Intruder

Hello people!

Today I tried installing my new battery terminal (Lighning Audio BCMU2), but I could not complete the job because the cable that goes to the positive terminal is too short to reach my new terminal. I am talking about the stock wire of the car -- +12V.

What am I supposed to do? Is there a "standard" procedure for this?

Thanks for helping me out!

Rider69

is the stock wire attached anywhere to other cables liek with a zip tie or anything that maybe you can cut the tie and give it some more slack. Take a few pics so we can see what the whole setup looks like. Good choice in connectors though. I am glad you took my advice.

Intruder

the cable was attached to a plastic holder with electrical tape, but I cut it loose and it's not coming far enough. basically, they are two cables, crimped to the old terminal which is an L shaped piece of metal. there might be something else holding the cable, but I can't see it nor reach it. I removed the battery, but the cable goes under the battery's resting place so I can't see where it goes and what holds it...

damn...

you people just pull the cable and connect it to the new terminal, is it?

MisterT

With my battery terminals, I didn't have any problem with the wire being too short. If any thing, the negative terminal had to be tacked down with a hammer on the negative post. Is this the positive wire going to the alternator or the one going to the fuse box?

MisterT

Intruder

Well, I don't know. They are separate wires, crimped to the same terminal. One of them could be going to the alt. the other to the fuse box, but I cannot see anything beyound .... 12" down the wire (from the terminal).

MisterT

I will look tomorrow. We (in Charleston) are under a tropical depression, so it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow. It hasn't rained hardly at all tonight, so hopefully the weather will be clear enough to check. I am also going to look in to mesh grills for the car, but not sure if it will work on a '01 and up. The posts I have seen are for '99. Blue has them on his car, and it looks tight. This was one of my weekend projects if it doesn't rain and if I don't have to help my brother redo duct work under his house. Lastly, I wanted to paint calipers, but it has been too much raining on and off this week and from the looks of it, this weekend and next week. I know off topic here.

MisterT

Dave Cameron

Hey Intruder- how are you doing!
I know I have asked before, but what year is the car? Yes, one goes to the alternator, that is where the charge to the battery comes from, and the other goes to the fuse block, that is where the power from the alternator and the battery goes in the car electrical system.
I honestly did not run into the issue because like Mister T and others I upgraded the wires from the alternator to the battery at the time of the install of the new terminal.
By tugging on the lines which one seems to not have the distance. on it?
How goes the rest of the system? Good I hope!

Intruder

look, but I think your car is different...

Intruder

Hey Dave, it's good to see you again!
My car is a 2nd gen Protege.

MisterT has not upgraded his alternator wire yet (I think). Is there any other way of connecting those two wires to the new terminal? I don't want to tug too hard... if somethng snaps, I won't be able to repair it and I'll be "dead".

The rest of the system is good. I've put a temporary hold on the B-quiet stuff. Once I install the sub and everything else is running fine, I will "brown bread" the rest of the car.

MisterT

I have a 3rd Gen. Pro so I can't help much on the wire. Maybe Blue could or some one else with a 2nd. I rerouted and removed some wires on my groundkit while it was drizzling. I haven't gotten to the alt. yet. I don't know if I will. There is guy on the other forumn who did his in 1/0 gauge and beefed up the alternator as well as put 1/0 or 4 gauge wire to the fuse box (overkill) and still got dimming lights. He was running a JL 1000 watt mono amp and a 300.4. It may be in the wiring of the headlights itself that causes the dim. I wonder if the new MSP with the crappy Kenwood subs make the headlights dim. I guess there is no way to turn battery so pos lead is closer to the wire? One good thing about the 3nd Gen. is that the alternators are easier to get to (at least Blue's is). Mine you have to crawl under the car.

Off topic, but got paint for calipers and some blue flex loom and gutter shields for the grills. I figured if it clears up, I can at least start some of the stuff. Once it's done, I can update my website.

MisterT

Intruder

You mean the 2nd gen, right?

man, I already hate this ****
I'll post pics later, but this cable is really short (I wonder why). everything and everyone seems to be stopping me from finishing my setup

Is it a good idea to extend this cable by crimping it to a piece of my 4 gauge wire and sticking the other end in the LA terminal? The original cable is not 4 gauge... I think it's 8 gauge, or whatever is thinner than 4 gauge...

Intruder

I took a few pics... I'll post 'em in a minute.

Intruder

here we go:

Rider69

Links don't work, email them to me and I can post them for you if there is a problem. Rider69@cflprotege.com

Actually I think it is a problem with your server as your sig pic no longer works either

Intruder

there seems to be a temporary problem with my host.
even my signature has disappeared.
they'll be back shortly... (I hope!)