Electrical Gurus - Help with Batter/Alternator/Starter Wiring

[lsuguy]

I am wrapping up the harness piece of my wiring and now have to tackle the Alternator, Starter and Battery Wiring. I will include as much information as I can.

Equipment List:

Trunk Mounted Optima Battery
Powermaster 165 Amp Alternator
Powermaster XS LS Starter (P/N 9509)
All Wiring is Southwire Excel Welding Cable

Powermaster recommends a 2 Gauge Charging wire for the alternator. This is based on the a distance of greater than 10'. They also recommend a 2/0 starter wire due to the distance.

I do plan to run a Ford style remote starter solenoid so that the 2/0 starter cable is a dead leg unless cranking.

Starter Wire Routing Details

• 2/0 Wire from Battery to Starter Solenoid
• 2/0 Wire from Starter Solenoid to firewall bulkhead
• 2/0 Wire from firewall bulkhead to starter

This wire will be not be fused or circuit protected due to using the remote starter solenoid. I feel like the wire size is on the large side but going with Powermaster recommendations.

Alternator Charging Wire Routing Details

• 2 Gauge from Alternator Output Post to Firewall/Cabin Junction Block
• 2 Gauge Wire from Junction Block to Trunk Mounted 200 Amp Circuit Breaker
• 2 Gauge From 200 Amp Circuit Breaker to Battery

From the Junction Block I plan to either use In-Line fuses or Fusible Links to go to the rest of the cars components such as the PSI conversion harness, American Autowire harness and my custom relay center for the Fans/Headlights. If the junction block ends up in the cabin I will go with in-line fuses. If the junction block ends up in the engine compartment I may just stick with the fusible links. I will likely end up with the junction block in the cabin. I have put a lot of effort in hiding all of the wiring on the car.

My questions are related to the alternator charging wire. I have circuit protection between the battery and the junction block. Where I am not protected is between the alternator and the junction block and I am not sure if I am ok like this or if I need to add a circuit breaker here as well. I know most factory solutions use a fusible link here to provide circuit protection. Due to the requirement of 2 gauge wiring I don't think that a fusible link will be feasible.

Also, I am open to comments on the overall plan. I am still trying to figure out how to cram all of this stuff in the car and keep it functional, yet hidden.

Thanks in advance!

[dhutton]

I am not a guru of any kind but 2 gauge for anything other than the starter circuit seems like overkill. Are you planning some kind of mega stereo?

AAW classic update includes alternator wiring and fusible link. Another one for the fuse block.

Don

[lsuguy]

Don thanks for the feedback. I feel like it's overkill as well but I am simply going off of powermaster's recommendations. I dont plan on anything crazy for stereo at all.

Fusible links at the alternator are an issue due to the wire size recommendation. Also if I end up wit the junction block in the cabin I dont want fusible links inside the car.

[dhutton]

I think if you run 2 gauge from the circuit breaker to the firewall then you could use 8 gauge from the alternator to the firewall which lets you use the AAW wire and fusible link. The fusible link goes on the alternator.

Is it a single wire alternator or does it have a remote sense terminal?

Don

[dcrider69]

Simple. This is what I'm using.

https://www.bluesea.com/products/519...k_-_30_to_300A