alt wiring ?
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72 Nova, Caltrac's and Splite Mono's, 10.5 tire, 600+ci, NA!
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No problem -
If running two batteries.... tie them together, parallel'd. Positive to Positive and negative to negative... As you've stated, you'll have a 1/0 or 1gauge copper (recommended, use the handy wire sizing chart provided in this forum) feed from your alternator, direct back to the battery. From the + of the battery you'll go to one side of your master kill switch... From the other side of the master kill - you'll run to your starter solenoid... and or other critical electrical components from there.
For what it's worth - I have a starter solenoid in the trunk so as not to have a constant hot running up the frame rail ... The big starter wire is only hot during cranking.. and I have it fused at 150amps. I also have the alternator feed to the battery fused at 150amps. One of Rays (moderator, CS130's) ..I run a continuous duty solenoid (200amp).. and use my Painless Switch panel to open and close this solenoid.. from this solenoid.. I feed a Dedenbear Relay Center MRC1... where everything is conveniently fused and relayed. I basically run the whole car off this center...and within fingers reach if something trips.. I have manual resettable breakers in this relay center... It's fed with a #2 Copper cable..
Make sure you ground everything solidly and fuse all your accessories accordingly. You'll be good to go. Good luck.
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Maybe a stupid question but can you use typical commercial / residential wire (THHN/THW) for this or does it have to be like "automotive grade"? Just curious because I am an electrician and have this regularly available. I'm just not sure if the stranding would be the same too.
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No expert & have no idea how old the stuff was. The car was bought used.
The entire car was a fire trap, the insulation was hard & brittle.
Like I said, no idea on age or it could have been left outside, or crap spilled all over,
but the house wire did not hold up in that car!!
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Not the same temperature rating. You need or want wire with a rating of 105C. Automotive can come in 65C as well, but that should not be used near the engine. Better just to use the higher temperature stuff every where.
72 Nova, Caltrac's and Splite Mono's, 10.5 tire, 600+ci, NA!
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2,936 Posts
Ima sparky too - got tons of the THHN laying around likewise.. I use it. I just make sure I route it clear of the hot zones.. It's 90deg celcius rated. Has worked for me in the past. If you can get the automotive grade - more power to ya. As you know, the more copper stranding you can get, the better the overall conductivity will be.
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90C should work fine. I dont know if the jackets have the same abrasive, UV, oil resistance though. Might, I really dont know.
Sometihng you might find interesting. We have found when dealing with high amp loads (1000+) and using fine strand wire, you need to go up a size. i.e. calaculate 1/0 you should use 2/0. Found a lot of fine wire will burn or get really hot with the high amp loads. (by fine strand I am talking around 1400 strands in 1/0)
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