replacing battery wires on my brumby .

[cowby327]

Hi all this is my first post and I think this forum is fantastic ,I have read a little on the subject in previous threads but I thought id start it again , the vehicle is a 1990 model brumby , I am replacing my battery to starter cable, battery to motor cable, battery to chassi cable and chassi to gearbox cable my question is what size cable is sufficient for the battery to starter positive , and battery earth to motor and chassi , I took my wires to work last night and our shift electrician looked at my origanals and said the cable size is 50mm2 the cables he made are stamped 16mm2 but high quality marine grade ,capable of up to 100 amps the smaller chassis cables he made was out of 10mm2 which look a lot bigger than what was on her , ive lenghened the main starter cable by 300mm to run neatly around the firewall, instead of the shortest route across the engine bay , your thoughs would be appreciated ...

[Smokey]

For the battery 50mm2 is a little on the large size. Pretty sure my stock L is about the 21-25mm2 mark. Though they are OK they are not excessive either. If your lengthing the cable length by a foot or two/half m the bigger might be in order. I'd say anything over 30mm2 or equivelant is overkill. Now there is nothing wrong with overkill. Just its a balance between safe and sufficient and a waste of money.

16mm2 sounds a little on the light size.

For the body and engine ground wires 10mm2 is prob OK if you keep them short as possible. These come into play when your using big power elsewhere in the car WITHOUT dedicated ground runs back to the batttey. A big amp for example. Either run dedicated ground to bat OR upgrade the neg chassis to bat cables.

Google wire size guide and the click on images. You will find a heap if them. Read various charts and sites and you will better understand.

If your serious look into doing the work yourself. Could be a $$ project otherwise.

This is a general idea and my own feelings. Use at ur own risk

Welcome to the forum
Smokey

[cowby327]

Thanks smokey much appeciate the reply , the 16mm cable I put on this morning on the earth to engine and positive to starter seem to work ok , the electrian said to me the marine grade wires he made are high quality double insulated , and for there size they take higher loading than equivalent size cable, I dont know how myself , the cable from battery negitive to chassis I removed from the mudgaurd and bolted it basically back to the chassi where a earth wire from the engine bay harness is earthed around where the drivers side headlight wires come out of the harness also thermo fan fan wires come out so it may help earth the harness better , the chassi under the spare tire earth to gearbox has been replaced with a 10mm2 which is larger than the original ,,, the only worry I think I have at this stage is the lenghened starter cable runs around the firewall now looks neater but I might shorten it again as the risk of wearing and earthing to chassi is greater plus as you said the length is a problem with the smaller dia. Thanks again smokey hope this makes sense , I tried to post a pic of the wires and engine bay but not sure how yet cheers rick

[B00sting]

Hey mate,
Rather than uploading the picture on the actual forum it may be easier to use a third party service like photobucket etc. But if you want private message me and I will give you my email address and then you can email me the picture and I will upload it for you.

Cheers.