91 Suburban Dual Battery and Relocate

[jeremy.farlow]

I honestly can’t say whether it’s COVID-19 or my COVID project that’s ballooning faster. With the paintwork done and interior (that makes sense at this stage) reinstalled and at least another month of social distancing in the future...
Also, wouldn’t you know that most speed parts come out of California??! Whodathunk?
I’ve got the bulk of a bitchin motor, but no heads...


So I made this over the last two days:




It fits quite nicely in the spare tire well.
The tires currently ON the truck do not and I want to go even bigger(wider, honestly). I’m not certain where I will put a spare tire or if there will even be one.

I’m gonna sacrifice some 2/0 welding cable to run from battery box disconnect to drivers inner fender. I plan to use some more aluminum to mount these:


The only power window on the truck is the rear... if, God forbid, I need a jump, I’d rather pop the hood instead of crawling around the back like a savage.

So this gives me a big fat junction point under the hood. I’ve got plenty of 1/0 to break off from there.

That’s the current plan.


Stay safe, healthy and sane out there.




Jeremy

[jeremy.farlow]

Here’s the remote charge/jump port... also makes for a nice junction box in the engine bay.
I’m no electrical engineer, but here’s my thought process:

2 @ 50Ah batteries, 800 CCA

Theoretically these batteries can deliver 1600 cranking amps, but even high-torque starters peak at 250-275 amps

I’m using 2/0 cable to run from battery disconnect in the rear to engine bay terminals, 400 amp sustained @ 90. C.

1/0 cable from each battery to disconnect and 1/0 cable from terminal to starter.

1/0 is rated at 195 amps sustained @ 90. C.

Obviously the 1/0 in the engine bay is the “choke point”, but if everything is working correctly the starter should never work long/hard enough to get the 1/0 wire warm.

Any thoughts?

I don’t think I’ll gain anything running big wire to the starter, but I’m open to thoughts otherwise.

After the starter the only other real draw is a 240 watt amp. I’m also feeding it with 1/0, which is probably ten times the ampacity needed. Looking to the future I’d like to go full LED for lighting, no real load there...

Likely no updates on this part of the project until next week as I’m waiting on stuff to get here.



Jeremy

[Shifty]

Cool project, very much like something I'd do. 

[VileZambonie]

Very nice

[jeremy.farlow]

Probably not that necessary... but I’m BORED!!!:


I’m not sure if it’s phenolic resin or plastic... but it’s an insulator. Hopefully enough to prevent anything weird like energizing the body of the truck. There’ll be a grounding strap from ground terminal to the body of the box as well as to the frame.

The last tricky bit:

I’ve got two of these 600 amp relays on the way. One is a spare (I like spares) unless I screw up really bad... This will be my kill switch. The ignition lock on my truck is “open source”, there’s no record of the truck being stolen or recovered, but there’s no tumblers in the ignition... twist it and it’s on... Even with a working ignition lock, GM products of this period are notoriously easy to steal. I’ll have enough time and money in this truck that I’d just as soon prevent that. I’m sure I’m more criminally inclined than most on this forum, but I’m not gonna share the switch location...
All the parts should be here by the weekend. The shop is a wreck, so the next couple days are gonna be dealing with that.


Everyone stay safe, sane and healthy out there.



Jeremy

[JohnnyPopper]

Nice work on the Moby, good use of a useless tire well!

They are notoriously easy to steal. Drive a flat head screw driver into the tumbler and you have a new ride!!

BTW, the 240w Amp is a different calculation of energy conversion. 240w RMS.

[jeremy.farlow]

Right... point being that 240 watts at 12 volts is 20 amps... mean usage. The 1/0 is rated at 195 amps continuous. Currently I’ve got the 105 amp alternator, so I’ve got a whole lot of potential.


Jeremy

[jeremy.farlow]

All the cable-swaging fun I could have today. Still lacking battery terminals, now slated for Saturday delivery. No real need to power anything on the truck right now anyway.

