question: putting battrey in the tray of the ute,
do/can i run the cables through the cab under the carpet or must go under the bodie?
also can i earth the neg cable to bodie beside the battrey?

hey rocket man!

i asked same question a few weeks ago, came to the conclusion its best to run through the cab to prevent any damage occuring plus it looks neater :)

i have a ca18det, i ran the cable through the firwall, then under the carpet on drivers side, through the back cabin wall and then outsideand up into the tray... i wholesawed 3 new holes.. i recommend using some beefy cable to prevent any volt drop etc..

its recommened u use a smaller size negative to run to the engine block anyway,somewhere near started motor and also run a recent size to the body, make sure the paint is bare etc and have a solid connection... once tight put a lil bit of paint over it to prevent rust too :)

TOP STUFF!! wanted to be shore...cheers mate..

you recon 10mm to much or not big enough?

anytime mate, umm 10mm is prob a bit small, although should be fine, just thing about the humper leads u use, if they get hot, there too small... i would go for something about 10-15mm..

mines about 19mm :) in leccy terms its 95mm2

Running a high amp line into the cab is never a good idea. The only wires that go into the cab should be behind a relay/switch setup,or at least a fuse/breaker of some sort,(battery cables shouldnt have anything). If you have a short in the line, its up against carpet which is quite flamable and directly under you.
In saying that its one of those things that will probally never be a problem so you can argue both ways forever. (I do safety consultation in the mining industry on the side so pardon my paranoia)

Unless you have an ultra low ride that scrapes on gumnuts then using split-loom to cover your cables will provide more than ample protection. When running cales, always have plenty of extra since by the time you go up and down and around, you tend to use much more than you think.

I would suggest that you run the cable under the body and into the tray. Use black split loom to protect the cable, plenty of cable ties to pull it up to the chassis, and when you pass through metal (ie the tray) use gromets and silicon to protect it. My cables in the pootrol are all 19mm diameter.

As for earths, the more the merrier, and size is not as critical as the active cable. In my Pootrol I have earth leads on both batteries
from battery to body
body to engine
body to chassis
engine to chassis
fuel tank to chassis
These are all about 10mm diameter in size.

As for cable size, in order to correctly calculate the actual size needed, a good online calculater avaiable here is a good rule of thumb. I sat down with a sparky, and confirmed the results that the web page gave, so its pretty accurate. Assume an acceptable voltage loss of 5% max, 3% is better, but probally excessive.
A quick calc of 5% drop, 100amp draw, 5m cable run and 12V system yeilds a 50mm2 cable.

online cable size calculator

DC cable calculator

WOW now i have a headache

spoke to my engineer this morning just to be sure, it must run under the car, and at the lowest point of the floor where the cables run must be covered to avoid damage....thats what im been told anyways!!

thanks guys

Just as well you checked.

Different states and engineers = different requirements

Mine runs inside the car under the carpet, had to be double insulated and have a gromet where it passed through the firewall.

year its a joke should be the same right across the board from state to state, after all where on the same lump of dirt...

through the cab would look much cleaner