Battery relocation

[StaceyS3]

Sorry I know I posted this in my thread but have also posted (copy and pasted) this here to try and catch some more peoples ideas

Am starting to collect some bits to do a battery relocation, so far I have ordered: odyssey extreme 40, some 50mm* M6 lugs for the battery, sourced some 50mm* cable out of some scrap 4 core knocking about and will be making my own battery mounting and brackets

I have a couple of Q's and would like to pic your brains on the last one

I afaik I need a connector block of some description and maybe another couple of different sized lugs?

Do people run an inline fuse on the power feed incase of the insulation breaking or getting worn down and shorting direct to the chassis?

I would also like to mount some form of terminal posts or some form of connector under the bonnet that can be used to jump start or charge from if needed as the battery will be hidden and pretty inaccessible so any ideas or links for these would be much help

Cheers

 

[<tuffty/>]

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...9-my-minor-modding-thread-40.html#post1600918

I don't run a fuse

<tuffty/>

 

[StaceyS3]

Yeah did have a read through yours when was googling

Where abouts did you get your terminal blocks from?

 

[<tuffty/>]

Yeah did have a read through yours when was googling

Where abouts did you get your terminal blocks from?

eBay mate..
Auto Marine Electrical 2 Way Power Connecting Jointing Box 300 Amp Rating | eBay

Auto Electrical 3 Way Power Connecting Jointing Box 300 Amp Rating Ideal Rally | eBay

<tuffty/>

 

[StaceyS3]

Lovely cheers mate, had tried searching but must have not been searching under the correct termination lol

You got any ideas on how to put some form of charging point in under the bonnet? Had thought about mounting a couple of brass posts like a battery but would ideally need some form of cover on them and would need mounting with an insulating material....not sure if theirs anything can buy like that?

Cheers PT

 

[<tuffty/>]

I have one of these...
CTEK CTE-MXS5.0 5A 12V Car Battery Charger: Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

...and use this for a charge point...
CTEK CTE-56329 CTEK Direct Connector Adaptor (10mm): Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

<tuffty/>

 

[StaceyS3]

You sir are a diamond

 

[Ste_Nova]

for the jump start point use A6 parts
as seen here on the top left, i'll go and take a better pic of mine in a min

 

[Ste_Nova]

Untitled by Ste_Nova, on Flickr

 

[jcs356]

My old Ibiza, but you get the idea....

 

[StaceyS3]

Cheers guys they both look like very good ways of doing it

Will enquire on how much the a6 one is later

 

[Prawn]

Guys, I'm soon to be doing this myself, and the ONLY bit im unsure on is the crimping of such large terminals.

What crimps do people use? Looking for the best low cost option!

 

[<tuffty/>]

Guys, I'm soon to be doing this myself, and the ONLY bit im unsure on is the crimping of such large terminals.

What crimps do people use? Looking for the best low cost option!

I can do it for you...

<tuffty/>

 

[IH786]

I like the idea of the jump start points - does anyone have the part numbers??

I have the battery relocated on my LCR. The battery is in the wheel well - which is covered with a sheet of MDF. Would not be easy to jump start it from there!

I didn't have access to a crimp tool so just used a big vice to crush the terminal into the cable - worked well

 

[<tuffty/>]

Crimping 'cold welds' the the crimp to the cable... there isn't enough pressure available to do this using a vice and will create a connection that is not as effective electrically... creates a smaller contact area between the cable and the crimp which will generate more heat at the joint on higher amperage loads..

<tuffty/>

 

[Prawn]

that is an awfully Generous offer mr PT. It would either mean a trip to Gloucester to relocate my battery or working out lengths before hand and taking a chance that they'll work.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Scullies]

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-...9-my-minor-modding-thread-40.html#post1600918

I don't run a fuse

<tuffty/>

I use a circuit breaker fitted near the battery. There is a lot of cable running through the car up to the starter, that has the potential to become a fire hazard. Seen it too many times on boats.
My guess if it did happen to catch fire, insurance wouldnt cover it as its been "modified" - we all know how insurance companies are, any loop hole to get out of paying.

