Battery questions. What size wire for battery? 2 gauge enough?

[e60ral]

I thought I was good to go picking a 31m battery with posts towards the edge and not centered, but I didn't notice that the polarity is opposite the stock battery so if the posts are towards the wires the polarity is wrong.

I now need a way to extend the wires to use either the SAE stud or the normal battery post which is now on the far side of the battery.

I'm not sure I like the idea of using a bus bar like I see most others use, what I think I want to do is build a small wire extension, it will be about 4" long total.

Can I use 2 gauge wire with crimped lug rings, or do i need a larger gauge? I could bolt one lug ring to the SAE threaded stud, and the other bolt to the factory wires where it is currently bolted to the factory terminal end for the battery post.

I'm just going to use 1/0 to be safe

 

[e60ral]

Basically something like this but a few inches long:

or like this

what gauge do i need?

 

[Phoenix4R]

Take a look at Vatozone, they sell a bunch of that kind of stuff. I just had to replace the battery wire on my other car last month. Might want to check Amazon too.

 

[e60ral]

thats why i was asking about 2-gauge, i had planned on using something larger because why not but the largest the auto parts stores have is 2

 

[ChowChilla]

If you have a stereo shop, you can get 0 gauge or lower...

 

[Phoenix4R]

I'm no electrical engineer, but anything over 2 seems like overkill unless you're trying to drive some sort of monster stereo system or something.

 

[rigtec]

"...Can I use 2 gauge wire with crimped lug rings, or do i need a larger gauge? I could bolt one lug ring to the SAE threaded stud, and the other bolt to the factory wires where it is currently bolted to the factory terminal end for the battery post.

I'm just going to use 1/0 to be safe

Hi e60ral,

There's really no point in increasing the main cable wire size unless you are increasing the whole cable and the load that runs through them. The stock cables are possibly 8ga; 4ga at the most, so adding a 2ga to a 4 or 8ga doesn't make the cable any more capable to carry current! If your truck has a stock electrical system then using 4ga is perfectly fine! If you have added a high output alternator and high draw accessories then that's when it's necessary to perform a 'BIG THREE' install but that's unnecessary in a stock electrical system. Hope this helps,

rig, cheers!

 

[1engineer]

Hi e60ral,

There's really no point in increasing the main cable wire size unless you are increasing the whole cable and the load that runs through them. The stock cables are possibly 8ga; 4ga at the most, so adding a 2ga to a 4 or 8ga doesn't make the cable any more capable to carry current! If your truck has a stock electrical system then using 4ga is perfectly fine! If you have added a high output alternator and high draw accessories then that's when it's necessary to perform a 'BIG THREE' install but that's unnecessary in a stock electrical system. Hope this helps,

rig, cheers!

Exactly. I'm no electrical engineer (mechanical and hydraulic is my world) but it's all about the length of run that determines the gauge. If you have X gauge now then jumping up a gauge is absolutely useless for 4" especially if you still have the same load. Go buy a cable that is the same as your current gauge, cut it, put the ends on and move on.

 

[e60ral]

Hi e60ral,

There's really no point in increasing the main cable wire size unless you are increasing the whole cable and the load that runs through them. The stock cables are possibly 8ga; 4ga at the most, so adding a 2ga to a 4 or 8ga doesn't make the cable any more capable to carry current! If your truck has a stock electrical system then using 4ga is perfectly fine! If you have added a high output alternator and high draw accessories then that's when it's necessary to perform a 'BIG THREE' install but that's unnecessary in a stock electrical system. Hope this helps,

rig, cheers!

I understand that, I just couldn't tell the size of the two wires on the positive terminal

Thanks, used 2 gauge and turned out well
(Ignore the wonky j hook and no battery tray, just like that until the new tray gets here Monday)

Sent from my HTC6525LVW using Tapatalk

 

[e60ral]

Does anyone know if crimp on lugs like this exist?: I want to try to get some torque off of the current lug connection