of the wire ever shoots up it doesn't get too hot and catch fire but with 2ga you should be fine. I would only run 4 too the starter it's plenty big enough. A mistake I see a lot is the alt wire. Don't run it to the battery, run it too the fuse box. That's what needs all the power when the car is running.

I need to go work on my car so in summery

2ga from alt to fuse box, there are actually 2 inputs on it and not that much space so you will need to split to two 4ga probably
2ga from alt case to a good chassis ground
8ga from fusebox to battery. It's all that's needed to charge it
4ga from battery to starter
4ga from battery negative to starter bolt
4ga from battery to chassis ground
And I usually throw 2 or 3 grounds from the engine to the chassis to help with pathing for the sensors


Make sure to clean up all the factory grounds while you're at it, there's not that many of them.


Oh as for the factory battery terminal, it has 3 fuses in it

100 amp for alt, not needed with the breaker
30 amp for ABS pump, not needed with ABS removal
30 amp for power belts, not needed with manual belts or you can relocate it to inside the fuse box in the empty space for the ECS which is what I did. It's super easy.



How did you move it? I mean I plan to put the ABS back in eventually but since I won't be using that alternator fuse, and I can move the manual belts, I figure I can move the ABS too.
 

Brunoboy

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
2,880
Location
San Bruno,CA Home of SFO
bump for an answer to the power block question. I need one of those and need to know where to get it? Thanks
 
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