my big 3 write up w/pics

[jrot]

I'm currently in the process of upgrading my stereo system and am trying to get the car electronically prepared for this system so i don't tear up my new audio gear or worse, tear up my cars electronics. what good is a nice car audio set up if your car is parked broken? many upgrades will go along with this "big 3" upgrade as well, but I'm only writing on the "big 3" since its something that all of us can benefit from weather upgrading the car in ANY form or just leaving it as a nice Sunday stocker. It's fast easy cheap and needed!

I chose to do mine in 4AWG wire since I'm just adding to factory and my end goal won't require anything more. Most people will do this with 0/1/2AWG or a nice welding wire, and all of those choices are fine. i wouldn't recommend going any lower than 4AWG.


My parts list was as follows

10ft of your choice of power/ground wire (i would rather have too much than not enough)

1 x 18" Power wire

1 x 18" Ground wire

1 x 24" Ground wire

These lengths are and estimate and can change vastly depending on wire routing ect.

Fuse wise i would recommend an inline waterproof midi fuse (also known as a mini ANL) but this is personal preference.

And hand full of proper sized ring terminals. again this can change depending on battery terminals (I used 3 due to the bare wire style battery terminals i used)

*** This is the way i found best, I'm sure there are better ways and of course different ways.*** The smart money is on properly fusing the power wire. The fuse should also be placed within 12" of the battery. *****

******IMPORTANT*****DO NOT REPLACE FACTORY WIRING******YOU ARE ONLY ADDING TO IT*******YOUR ONLY HELPING THE STOCK SYSTEM NOT REPLACING IT*****

The big 3 for those that might not know is

1.Power wire from battery to alternator

2.Ground from battery to frame

3.Ground from frame to block

Here's how i did it....

Starting with power from battery to alternator is easy and self explanatory so i wont spend much time explaining that one...All i did was run a length of wire from the positive battery terminal under the fuse box (just to follow factory wiring) and up the the positive bolt on the alternator...

*************************!!!!!!FUSE THE POWER WIRE!!!!!!****************************

****Many choose to fuse this wire, you want to fuse it at where the wire is rated to burn and you will want this fuse NO MORE THAN 10"-12" from the battery, the closer to the battery the better, not to mention it will easier to mount closer to the battery. (every wire will be different, SO DO YOUR RESEARCH HERE.)****Not fusing could be a potential fire hazard if by some chance the wire does burn****

Mine looks like this.

Now to the grounds....

If you look down here

You'll see an open hole you can use.

The thread of the hole is not as big as it looks. it uses the same thread as most all of the small bolts in the engine bay and inside the car, such as your battery tie down or fuel relay ect ect, so for me it worked out cause i have a box full of bolts and these are plentiful. You could also go to any auto or hardware store and pick whatever bolt style you wanted to use.

Both of your grounds will go here, just like this.

Now that you have those bolted down the way you like you can run them where they go.

If you look down in here....

You'll see this...

Right below the A/C compressor bracket you"ll see the empty hole there, this is where your factory engine ground was and where your factory engine ground and new ADDITIONAL ground will live. Now I've already moved the factory ground so i could clean and sand it just to be sure of good connection

So now just take one wire that you bolted to your frame and bolt the other end AND your factory engine ground here.

Mine looks like this...

The other wire you bolted to your frame will simply run up to your battery negative terminal along with the stock engine ground.

I decided to upgrade my battery terminals as well but what you do there is up to you.

My final product came out looking like this.

******IMPORTANT*****DO NOT REPLACE FACTORY WIRING******YOU ARE ONLY ADDING TO IT*******YOUR ONLY HELPING THE STOCK SYSTEM NOT REPLACING IT*****


See simple and cheap, and by no means do you have to do exactly what i did as far as locations, or places i used for grounds, this was just the most reachable for me and allowed me to follow the factory harness routing for the most part.

