Battery Alternator and Starter wiring LS rear battery location

[Jferrante]

I am looking for guidance on my wiring to my starter and alternator from my battery since my battery is in the rear. I need to redo all the wiring so am curious what everyone is doing that has a rear mounted battery and an LS or similsr.
Thanks

[franken]

No LS but I'd guess the big + cable goes to the starter. From there you need a smaller cable to the nearest cable that feeds the alt directly. I suggest a fusible link as the smaller cable leads away from the starter. Helps to not have a carbecue. Truckbecue has no ring to it.
Don't forget the big and small grounds...

[Pinchecharlie]

I've been doing my relocate research too. There's a company called ce electric that has really nice kits and lots of information and if nothing else gives you an idea of what is proper. Their kits are a bit high$$ for me but I will be using individual components from them and stealing their system. Everybody has a way and Some are better or maybe not better? General consensus with fussy electrical gurus- heavy gauge positive wire to starter or junction box close to starter . Heavy gauge negative to ground on starter or...a series of ground junctions. 'Ce electric has a killer ground kit too. And so do other companies from cheap to expensive. Stay away from welding wire (experts ,not me) and stay away from aluminum clad cable too. So basically experts recommend really expensive cable. I think ce 's kit is a couple hundred and their cable is like 7 bucks a foot! So as you go back farther it is more necessary to run heavier gauge wire and it gets .more expensive too. You can just buy the cable from skummit or speedway and they have kits by morroso and I think other race car companies. Now disclaimer-this is research I like the best available equipment! Not to say a million guys aren't running welding cable and a short ground to chassis! In fact on many a search there's a kind old gentleman who's had his set up like that just fine for 150 years no problem and he laps his valves with a drill just fine too. Grain of salt kinda stuff! I like going overboard with everything so I called the big electrical companies to see what they would like to see. A lot of the real serious power needers(air suspension , massive audio and accessories) use car audio stuff for battery cables. Think its jl audio whos the bad as@ with pure copper and coolio distribution blocks and fuses meant for big amps. The race car guys follow sanctioning rules so thats easy. I looked up nhra rules but it's more of an emergency shut off thing/fire. Which isn't a bad idea but may not be necessary for street stuff. I put mine under the box right behind the passenger cab and my wire run is only about 6 feet so not that much longer than stock. If you go to the bumper it's probably going to need 1 gauge but iam sure someone has used 2 just fine. Map it out , check out these sources and Google and you'll see a few different good ways. There's a big guy on you tube doing a 66 is swap and he has a video of his battery relocate. Iam doing a really nice stereo in mine so iam going to use ce electrics stuff but that's because iam a fool and a fool and his money soon part ways.i finally bought a couple of electrical books too and I was happy to finally learn. Ohms law lol but it honestly has helped. You know the cheesy books at borders- " build a turbo 350 handbook" and what have you? This ones written by ce electrics owner something something auto electrical handbook blah blah. It has a battery relocate, a up date for high amp alternator and relays for this and that and all manner of iam real cool stuff. Check it out it's pretty good. No I don't know them but he answered a email same day and was willing to help so thats nice.servicing these batteries is going to suck even with a no limit drop box! Cheers!

[Jferrante]

Thanks for the feedback. I have the main hot from the battery in a fusible link I will run another fusible link to the alternator and then another ground as mentioned and hopefully I am good. The excite wire comes from the ignition through my wiring harness so I think I am also good there.

[Pinchecharlie]

Madd electric has some good wiring diagrams for our trucks too. Sounds like you got it dialed in. Good luck with your swap and keep us posted! What battery box are you using? I bought a drop out box from pol but when it got here it seems pretty wimpy. Don't know if I trust it or not.

[vin63]

To meet NHRA rules, my battery is wired to a couple of charge lugs in the rear, the positive then runs to a master cut off switch. I run the negative cable to a chassis ground circuit terminal, and the positive cable to an insulated terminal along the frame on the driver side. From that terminal, all of my power to the front of the truck is supplied to the fuse panel, starter solenoid and relays, etc. I run the alternator cable to the power terminal on the master cut off switch when the switch is on.

[Jferrante]

Originally Posted by Pinchecharlie

Madd electric has some good wiring diagrams for our trucks too. Sounds like you got it dialed in. Good luck with your swap and keep us posted! What battery box are you using? I bought a drop out box from pol but when it got here it seems pretty wimpy. Don't know if I trust it or not.

I got it from Travis at Pro Performance. I essentially need to run a hot fusible link to the starter, then hot link to alternator, and also a hot link from the fuel pump to alternator. So I am glad I posted this before guessing I am planning before cutting on this one.

[Pinchecharlie]

Originally Posted by vin63

To meet NHRA rules, my battery is wired to a couple of charge lugs in the rear, the positive then runs to a master cut off switch. I run the negative cable to a chassis ground circuit terminal, and the positive cable to an insulated terminal along the frame on the driver side. From that terminal, all of my power to the front of the truck is supplied to the fuse panel, starter solenoid and relays, etc. I run the alternator cable to the power terminal on the master cut off switch when the switch is on.

This bad as@! How's box are you running? You bed colorless or have an access panel?

[DLW]

I chose a drop down box back by the rear bumper.
I bought the books the guys from CE electric wrote (along with a bunch of other stuff) and used their methods.
Since I run a 175 amp alternator and have a long run I went with the OFC 1/0 cable which is pricey stuff. I also chose to run a cut off switch (not cause of NHRA) for a safety precaution and also so I can kill power in an instant. I ran one side of the switch to a junction block feeding the starter, fuse panel relay box, etc. I ran a separate 1/0 cable from the alternator to the other side (battery side where it has to go) of the kill switch. It hot a bit busy back there but it worked out. The wiring for the fuel pump was a short run accept for the one wire for the relay trigger.

[vin63]

Thanks! It's a leftover Jaz Products battery box. I fabricated the mount and welded it to the frame rail. There is enough room that, if needed, I can unbolt the hold downs and slide the battery box out and then down between the frame and bedside.

Originally Posted by Pinchecharlie

This bad as@! How's box are you running? You bed colorless or have an access panel?

[Pinchecharlie]

Originally Posted by DLW

I chose a drop down box back by the rear bumper.
I bought the books the guys from CE electric wrote (along with a bunch of other stuff) and used their methods.
Since I run a 175 amp alternator and have a long run I went with the OFC 1/0 cable which is pricey stuff. I also chose to run a cut off switch (not cause of NHRA) for a safety precaution and also so I can kill power in an instant. I ran one side of the switch to a junction block feeding the starter, fuse panel relay box, etc. I ran a separate 1/0 cable from the alternator to the other side (battery side where it has to go) of the kill switch. It hot a bit busy back there but it worked out. The wiring for the fuel pump was a short run accept for the one wire for the relay trigger.

Oh nice !!! I bought that same box but man iam a little nervous about those little hooks holding up under normal driving conditions? Man that's looking good!

[DLW]

Originally Posted by Pinchecharlie

Oh nice !!! I bought that same box but man iam a little nervous about those little hooks holding up under normal driving conditions? Man that's looking good!

Thanks.
I think the hooks will be fine, they run the whole length of the bottom of the box and it's solid 3/16" bar, should be plenty for a 50 lb battery. I'll be keeping an eye on it though. Without a drop down/out, I am not sure how you would get the battery out of the truck very easy, at least where I have it. If I raced the truck, I would do like vin63.