Trunk battery cable - inside or under the car?

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I've relocated the battery to the trunk in my 451 Dart. I have the appropriate heavy cable. Should I run it under the car, where it could be damaged by rocks or other debris, or through the passenger compartment where it's protected but could be more of a fire hazard in the event of a short... thoughts?

thanks
-Charles

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I had a fire in Sinnamon back around 1980 when a couple big friends sat in the back leaving some club one night.
Back seat shorted the + cable. Had to kick out the back seat bottom and put the carpet fire out. Not fun.

I leave batteries up front anymore. Less drama.

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S-605 continuous duty relay.

Here's a schematic using a ford solenoid and S605 in the alt line. I trigger the S605 from a keyed sources on street driven stuff so it doesn't draw when the master cutoff is on.

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I did it the same way except I added a fuse between the solenoid and the alternator wire.

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Run a ford solenoid in the rear so the fat wire isn't hot all the time. From your battery cut off switch, run a 6-8 gauge wire up to your power distribution point. Easier to fuse the 6-8 gauge as well.

I don't like having that fat 1 gauge or so wire hot all the time.

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I think a properly fused cable will always be safer than an unfused cable that's triggered by a relay/solonoid.

Modern large amperage fusing solutions are compact, easy to install and very reliable, they protect the cable 100% of the time and you don't have to run a redundant second wire for power/charging.

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Safer is a loose term.

My reason for using a relay in both starter and alt lines is when you throw the master, EVERYTHING outside about a 2' cube around the battery is dead. No live alt wire to the front. If you've never seen a car burn because of a live alt wire, even with a fusable link, you just haven't lived...

I don't like running the starter amperage through the master cutoff.

Fuse a 1 gauge cable with a fuse large enough to handle starter load and it can and will smolder for a long time before that fuse pops, if that's what you are using it for. At what cost as well.

I'll take the 2-4 extra pounds that I might have over the other methods that I've seen, like the minimum std. Just personal preference.

Pick your preferred method and run with it.

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I did it the same way except I added a fuse between the solenoid and the alternator wire.

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I did it the same way except I added a fuse between the solenoid and the alternator wire.

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https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/upload2/7215086-DSC00788%28Large%29.JPG

Don't mean to hijack, but are those two terminals through the sheet metal by the license plate inset meant for a battery tender or power takeoff or something?

I'd like to do something similar to mine so I don't have to open the trunk to put on the battery tender in the off-season.

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Yes, its terminals for a battery charger.

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Thanks for the link, RobX... they're on the way from ASE Supply, one intermittent and one continuous-duty

I am also planning to run the heavy starter cable (hot only on start) in the left hand wiring trough. Probably will use a #4 for the alternator to minimize drop (since it's a CS-130) back to the trunk, but it'll be shorter to run it on the right since the battery and alt are both on that side.

Then I need to run one more feed back to the dash and underhood area to power everything... HHR fan, MSD, headlights, instruments, heater fan, accessories... if it weren't for the need of a master cutoff switch I could just power everything off the alternator hot stud without all the extra copper...

Bulkhead terminals are neat but they add two more points to corrode or come loose... thinking of holesaw + grommets instead

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3 cables from front to back? Are you going to fuse the second and third cables or are you going to use the solonoids to turn them off like your doing with starter cable?

Inexpensive modern fuses can easily handle loads as heavy as a cranking starter and still blow almost instantly before you smoulder a cable.

If you are burning up wires before your fuses blow, you're either using the wrong gear, or don't have your set-up wired right.

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