3g alternator, battery and solenoid relocation

Discussion in 'Technical' started by jasonwthompson, Mar 20, 2014.

  1. jasonwthompson

    jasonwthompson Member

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    Anyone in here have a newer hi amp 3g alternator installed with their battery and starter solenoid relocated to the trunk? I read that the 3g alternators should have at least 4awg going to the solenoid. Some say to move the solenoid so there is not a hot battery cable running through the car to the front, but if you have to run the charge cable from the alternator back to the solenoid, what is the difference? Am I just missing something here?
     
    jasonwthompson, Mar 20, 2014
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  2. bmcdaniel

    bmcdaniel Senile Member Supporting Member

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    That comes from back in the days when alternators only generated 30-60 amps and you only needed a 10 AWG charge wire.
     
    bmcdaniel, Mar 20, 2014
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  3. scooper77515

    scooper77515 No current projects.

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    I have battery in trunk, one-wire 3G alternator up front, a 150-amp fuse inline, and I am using #2 welding cable all the way.

    I kept the solenoid up front near the starter, and all the other accessories I have running off of it (electric fan, fuel pump, etc.)
     
    scooper77515, Mar 20, 2014
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  4. Bryant

    Bryant forgot more than learned

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    heres the way i like to do this set up.
    you need to switch to the newer starter motor ford started using around 93 on 5.0s. its a light weight high torque starter. it has a signal post and a full time battery post on it.
    i run a 2 gauge or thicker cable from the battery to the starter motor battery post. then a 4 gauge cable from the alt to the batt post on the starter.
    now i like to put the solenoid on inside of the fire wall right under the heater box. now if you need to be nhra legal this is where it gets more complicated. nhra requires that the engine has to shut off if the rear mount battery switch required for the trunk mounted battery is turned off. in a normal wired car the battery can be disconnected when the engine is on and the alt will keep it running. so at this point i run a 8 gauge wire from the bat pos post to the shut off switch then up to the solenoid. i then take the main power supply wire to the fuse block and put it to the same post on the solenoid. now all you need to do is put a 10 gauge wire from the other post on the solenoid to the the signal post on the starter.
     
    Bryant, Mar 21, 2014
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  5. jasonwthompson

    jasonwthompson Member

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    Bryant, I like the sound of this setup. Does the new style starter have the solenoid on it, or still use the external mounted one?
     
    jasonwthompson, Mar 22, 2014
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