I’m still contemplating this addition


I’ve blasted a few of the battery tender transformers apart. They’re simple enough, but I’m also thinking a slightly bigger transformer I could actually use as “shore power” might make better sense. However, I am running out of room to stick stuff like that. Sometimes I hate having options. Especially when I have so much time to mull them.



Jeremy

[jeremy.farlow]

It’s not finalized... and therefore not actually installed... but I kept plugging away today:

There’s some “massaging” still remaining, but this is the idea.

I started running primary wire as well:

The battery grounds are close to the springs, but even if the leaves flip, with the rubber bump stops fully compressed the spring shouldn’t hit the wire.

If I’m wrong I’ll be the first to admit it. Just as soon as I stop cursing and throwing stuff.

Primary wire is run hard to the engine bay and the jump point is mounted:

Annnnnddddd...

It’s likely gonna be a couple of weeks until I get this one checked off. Because here’s the view of the engine bay:

That’s the stock bottom end, almost ready to come out. No sense cutting, swaging or mounting cables right now. The motor is coming out... another one is going in. So on.

I’ll do my best to post a final post here, but I’m moving my posting energy to other sections for the meantime. Find me in brakes and engines in the interim.

Hope everyone is still safe and healthy.




Jeremy

[Da67goatman]

Nicely done 

[bd]

Very well thought out and executed.  I like it!   

For some added protection of the B+ bus, you might consider encasing those long runs of battery cable in one or two layers of abrasion-resistant sleeving available from Del City, McMaster-Carr and various others.  To armor runs of smaller diameter cabling (<5/8" OD), you can use appropriately sized air brake nylon tubing as an effective conduit.  If you haven't done so already, I also recommend burnishing then coating the frame connections using a good antioxidant paste, such as Truck-Lite NYK-77 Compound.

[jeremy.farlow]

I’ll have to do something. The factory split loom has pretty much all disintegrated. I hate split loom, but it does work great for already terminated wiring. Looking at the McMaster page also got me thinking... I’ve got a couple spare 25’, water-cooled TIG torch cable covers... maybe the chassis wiring gets that as a protective layer. Otherwise it’ll have to be split or spiral wound loom. For the factory wiring at least. Thanks for the advice, I’ll post whatever I come up with, but I’ve got a paying job in the shop next week, so there’ll be some radio silence until I can get that job taken care of.



Jeremy

[bd]

Paying jobs are a good thing.  Especially, right now!



To echo a famous man, "Be safe and stay healthy."   

[jeremy.farlow]

Paying job coming along:




It’s an “elevator” for a coworker... his life-partner has been battling bone cancer... she’s in remission, but Greg still expects that sooner or later she’s gonna require a wheelchair. Greg’s retirement house is in a floodplain and therefore elevated... so this is the solution.

Sorry, not sorry, I sprang for a lifetime upgraded Tapatalk membership, so I can upload ALL the pictures.

In suburban world:

Primary electrical is as far as makes sense. I took BD’s advice and have some better-than-regular-split-loom product on the way.

It’s not anything I’ve used in the past so I’ll post some pics to help explain... Billed as flame, heat, tear and wear resistant. Unfortunately, like the raptor paint it will be a while before I can even think about long term updates. I splurged on the installation tools for split-loom tubing, they should work on the stuff I have coming as well.



Be safe. Stay healthy. LOVE your loved ones.



Jeremy

[jeremy.farlow]

This part of the project has stalled, for the moment. It’s as done as makes sense currently.

All of the factory split-loom is gone:

The only parts that didn’t crumble were the pieces wrapped in electrical tape.

I swapped this stuff in lieu of just regular old split-loom:




I like that it overlaps itself. It has marginally better characteristics for heat. The bend radius is comparable to split loom, but it is far more flexible from a point load perspective, so it should be a little more durable to road debris and that sort of impact. The price difference was negligible, etc. It’s another “time will tell thing”. Installation-wise no difference from split loom.


Jeremy