how to relocate battery

Edited: 3/17/2008 4:06:57 PM by doordragger89

I want to move my battery to the bed on my dime can i run a power wire to the starter and jump to the alternator or do i need to run a second cable to it

I WOULD JUST MAKE A LONGER CABLE AND CONNECT IT TO THE STOCK POWER CABLE. JUST USE 4G AMP WIRE

^^^^ I agree ^^^^
In fact, Lowe's (don't laugh) sells a really good wire for doing this. It's has thick sheathing that's gas and oil resistant (all weather stuff), and it's fairly cheap for 2 gauge. If you go with amp wiring, get the stuff with thick sheathing. Typical wire has it really thin.

ok. i was planning on relocating the battery for my sonoma. i was going to run O guage to distribution blocks and run all of the stock wires into the distribution block.

My question is... DO I NEED TO RUN A WIRE FROM THE BATTERY TO THE ENGINE BAY UP FRONT FOR THE GROUND... or can i just ground all the wires that normally go to the battery ground to the frame and ground the battery to the frame?

you can ground it to the frame

OK...well theres 3 wires grounded to the battery. engine ground off the block and 2 others! my next question would be why were they ever grouned to the battery if they can just be grounded to the frame. is there a reason for it?

i dont know to be honest. my engine is grounded to the fire wall and my batery to the frame.. no problems so far

Everything grounds to the battery in the end, if the frame is grounded to the battery, and the engine and fire wall ground to the frame....Where does the frame ground too????? The positive originally comes from the battery, and that electricity has to go full circuit. So it ends at the battery. Ultimately all the grounds go back to the battery. Thats why when you disconnect the ground off the battery, the electric doesnt work.

Originally posted by lownoma99



OK...well theres 3 wires grounded to the battery. engine ground off the block and 2 others! my next question would be why were they ever grouned to the battery if they can just be grounded to the frame. is there a reason for it?



The battery IS the "ground"

It's simply the return because without a return(negative), and resistance/ohms(whatever is taking power), current cannot flow.

Edited: 5/2/2008 8:53:31 PM by BaggedMazda87

I guess Mat beat me to it...

On my 96 S10 I relocated the battery to behind the pass seat and while driving down the freeway, my truck slowly shut down; lost all power.

The problem was the charging system will not work if you don't use a big enough AWG wire from your alternator. I used a 6 AWG wire when I did it cause I had it layin around. Switched it our for a 2 AWG wire and it worked golden.