 

[<tuffty/>]

I use a circuit breaker fitted near the battery. There is a lot of cable running through the car up to the starter, that has the potential to become a fire hazard. Seen it too many times on boats.
My guess if it did happen to catch fire, insurance wouldnt cover it as its been "modified" - we all know how insurance companies are, any loop hole to get out of paying.

Depends if all mods have been declared which mine have...

Fairly sure the TT 3.2 V6 (which has a factory relocated battery) doesn't run a fuse but I will get that confirmed... if it does then I will source an appropriate setup and apply it to mine...

<tuffty/>

 

[IH786]

Crimping 'cold welds' the the crimp to the cable... there isn't enough pressure available to do this using a vice and will create a connection that is not as effective electrically... creates a smaller contact area between the cable and the crimp which will generate more heat at the joint on higher amperage loads..

<tuffty/>

i did use a big vice so must have been a decent amount of pressure

Fair point tho - a crimp tool costs too much for a one off job so had to bodge it - runs ok so far!

Am also running a fuse too

 

[<tuffty/>]

i did use a big vice so must have been a decent amount of pressure

Fair point tho - a crimp tool costs too much for a one off job so had to bodge it - runs ok so far!

Am also running a fuse too

Might be an idea to consider soldering the terminal... plumbers style blow torch or similar would do or very high wattage soldering iron might work

Its no worse that those crappy battery terminals that secure the cable with screws but they are really only designed for short run lower amp/cable gauge stuff... poor connections like this promote corrosion and leads to poor electrical conductivity...

<tuffty/>

 

[Ronin225]

Heres mine (albeit in a leon) i added an inline kill switch too

 

[StaceyS3]

Cheers for all your replys peeps

Battery and terminal blocks that PT posted up arrived, looking at the terminal block I think I will wait and see where I end up mounting it as that can be used to jump start off unless I put it somewhere inaccessible

 

[Prawn]

open the cover and just clamp onto the stud?

You don't appear to have much faith in your battery Stacey all this talk of jump starting!

 

[StaceyS3]

Yeah that's the plan as should be sufficient if needed

I have faith it's more as its going to be located in a place I wouldn't like to have to get to should the sh1t hit the fan

My current battery is 550cca and 59Amp hour where as the odyssey is 500cca and 45amp hour so shouldn't really notice to much difference I hope?

 

[Prawn]

I run a £29 6kg 20aH mobility scooter battery, and even after parking it up for two weeks in the snow, then working on the car with radio on all day, it still started it perfectly. I don't think you've got anything to worry about mate!

If anything, my only concern would be that you've spent more money than you needed to on a battery that's bigger and heavier than it needs to be!

 

[Prawn]

On a slightly more serious note though, where do you guys pass these massive cables through the bulkhead?

My bonnet pull cable gromet has a vac line through it for the boost gauge and WMI, and the one opposite by the pollen filter has the WMI hard line through it and wire for my N75 switch.

I'm really unsure where to try and pass the new battery cable through. Is there any scope to cheat and drill the heater casing near the top and have it coming out through the pollen filter?

Anyone tried one of these???

Longacre Battery Bulkhead Through Panel Electrical Cable Connector Race Rally | eBay

 

[StaceyS3]

Tbh the only reason I bought another battery is due to size rather than the weight saving side of things

The problem being is my mrs still uses my car regularly so won't be as conscious as me about it and I also use my car to charge things when I go fishing so that was why I got the biggest capacity small battery I could find

The original battery does actually fit like a glove where I'm relocating it to but doesn't allow room to hold it down as securely as I would like without hacking parts of the car out and not overly happy with it completely filling the void

 

[StaceyS3]

On a slightly more serious note though, where do you guys pass these massive cables through the bulkhead?

My bonnet pull cable gromet has a vac line through it for the boost gauge and WMI, and the one opposite by the pollen filter has the WMI hard line through it and wire for my N75 switch.

I'm really unsure where to try and pass the new battery cable through. Is there any scope to cheat and drill the heater casing near the top and have it coming out through the pollen filter?

