The Big 3 just turned into The Big 7

[bmason8159]

Delta because I buy all my wiring from homeless tweakers living in abandoned machine shops

Tweakers have all the best stuff.

 

[calimobber]

This makes me laugh.

I went down this road back in the day. Got sucked into the More power! minset. I had 2awg welding wire for big 3 and dual battery optimas. Then I ran a 2awg along the inside grounding to all the seatbelt bolts and then the back where my ARB fridge was. Even has the 150amp alternator.

Then when my batteries died from running fridge too long with engine off and I jump started and only saw 60amps flowing from my alternator( thats all the batt could take) I realized i was being silly.

Only reason for huge alternators/grounding would be if you were using more amps then the alternator could handle(90amps stock?) for winches, lights..... other than that the batteries can only take so much at a time :lol: maybe 2ga for big 3 if you want the highest volts? I saw .5v improvement from big 3.

 

[Jakeepoo3]

The point of the post was sharing an option. THere was a member here at one point that was making and selling Big 3 kits for around the same/similar price point. That is the only point of the post.

Now, regarding gauge, what is reasonable, in your opinion, for a rig with a single battery and stock alternator?

How about if a winch is added?

Wire guage is determined by amperage draw. Too small is bad. Too big doesn't really make a sh!t. You'll still be able to draw the correct amperage. You're good pro

 

[Jakeepoo3]

They do use "fine strand cable" which I'm assuming is the same as welding cable and has a higher current carrying capacity than a standard AWG. So yeah, you could go smaller depending on your load. Not to mention the cable is more flexible. I've seen places that sell welding cable by the foot on-line if you go the DIY route.

Mig wire is most commonly used to weld carbon steel homie. Mr Cooper I mean copper is a much better conductor..

 

[Jakeepoo3]

Maybe he's taking about the ground lead my bad bud

 

[Sparky 97Runner]

Mig wire is most commonly used to weld carbon steel homie. Mr Cooper I mean copper is a much better conductor..

I can't tell if your joking or not but I was talking about welding cable, not mig wire. Two different things. Fine strand copper welding cable has a higher current carrying capacity than standard copper building wire.

 

[Jakeepoo3]

I can't tell if your joking or not but I was talking about welding cable, not mig wire. Two different things. Fine strand copper welding cable has a higher current carrying capacity than standard copper building wire.

I thought you were talking about the fill wire sorry

 

[Spiker Engineering]

I'm also generally in the "bigger cable must be better" camp, however... you don't need the big 3 or the big 7 for the actual winching - when winching (especially hard), you are pulling hundreds of amps, but these amps aren't coming from any of the 3 (or 7) cables, because the alternator (especially an OEM one) cannot possibly supply this current in real time. So instead, the battery is supplying the vast majority of these winching amps via the + and - cables between the battery and the winch. So those two cables should be as fat as needed for the winch's amp draw.

The big 3/7 would mostly help you to recharge a drawn down battery after winching. Not saying there's no benefit to it, just saying that all this "hard winching amp draw" talk is off the mark when it comes to the big 3 (or 7).

 

[octanejunkie]

The big 3/7 would mostly help you to recharge a drawn down battery after winching. Not saying there's no benefit to it, just saying that all this "hard winching amp draw" talk is off the mark when it comes to the big 3 (or 7).

Yep, 100% correct. I don't think anyone on this thread thinks the Big 3 is specific to using a winch or lots of lights, it's all about improving pathing to and from the battery to reduce resistance/restrictions and improve current flow.

The idea of being able to recharge the battery after excessive draw (like from heavy/extended winching) not only includes the cables but also the source the charge will be drawn from, the alternator.

When would one start looking at higher amp alternators than factory?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

 

[19963.4lsr5]

The Big 3 just tuned into The Big 7

Yep, 100% correct. I don't think anyone on this thread thinks the Big 3 is specific to using a winch or lots of lights, it's all about improving pathing to and from the battery to reduce resistance/restrictions and improve current flow.

The idea of being able to recharge the battery after excessive draw (like from heavy/extended winching) not only includes the cables but also the source the charge will be drawn from, the alternator.

