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

[67Dart273]

This is a basic zener regulator circuit

This is wired for positive supply applied to top left. If you know anything about basic diodes, THIS WOULD BE BACKWARDS

Current flows from NEG at bottom up through the zener, and back to POS at top left. The zener will be conducting "in reverse" or "avalanche." If the resistor was not there to limit current, the diode would destroy itself, zener or "standard"

The zener has a voltage rating, and as the current flows up through the diode, it reaches a "trigger" point (the diode rating) where it turns on. So at the top of the diode, would be nominally 60V if that is a 60V diode

The FUNNY thing about zeners to "us old guys" is that we? I? grew up with gas-tube regulators, which work NEARLY EXACTLY THE SAME WAY LOL

 

[67Dart273]

Basic gas tube regulator circuit

Notice the circuit is identical to the zener shown above it. These are argon, neon or other gases, and used to have names like "VR-105" (105 volts) or "VR-150

 

[RustyRatRod]

Problem "here" locally.........I've been to Oh'Reallys and NAPA both and their idea of a marine terminal is JUNK

That's because they don't look in the HD and AG book and order the heavy duty and military stuff. We make battery cables at our store and have items available all the way to 0 gauge. Not all stores do that, but we're in a rural area and also make hydraulic hoses. Me and Justin got together and got with our DM and told him we could make custom made battery cables fly with profitability. That was over two years ago. We've never looked back.

 

[67Dart273]

That's because they don't look in the HD and AG book and order the heavy duty and military stuff. We make battery cables at our store and have items available all the way to 0 gauge. Not all stores do that, but we're in a rural area and also make hydraulic hoses. Me and Justin got together and got with our DM and told him we could make custom made battery cables fly with profitability. That was over two years ago. We've never looked back.

They might do that, don't know. There are 3 women there (last I looked) that are WAY more helpful than 3 or 4 of the guys. One guy effed around with me for a month over ordering park/ turn sockets for the WWIII and never did produce, and never did call me to let me know. "We had words" right before I went up to NAPA and ordered them there. I told him he damn near cost me a ticket with the ISP

 

[KitCarlson]

On the subject of zener diodes, while a zener clamps for the rated voltage when reversed biased, it also conducts as a diode in the forward direction, so a blocking diode needs to be placed in series to block flow, for normal energization of solenoid coil. There are modern components that are single devices that incorporate the features, however the packaging is most often surface mount in small rectangular packages.

 

[C130 Chief]

First off, good job fabbing the copper bus bars, they should should get the job done. But, I have a few questions... How is each circuit protected? Inline fuses or a separate fuse panel? You want to make sure none of the expensive gizmos get fried. Second, why home run each ground to the battery? Seems a lot of extra conductor length and potential voltage drop. How is the current getting from the alternator to the battery? If you are still using the factory 10AWG wire that runs through the bulkhead connector and ammeter you have added a lot of load to a somewhat boderline setup. Also having all of those connections on top of the battery (high corrosion environment) may mean a bit more maintenance down the line. I know you NEVER lay wrenches on top of the battery, no matter how flat and convenient the surface may be, so the large conductive surfaces pose no hazard. Right?!?

Down the road if you do a Version 2.0 setup consider using one of these:Relay Combo Panel - Sealed Mini Fuse & ISO 280 Mini - Partially Bussed It's a nice 280 series load center that should be adequate for several added circuits as well as relays for headlights, injection, fan and fuel pump. Feed it straight off the back of the alternator with a fat wire with a nice high capacity MEGA series fuse like this: MEGA Fuse Holder – 32V DC, 500 Amp This way none of the new loads go through the bulkhead connector. In fact, headlight loads are removed making the whole electrical system work better.

Del City is a great source of automotive and marine electrical hardware, most neighborhood chain parts stores... not so much.

 

[67Dart273]

Del City is a great source of automotive and marine electrical hardware, most neighborhood chain parts stores... not so much.

Heard this before!!

 

[KitCarlson]

I have been holding off on saying this. Grounds and power from the battery is a good filtered low impedance source. The engine grounds via the negative battery cable. Any other ground connection to engine is in parallel. Most modern temperature sensors, crank, cam, WBO2 have the ability be insulated from engine ground, and should be if grounded at battery. If not, If the negative battery cable is loose, the small conductor grounds try to feed the starter motor, and may fry in the process.

Some say there can never be too many grounds.... That is not always true, grounds must be designed to return currents in desired pathways. The electronics in the EFI/ignition does mainly three things, sensor measurements, computations, and controls outputs. There is a carefull strategic ground system, so the control outputs for injectors, and ignition coils do not interfere with the measurement and computation. Well designed systems have desired ground returns designed in the harnesses.

I use engine ground for ECU in my classic vehicles, because the OEM temperature sensors ground on the block, and starter ground drop from battery is avoided from the ECU viewpoint when starting ...

 

["Dart67"]

First off, good job fabbing the copper bus bars, they should should get the job done. Thank You.. But, I have a few questions... How is each circuit protected? Inline fuses or a separate fuse panel? I have a separate fuse block for these circuits fused per the manufacturers reccomendations. You want to make sure none of the expensive gizmos get fried. Second, why home run each ground to the battery? Mainly because that is what is recommended by the manufacturer of the equipment also as a way to help filter "noise" on those circuits. Seems a lot of extra conductor length and potential voltage drop. How is the current getting from the alternator to the battery? I have a 130 amp powermaster alternator that connects to the trunk mounted battery with a 2/0 copper feed cable.This cable is ran through (inside of) the frame rails from front to rear to protect it from any potential damage. If you are still using the factory 10AWG wire that runs through the bulkhead connector and ammeter you have added a lot of load to a somewhat boderline setup. There is NO bulkhead connector in this car. It was removed many years ago Also having all of those connections on top of the battery (high corrosion environment) may mean a bit more maintenance down the line. ALL the connections are made using a coating of dielectric compound I know you NEVER lay wrenches on top of the battery, no matter how flat and convenient the surface may be, so the large conductive surfaces pose no hazard. Right?!? No, BUT I have dropped a wrench and had it land across the terminals and cause large amounts of sparks.I am EXTRA careful now when doing ANY work around the battery.

Down the road if you do a Version 2.0 setup consider using one of these:Relay Combo Panel - Sealed Mini Fuse & ISO 280 Mini - Partially Bussed It's a nice 280 series load center that should be adequate for several added circuits as well as relays for headlights, injection, fan and fuel pump. Feed it straight off the back of the alternator with a fat wire with a nice high capacity MEGA series fuse like this: MEGA Fuse Holder – 32V DC, 500 Amp This way none of the new loads go through the bulkhead connector. In fact, headlight loads are removed making the whole electrical system work better.

Del City is a great source of automotive and marine electrical hardware, most neighborhood chain parts stores... not so much.