What's the point of relocating the battery?

[Catbox_95]

Why do people with front wheel drive cars relocate the battery to the rear? It seems to me that we would want more weight up front for traction.

 

[Dallas J]

Better weight transfer. The more weight you have on the front of your car the more it tends to push under cornering (understeer)

-Dallas J

 

[asexton6969]

More room in the engine bay.

 

[WombatTSi]

Typically its to ballance the car out. Most relocated batteries end up on the rear passenger side, so as to offset the weight of a driver sitting down. FWD would do it for the same reasons. Yes, it would probably hurt a launch, but if you AutoX or do any racing with turns, it would be benificial. And don't listen to people who say its to lose weight. Even getting rid off all the stock brackets, I netted +4lbs when I relocated my battery between the 2awg wire, the battery box, and the external cutoff switch.

 

[adidas5482]

relocating the battery to the trunk also increases battery life because the trunk is much cooler than under the hood near a hot engine.

 

[9d1AwdTSi]

I'm getting ready to relocate my battery to the trunk of my car too. I've bought 2 gauge wire and a Moroso battery box.

I was origanally going to use an inline fuse as protection incase the power wire gets damaged but I found some 140 amp circuit breakers by a company called Fusion Audio.

My friends running like a 90 amp inline fuse for his truck located battery so I would think 140 breaker would be more then enough but what about it being too much? If the power wire was grounded out I would think it would pop any amp fuse or breaker.

What do you guys think?

 

[4sfead]

Yep a 140 amp breaker is perfect. I have ran one for over a year now and its great, especially if you want to disconnect the battery for something. Just hit the test button

 

[karbon]

I think I remember reading somewhere that using fuses is better than using circuit breakers. I'm pretty sure that the reason was because the breaker responds slower to a direct short, and can still let enough current through on the way to disconnection to harm components. Stop me if I'm wrong, and I realize that a lot of houses use breakers instead of fuses, but most houses also don't see upwards of a 60A draw on power like a car might if you had a stereo going and some other stuff.

 

[Sean485]

I would imagine a breaker would react slightly slower but the breaker is just the main disconnect for if the wire shorts out on the chassi, or if the starter draws too many amps for too long. You dont want it to react "too" fast anyway, starters draw alot of amps to get the motor started turning...

Any of your sensitive electronics should be fused seperatly in case they short out anyway. I run a breaker on mine and haven't had any problems, its been a while but I belive mine is a 140 amp breaker as well.

I also didnt notice much weight "loss" from the relocation but it is better balanced and makes the engine bay alot easier to work in.

 

[c5chris]

I had seen some DSMs that use the vacated battery section for a catch can. Looks neat

 

[leet]

I think I remember reading somewhere that using fuses is better than using circuit breakers. I'm pretty sure that the reason was because the breaker responds slower to a direct short, and can still let enough current through on the way to disconnection to harm components. Stop me if I'm wrong, and I realize that a lot of houses use breakers instead of fuses, but most houses also don't see upwards of a 60A draw on power like a car might if you had a stereo going and some other stuff.

Most 120V house circuits are rated for 20A. A circuit breaker should work fine.