"Home-Brewed" Battery + and - Terminal Blocks Finished Photos Added

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"Dart67"

"Dart67"

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Location
Jessieville, Arkansas
I have/had too many ring terminals stacked up under the head of the clamp bolts on the positive and negative battery terminals. Not only is this ugly, I have always been told that this can add additional resistance and cause noise to the circuits connected in this fashion.

So I decides to clean things up and I am in the process of making these terminal blocks.
These are made from 1/4" thick Copper plate that I had laying around the shop. They will be tapped for #10 x 32 bolts to secure the ring terminals to the blocks.

I dropped my tap after the first hole and it broke when it hit the floor or this project would be finished.

DSCF3319-1.jpg


The Negative is on the Left and the battery post hole is drilled to 11/16".

The Positive is on the Right and the battery post hole is drilled to 3/4".

Herb

Here are photos of the finished product.

DSCF3325-1.jpg


DSCF3326-1.jpg


The wiring that is terminated here is "REQUIRED" to be ran direct to the battery Positive and Negative by the manufacturers of the items.

The wiring feeds:
1- FAST XFI ECU (approx $1800)main power and grounds
2- FAST XFI Switched Igniton relay feed
3-FAST XFI O2 sensor and Injector feed
4- Aeromotive Billet Fuel Pump Speed Controller (approx $350)
5- Soon to be a FAST E6 Ignition and coil (approx $320)

When the items cost that much you want to follow their recommendations to "try" to protect your investment.

This also results in a far cleaner and neater installation then 5 wires under the head of each clamp bolt.

Herb
 
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Aren't battery posts tapered/??? They always seem smaller at the top and wider at the bottom?? Otherwise I like your idea>>>>McIver

treblig
 
Treblig said:
Aren't battery posts tapered/??? They always seem smaller at the top and wider at the bottom?? Otherwise I like your idea>>>>McIver

treblig
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Yes, they are.
These fit snug right at bottom of the posts and when the allen head bolt and nut are tightened they clamp tight around the post. The cable clamps then sit on top of these blocks and then tightened down.

Herb
 
thought you might use one of these to ream out the copper to the correct tapper because copper is soft?? That would give you a much better fit and more contact surface??

treblig

s-l1600.jpg
 
I can fully relate to the extra wiring that usually find its way into a car, my car is no different, but imo your design also just adds a large area for an accidental short to happen.
Although I should need to follow my own advice here myself, but I would rather run a seperate thicker gauge wire from the positive battery-post to a fused power-distribution block mounted on the inner fender or under the dash somewhere.

e086c4d3-5e2a-47f1-aa5b-f9881852bc7d.jpg
 
All he needs is a piece of clear plexiglass over the terminals to protect them from accidental shorting. He seems to have skills so that shouldn't be a problem.

Treblig
 
T
BigBlockMopar said:
I can fully relate to the extra wiring that usually find its way into a car, my car is no different, but imo your design also just adds a large area for an accidental short to happen.
Although I should need to follow my own advice here myself, but I would rather run a seperate thicker gauge wire from the positive battery-post to a fused power-distribution block mounted on the inner fender or under the dash somewhere.

View attachment 1715173998
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The battery is in a battery box so the chances of a short circuit is reduced "some".

All of this wiring is to my EFI system and fuel system and are required to got direct to the battery and not a remote terminal block.
 
Treblig said:
. He seems to have skills so that shouldn't be a problem.

Treblig
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He damn sure does have skills.. I had the pleasure of meeting Herb and drooling over 'Home Brew'. That car is one nice beast. Awesome craftsmanship and some really cool touches.. And if I'm not mistaken, all of it was done by Herb himself.. I'm guessing engineering background from the looks of his work..
 
Ben Drinkin said:
He damn sure does have skills.. I had the pleasure of meeting Herb and drooling over 'Home Brew'. That car is one nice beast. Awesome craftsmanship and some really cool touches.. And if I'm not mistaken, all of it was done by Herb himself.. I'm guessing engineering background from the looks of his work..
Click to expand...

Thank You for the kind words and compliments Ben.

Yes, ALL of the work has been done by myself or with the help of friends in my shop back in Illinois and here in Arkansas.

No engineering background, I spent the better part of 40 years working for General Telephone of Illinois that became GTE, then became GTE North, and finally became Verizon landline. Retired on June 2, 2006.

Just like to build, make and modify things to suit myself and my needs.

Also I have lived in the country (rural areas) all my life and you learn to be self sufficient and how to improvise with what you have.