When would one start looking at higher amp alternators than factory?

Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

Putting a smaller pulley on my 70a Alt I’m able to push 44-45a at a 600rpm idle in gear with my foot on the brake.

I have an 80a Alt I want to do the same thing to. The shaft diameters are different between the 70 and 80 amp Alts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Spiker Engineering]

Yep, 100% correct. I don't think anyone on this thread thinks the Big 3 is specific to using a winch or lots of lights, it's all about improving pathing to and from the battery to reduce resistance/restrictions and improve current flow.

The idea of being able to recharge the battery after excessive draw (like from heavy/extended winching) not only includes the cables but also the source the charge will be drawn from, the alternator.

I think we're in vehement agreement. My point is that unless the wiring between the alternator and the battery is severely degraded, it can probably handle the alternator's current output. And even if not, getting 50A at the battery instead of 60A is not a huge issue unless you're running the load for a long time.

For starting, same thing - unless the wiring to the starter is degraded, you should be good with OEM cable.

For winches, we just agreed that the winch draws from the battery through a whole separate set of cables, so the Big 3 only helps with recharging - but again, the alternator is likely to be the limiting factor, not the wire between the alternator and the battery.

That leaves aftermarket accessories, like lights, audio, fridges, etc. Here I agree, if you are powering too many things through the original wires, an upgrade may be needed. I ran a 4 AWG wire from the battery to a secondary fuse box for that very reason, as well as a 4 AWG cable from battery to body ground.

I'll repeat, I like big wires, but even winching does not require the Big 3.

 

[octanejunkie]

As long as we are vehemently agreeing I'll say I like big wires too, but I like big butts more.

Even if not oversizing the wiring, refreshing the high amp carrying wires (the big 3) can't hurt on a 20+ year old truck - corrosion doesn't discriminate and causes resistance across the board.

Eventually, the Achilles Heel of these trucks will be the wiring given enough time.

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[Spiker Engineering]

As long as we are vehemently agreeing I'll say I like big wires too, but I like big butts more.

Even if not oversizing the wiring, refreshing the high amp carrying wires (the big 3) can't hurt on a 20+ year old truck - corrosion doesn't discriminate and causes resistance across the board.

Eventually, the Achilles Heel of these trucks will be the wiring given enough time.

I'm all for maintenance, and this certainly won't hurt, other than the wallet :thumb:.

 

[shadow247]

As long as we are vehemently agreeing I'll say I like big wires too, but I like big butts more.

Even if not oversizing the wiring, refreshing the high amp carrying wires (the big 3) can't hurt on a 20+ year old truck - corrosion doesn't discriminate and causes resistance across the board.

Eventually, the Achilles Heel of these trucks will be the wiring given enough time.

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This is my thought. I'm having intermittent starting issues when things get wet under the hood. I have to loosen and then retighten the positive terminal. Fires right up every time.

I already replaced the terminals with Marine terminals. Now I'm down to the Big 3 upgrade to solve this random issue.

 

[phattyduck]

This is my thought. I'm having intermittent starting issues when things get wet under the hood. I have to loosen and then retighten the positive terminal. Fires right up every time.

I already replaced the terminals with Marine terminals. Now I'm down to the Big 3 upgrade to solve this random issue.

Any chance of worn starter contacts or plunger causing the problem to be worse? If it has been >100k since the starter got new contacts/plunger, it might be worth it for a reliability upgrade.

Also, if the positive terminal has trouble getting tight, try battery shims.

-Charlie

 

[bmason8159]

My wife ordered a set of these for our 4Runner. Anyone know shipping times, or has anyone else gotten these?

 

[IBallEngineer]

Not a bad price for what you get there. Especially considering its all premade and crimped to the right length. Seems worth it to me just due to the amount of time to build all of these 7 cables.

Yes, not too mention copper wire is getting stupid expensive too. And copper lugs are ridiculous if you buy small quantities.

 

[bmason8159]

Just came in. They are beefy

 

[octanejunkie]

Just came in. They are beefy

What size did you order?

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[bmason8159]

What size did you order?

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I ordered the smaller 2 gauge