2 gauge vs 4 gauge for relocated battery

Battery is in trunk, and I had to buy all new cable when I re-routed it through the inside of the car (rather than under the car). But, I bought 2 gauge wire. Now that I have looked at it, it is much bigger than what I was using and I just verified that I was using 4 gauge.

Should I take the 2 gauge back as it is likely overkill, or just use it from battery to solenoid?

$80 for a 25' piece, I think the 4 gauge was only $50...

 

I would keep it.

I wouldn't think it would cause any problems being so large.

Are the strands inside the wire really fine like on the inside of a welding cable or an AMP cable? If so, I would definitely keep it.

I go to the local scrap yard here in VA and pillage all the AMP wiring cable I can get.

The Ambulances and buses with handicap lifts have some nice wire in them too.

 

my battery wire is made from extra wire they used to install one of the Heidelberg presses at my (x) work.

 

It is pretty fine wire. Pretty similar to welding cable. I found two different kinds of wire...one had maybe 12-15 strands of pretty thick copper, but it was a stiff wire, and you pretty much had to bend it to shape.

There was welding wire that was completely limp.

The stuff I bought is almost as limp as the welding wire.

If the welding wire had 150 strands, the stuff I have has maybe 100.

 

Stick with the 2 gauge due to the increased distance from the battery to the solenoid and starter.

 

2 gauge is in my thinking the very minimum to run that long of a distance for starter. This is my thought,,I would run double oo myself,, gets colder in Pa, also higher compression.

Someone may be able to give the formula for this,,I dint have it. Distance with the amperage draw an all. Dint forget, your starter, battery an engine wont always be new an require more voltage to start.

 

Good point. Someday, it may require some torque to turn it over...

 

most kits you buy are 2 gauge or 1 gauge. i wouldn't go any smaller than 2 if i was moving it to the trunk.

 

1/0 is what I ran when I did it years ago. I would have liked to have 2/0 though. Remember....when you increase the length of the conductor, you increase it's resistance to flow of current. So, the largest wire you can get and afford is what you need. Also don't forget about a GOOD ground. I like at least a 2 ga. ground cable. You'd be surprised how much quicker it'll crank over with big cables rather than some little pissy 6 or 8 ga wire that comes factory. I actually burned up a 6 ga ground wire once just from cranking it over (timing was a little too fast...). You want a ground cable from the battery to the chassis or body and one from the body to the engine.

 

You need a minimum of 2 gauge in a trunk battery application.
Instead of asking if 2 gauge is overkill, you might ought to wonder if it is thick enough.
I say yes, but barely.
I used 0 gauge, IIRC, with thick strand, never thought that would matter though. It probably has 20 to 30 strands in the cross section.
It is very stiff and hard to route because of the resistance to bending.
Dave

 

You better keep the 2 gauge. We run "00" gauge wire in our cars. All of them.

 

Cool!

Thanks guys. I was ready to swap it for 4 gauge since I was afraid it would be too much copper.

Actually, I feared that all that extra weight in copper would knock a tenth off my ET

 

Well we certainly don't want that to happen.

 

I run the 00 also, hard to bend and place. What about the starter solenoid to the starter? Solenoid in trunk and starter, well, you know where it is..

 

I would just run the 00 to the starter on one end, with the battery on the other, then just cut and splice the solenoid in between the two.