jonesm8

Those are freaking insane. 1700 CA!!!

Even at that cost...it would be about what fame mounting would cost with all the accessories.

Might get one of those. I'm running off of one cheepo battery. There is a significant reduction in the violence of the starter with just one.

supr

I am not sure why you need this space. It seems like a major pain to move these, when they are in a good position.
What about weather or crossing high water?

jonesm8

Supr, you're right...I'm not going to mount them on the frame.

I want more room in the engine bay for upgrades and general playing around.

I'm going to give the kinetik battery a try...the single cheapo just doesn't have the juice.

bnold

Dont really see high water as being an issue with an optima... Ran my crawler under lots of water and it worked just fine... Winch worked great with winch and battery under water! I know this... Dont ask... water rose too quickly

sheriffav8r

Check out this site for wire gauge gouge:

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

I'm thinking of moving my batteries to the frame and creating an air intake scoop for real cold air flow. If the top of my frame is under water my feet will be wet and I'm probably in the wrong place. Seriously, I don't think water will adversely affect the batteries for short periods of time (seconds, not minutes). I've got a 2500W inverter that I want to power for longer periods of time so I will eventually have more than 2 batteries on the frame. I'm just going to use simple angle iron and my mig welder to fabricate a mount....

dkenny

sheriffav8r,
I hope you have a high quality inverter. I have gone through 5 inverters all over 1800w in the past 4 years. the first 3 were off brand and cheap. the last 2, I thought was a good brand, but it wasn't..Aims inverters don't hold up to their ratings, espically the temperature.

my current inverter is doing well. its a Xantrex. it seems to draw more current under startup of some of my tools. for the length of my run then 4/0 and 2/0 isn't big enough.

-dkenny

sheriffav8r

Yeah, I had a 1000W that was okay. This one's an AC/Delco BJ's POS but seems to be doing fine. Runs my stuff pretty good. I can't complain for about $150.... This one has a remote start switch, nice GFCI outlets, and dual fans that are temperature controlled. We'll see....

Fueling around

Sorry I'm jumping into this thread a bit late.

The driver side battery to starter cable is 2/0
The battery to battery cable is 1/0
The battery to PDC is 6 ga
I think the ground cables are 1/0

A (good) crimped connection is mechanically & electrically stronger than a soldered connection.
A soldered connection has better corrosion protection but requires 100% penetration in the joint for conductivity.

I have re-terminated the factory cables with lugs to use military style battery clamps. (The factory battery clamps are junk.)

I've made a few sets of replacement cables for trucks. I used 2/0 for all 4 battery cables & increased the PDC cable to 4 ga.
I prefer welding cable due to the better grade jacket & higher strand count. I use a Greenlee Gator hex crimper. I will not use a Burndy or T&B crimper. I also use premium heat shrink sleeving on the terminals to seal out moisture.

Heat & vibration are big battery killers in our trucks.
I have looked at relocating the batteries from under the hood to the bed. I would use a 3/0 battery to starter cable with p-clips to secure the cable. A 4 ga cable from the starter to the PDC (no need to go from the battery) will work just fine . The other wires can just go to the PDC stud.
I really like group 31 batteries. They are relatively cheap, good CA/CCA, and huge RC. The RC is what you need when going to a single battery. Optima are nice batteries (I use one in the Mommy van), but for our trucks they have dismal RC rating. Group 31 is available in an AGM, but the ones I have run across are POS. AGM is absorbed glass mat and that is what Optima use not a gel cell.