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| 1999 Rover 800 825 V6 Coupe Battery to Boot Conversion. |
Car: 1999 Rover 800 825 V6 Coupe
Battery to Boot Conversion Page 1 Page 2 Page 3
After wanting to do a battery to boot conversion on this Rover 800 coupe (which would create enough space for the possible fitting of an induction kit in the future should I decide to add one), I searched the internet to try and find out, how best to do this! Most of the results I found seemed to be overly complicated in the way they were doing the wiring and on on which cable to purchase!
I decided to just use the thickest battery/starter cable that I could possibly fit all the way from the front to the rear of the car. This was a 40mm 300 Amp Hi-Flex Battery Cable with an outside diameter of 12.7mm which I purchased off ebay. I was not sure at this point in time, where exactly I was going to locate the battery in the boot and so I ordered a long enough length of red wire so that I would be able to decide later (it's much easier to order too much than too little). I also ordered a 1m length of black earth wire in the same size cable.
It seemed that although the many sites I visited on the internet were suggesting different gauge wires or different amp wires, most were of the opinion that the thicker/heavier the wire the better, because this results in a much smaller voltage drop loss over the long distance of the main cable. A bigger cable has less resistance and so you get less of a voltage drop under loads.
I would suggest you try and fit a minimum of gauge 2 wire, but go for the thicker gauge 1 or gauge 0 wires if you can. The 40mm cable I would be using is equivalent to gauge 1. I would not of been able to fit the thicker gauge 0 cable.
Anyway I thought I should take photos of how I went about relocating the battery to the boot in my own car, as a clearer guide than those guides that I had come across. Hopefully these photo's might help someone in a similar situation.
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I had Already Removed the Car Battery, The Car's ECU and the Battery Tray and Cleaned the Area Underneath, before I Decided Maybe I should Take Photo's, So I Placed the Tray Back in Place for this Photo!
The Positive Terminal on the Battery is Connected to Both the Main Fuse Box (in Photo) and the Solenoid on the Starter Motor.
The Negative Terminal on the Battery is Connected to the Car Body and Continues to the Car's Engine.
The Positive Wire goes from the Battery Connection to the Main Fuse Box and to the Starter Motor (Solenoid).
To Determine How Much Cable You Will Require it is Important to Know Where You Will be Relocating Your Battery!
I Wanted the Battery Somewhere Behind the Rear Seat, But Realised this May be a little Difficult Due to the Sloping Shape of the Floor under the Carpet in this Area.
A Popular Place to Mount the Battery in a Car Boot is the Rear Corner. I Decided I Should Order Enough Cable to Mount it Here Just in Case I could Not mount it in My Preferred Location.
I did Not Really Want to Mount the Battery Here Though as I had some Very Useful Cargo Nets in this Area and in the other Rear Corner was the 6 CD Multi-Changer Unit.
I Ordered some Red and Black 40mm 300 Amp Hi-Flex Battery Cable off ebay Along with Some Conduit to Suit.
This Car was Fitted with some Trunking Down the Length of the Car Underneath the Carpet, Which Kept the Original Wiring Loom Very Neat Indeed.
Trial Fitting the Red Cable into this Trunking Was Proving a Little More Difficult than I Thought it Would. This was Easily Rectified by Separating out Approximately half of the Wires!
Half of the Wires Have Been Pulled out of the Upper Section of the Trunking, Leaving More Room for the New Cable to Fit.
The Half of the Wires that had been Pulled Out Were Taped up Similar to those Wires that Pass Through the Lower Section of Trunking.
The Cars Original Wires Have Now All Been Fitted Back Under the Trunking and So I Began to Pass the Red Wire out to the Passenger Side Wing. (On This Vehicle Passing the Wire Out through the Bulkhead is Not an Easy Option.)
This is the Area inside the Passenger Side Front Wing After the Wheel Arch Liner has Been Removed. The New Wire will Simply Pass Through One of the Existing Holes which are Currently Blanked off with Rubber Gromits.
The Gromit Has been Removed and the Cable Feed Through the Hole from Inside the Car.
A Hole has Been Made in the Gromit and this has been Pushed Back onto the Cable and will be Sealed up Later.
Once you have worked out the Right Length of Cable you Require, you can Cover this with Your Conduit. The Conduit will be Slightly Shorter in Length then the Cable.
The Conduit Covered Wire Has Now Been Passed Through a Hole into the Engine Bay and Will be Wired Directly to the Main Fuse Box. Another Short Length of Cable Has Also been Cut and this Will Join the First Wire at the Fuse Box and the other end of Which Will Go to the Starter Motor.
I Think that this is the Best Way to Wire up the Car Battery as it will Keep the Cables as Short as Possible and it Will Keep the Number of Connections to a Minimum.
The Cable from the Boot and the Cable to the Starter Have Both had End Terminals Crimped and Soldered on. Then they were Attached together and Somehow Wiggled up into the Original Gap in the Fuse Box!
We were Amazed that we Managed to fit two Large Cables into the Fuse Box into the place of the old Single Cable, and without Cutting the Plastic!
The Cables are Connected to the Middle Screw on the Left Hand Side. (4th screw of 7).
The Shorter Red Wire for the Starter Motor was Also Covered in Conduit, and an End Terminal was Fitted and Soldered on.
>>>Battery to Boot Conversion Page 2
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