Herb
 
67Dart273 said:
I must say that is an interesting approach
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I have run ''marine'' battery clamps on 5 diff hotrods of various sorts, and never had a problem w/ stacking ground or hot ring terminals on them.
In the trunk.
 
famous bob said:
I have run ''marine'' battery clamps on 5 diff hotrods of various sorts, and never had a problem w/ stacking ground or hot ring terminals on them.
In the trunk.
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Problem "here" locally.........I've been to Oh'Reallys and NAPA both and their idea of a marine terminal is JUNK
 
Run a #4 wire from the Bat+ on the starter solenoid to a power dist. block, it's the same as being connected to the battery directly. Some anal retentive instruction writer is going off the rails here.
 
rednesss said:
Run a #4 wire from the Bat+ on the starter solenoid to a power dist. block, it's the same as being connected to the battery directly.
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In my experience, the starter solenoid releases a huge spike when ignition switch goes from crank to run. An original starter solenoid post, is typically a 3 foot tap from battery terminal, perhaps #8 cable. Dart67 has a much better solution.
 
KitCarlson said:
In my experience, the starter solenoid releases a huge spike when ignition switch goes from crank to run. An original starter solenoid post, is typically a 3 foot tap from battery terminal, perhaps #8 cable. Dart67 has a much better solution.
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Thank You Kit.

You are correct about the starter solenoid creating a huge spike. That is why it is Important to use a diode suppress/protected starter solenoid on a car using any type of "new/modern" EFI systems or any other electronics for that matter.

Herb
 
KitCarlson said:
In my experience, the starter solenoid releases a huge spike when ignition switch goes from crank to run. An original starter solenoid post, is typically a 3 foot tap from battery terminal, perhaps #8 cable. Dart67 has a much better solution.
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In my car, it's maybe 18" of #2 from the battery to the starter solenoid. So that voltage spike is totally localized and is not sensed anywhere else along that 18" of #2? Just at the solenoid and then is somehow attenuated in a very aggressive, exponential fashion, so as to be totally gone 18" of battery cable away? Just wondering. Thanks.
 
Herb, you bring very good subject. Adding modern electronics to our older cars requires significant changes in the power delivery, and ground returns.

In 2003 I developed an EFI w/ignition system that I used sucessfully, on a few hand wired kit cars for more than a decade. I then took parts of that design for a coil onear plug ignition for my 66 Barracuda. I found starting noise issues, and reworked the power delivery and grounds to solve the issues. It is what stopped me from bringing my ignition to market. The ignition in a simple box, but the wiring infastructure changes well beyond most customers abilities.
 
rednesss said:
In my car, it's maybe 18" of #2 from the battery to the starter solenoid. So that voltage spike is totally localized and is not sensed anywhere else along that 18" of #2? Just at the solenoid and then is somehow attenuated in a very aggressive, exponential fashion, so as to be totally gone 18" of battery cable away? Just wondering. Thanks.
Click to expand...

I think we might be thinking about two different things. My thought of stock solenoid, you must have add-on Ford solenoid from description? Solenoid coils are not wired with #2, but starter motor terminal is.
It is the turning off of solenoid coil that releases transient. The transient can be suppresed, but done in a way not to significantly prolong starter run-on.
 
You guys and Dave/ Kit have brought MORE thoughts. "In the case" where you guys have A TRUNK MOUNT battery with and even more special WITH SEPARATE GROUND WIRE from engine block to battery here's what seems to me:

The entire length of battery cable.........that is, from the starter terminal, back to the trunk to the battery, and back up front to the battery block IS AN INDUCTOR

This means that every time you engage/ release the starter, that inductor (such that it is) will produce a certain amount of "spike" in that length of cable.

So if the loads in the car are grounded at the "up front" points on both ends, that length of main cable is going to impress whatever spikes it generates across the loads.
 
An alternative is to use transorb, or add Zener in series with diode (cathode to cathode) to raise the clamp voltage to around 60V. The higher clamp voltage will significantly speed the solenoid release. The stored coil energy discharges at the higher voltage, and power is current times voltage. A voltage clamp around 60V will reduce or eliminate arcing, and also reduce starter run-on. Fuel injector circuits employ a similar clamp to reduce off time of fuel valving.
 
KitCarlson said:
An alternative is to use transorb, or add Zener in series with diode (cathode to cathode) to raise the clamp voltage to around 60V. The higher clamp voltage will significantly speed the solenoid release. The stored coil energy discharges at the higher voltage, and power is current times voltage. A voltage clamp around 60V will reduce or eliminate arcing, and also reduce starter run-on. Fuel injector circuits employ a similar clamp to reduce off time of fuel valving.
Click to expand...
In English please....
 
A zener is a special series of diodes, mostly used for voltage regulation. They work like a normal diode in forward (conducting) but if hooked "reverse" as "not conducting" they will conduct "backwards" at their rated voltage. This is called "avalanche region."

Anyhow, What is going on here, is that if the pair wired up as Dave suggested conducts, the Zener will only let the conducted voltage "rise" to the voltage rating of the zener, IE 60V
 
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