I'm now sitting at an optimal 14.57 at all times, and have a little more peace of mind.

Toyota didn't leave us much room amperage wise so when we add in more and more modern electronics we aren't left with much wiggle room, so every little bit you can do to help your system is very beneficial.

This simple upgrade can often times stop voltage drops and light dimming, and just an over all easing of the electrical system.

 

[bioskyline]

very nice

 

[dmp316]

nicely done

 

[jrot]

thank you guys!!! i hope this helps people out some. one of those things everyone should do no matter what....hopefully some people will try it them selves or even find better ways and places to run everything

 

[sylquebec]

I think you must add a fuse on the battery to alternator wire no? It should be a 60 to 80 AMP with your 4 gauge

 

[jrot]

well you would fuse it at where the wire is rated to burn which would be more dependant on the wire which in my case is around 300+ amps, but its kind of a depends who you situation. a lot of guys say you have to and a lot dont. i guess it is really a personal choice. the smart money would be on properly fusing the power wire yes.


P.S. edit to original post made. thank you for the observation.

 

[te72]

I was thinking that this thread might be better placed in the audio section, but I guess this could help anyone out in general. Nice writeup.

 

[jrot]

you know i struggled for a while deciding where to put it but i figured since it can benefit everyone with or without big audio i would put it here, especially since we all seem to add tons of extra electronics.

 

[JetBlackNewYear]

Awesome write-up.

 

[jrot]

thank you sir. its something ive seen mentioned on here alot but never seen detailed. i just figured i would show one of a million ways to do it for someone that may have wanted to do this but was a little hesitant to try.

 

[k20maniac]

nice!, i need to clean up my terminals like that, my stock ones look kinda ugly...

 

[jrot]

yeah those terminals were only like 8 bucks each or something. i got them at darvex.com. i was looking though, and it might be a pain in the ass if i ever need a jump but with the stereo im putting in there is a good chance that ill end up with one battery up front and one in back or 2 in back and none up front depending on how the new alt and missing link affect my charging situation...the one thing that this car will do if nothing else, it will be electrically stable. im hoping to get between 15.5v and 16v if the car can handle it. after 20+ years at normal charging levels it may not do well at that voltage. i guess ill find out haha.

 

[ForcedTorque]

For us electronically challenged....How would we determine where a wire is supposed to burn?????? I wouldn't have any other problem with this mod, but I'm clueless on that, and I would definitely want mine fused.

 

[jrot]

to be honest most places that sale wire by the foot will have info their or a recommended fusing for that particular wire, it comes down to strand count material used ect ect. its honestly a low risk wire since its so above and beyond what you car would put through it stock especially since most people will do this with 0/1/2AWG wire or even a nice welding wire like you would use for relocating your battery to your trunk or some such project. but like i said fusing is where the smart money is and it only cost an extra 10 bones or so and no extra time. i actually think im going to put a bigger disclaimer in the write up so people will fuse it.


*****bigger disclaimer added to original post*****

 

[jetjock]

As someone who is far from electrically challenged my tongue is starting to bleed...

 

[te72]

I can't say I've really seen you hold back much JJ... Care to point out the obvious in your trademarked "hint" style?

 

[jrot]

yeah feel free to flame my stuff man to be honest im always down to learn something new. im surprised i havent been beat down on this already. im just sharing the info i have and if there is better then lets see it. im just here to learn like everyone else.

 

[jetjock]

I hold back a lot. Too much at times :icon_razz

OP: Not going to beat anyone down. What you've done isn't a bad thing. Just that you're sharing something in the belief it's electrically correct when it may not be but as long as nothing dangerous is being done there's no need to pick stuff apart.

 

[jrot]

so point being more that its just not really improving on anything?? i surely dont want to give any bad info to anyone.

 

[jetjock]

It is an improvement. I was mainly referring to some of the things being said. The hardware isn't perfect but if there was a real problem with it I would have posted earlier. Don't sweat it.