Anyone tried one of these???

Longacre Battery Bulkhead Through Panel Electrical Cable Connector Race Rally | eBay

I'm yet to cross this obstacle but I already have a 4awg cable in the place that the new one will be run so will just use that to pass it through

That connector does look like a good solution if cant fit it through the grommet

 

[Prawn]

which grommet does yours go through currently stacey?

 

[StaceyS3]

The pollen filter one with my 6mm WMi line....so will be tight but should hopefully be able to pull it through?

 

[Andrew@A.L.D]

I'm fitting a small race battery. I'll post pictures when done, I'm only doing if so I can get a better cold air feed to the filter

 

[StaceyS3]

I'm fitting a small race battery. I'll post pictures when done, I'm only doing if so I can get a better cold air feed to the filter

I would have thought it will definately benefit from that area being nice and open for airflow

I'm doing it for a few reasons including a bigger filter, better airflow, better pipework route as mines still 60mm and last but not least the room in the bay would be brilliant

 

[Scullies]

On a slightly more serious note though, where do you guys pass these massive cables through the bulkhead?

My bonnet pull cable gromet has a vac line through it for the boost gauge and WMI, and the one opposite by the pollen filter has the WMI hard line through it and wire for my N75 switch.

I'm really unsure where to try and pass the new battery cable through. Is there any scope to cheat and drill the heater casing near the top and have it coming out through the pollen filter?

Anyone tried one of these???

Longacre Battery Bulkhead Through Panel Electrical Cable Connector Race Rally | eBay

there is space in the grommet where the main wire harness goes through the firewall. I managed to get 50mm sq cable through it safely.
There is also a stud the you can install through the firewall but requires a hole to be drilled through the firewall

Red HD Battery Terminal Stud Firewall Feed Thru | eBay

 

[Andrew@A.L.D]

I'm still on 60mm pipe for most of mine

 

[Prawn]

there is space in the grommet where the main wire harness goes through the firewall. I managed to get 50mm sq cable through it safely.

Thanks mate, that's great.

I'm going to ask a REALLY silly question now though: Where does the main loom go through the bulkhead?

I had the scuttle off at the weekend to have a nose around, and it looked like the main loom disappeared inside a plastic sealed box under my wiper mechanism. Did you remove the wiper mech to get into that box and route the cable there?

Said box on my car is at the cambelt side of the engine bay.

 

[<tuffty/>]

Main loom goes through that box mate... my boost gauge and cruise control wiring goes through it

<tuffty/>

 

[Scullies]

My car is LHD, but I guess it's the same on a rhd. If you remove the drivers dash and look up behind the fuse box you should see where the harness goes through the firewall. In the engine bay, it comes through the firewall just above the brake booster, if I remember correctly. From there you can route it into the "harness carrier" with the rest of the wires.

This might be different on rhd, so you can't hold me to it

 

[StaceyS3]

Copied and pasted from my build thread to complete the thread

Have finished my battery relocation today and am pretty chuffed and the engine bay has so much more room for more important stuff 😉

The standard battery does fit in there with the panel back on but it didn't leave any room for mounting brackets and personally would like a bit of a gap in the area incase get t-boned

Pulling the cable through was a pita but ended up tapering the conductor and used a bit of oil to aid it

Empty battery tray

Took the fusebox apart to look where was best to bolt it down but have ended up sticking it with some silicone to the bracket

Will get some better pics when it's dry

Some pics of the battery bracket and install

Just for reference as someone had asked about crimping the lugs on here's the crimping tool that I used

 

[Ste_Nova]

Fairly sure the TT 3.2 V6 (which has a factory relocated battery) doesn't run a fuse but I will get that confirmed... if it does then I will source an appropriate setup and apply it to mine...

<tuffty/>

on my a6 with the battery in the spare wheel well it has an explosive disconnector controled by the airbag ecu afaik

 

[Ronin225]

Thats where i was originally going to locate my battery however the leon boot design cant quite accommodate the OE battery there