I need help identifying a cable.

[SlyteX13]

The cable in question is a main power cable that runs down in the direction of the starter motor, a little higher up in the chain. It has a fair amount of length to it and ends in a ring lug with a rubber hood.
Any help would be appreciated!

 

[Blackwolf101]

Is it connected to the actual battery clamp in that pic? Did you connect it there? More pics?

The grey plastic cap on it makes it look like the wire that connects to the back of the alternator to charge your battery.. but where it is in the picture is od..

 

[Fu Manchu]

Could someone have added it to the alternator as part of these fashionable ‘big 3 (or4) wiring ‘upgrades’?

 

[99notout]

Has your car got a trailer plug, if so, is there an anderson plug in the boot for a caravan? They usually take the 12v directly from the battery for those.

Disconnect it and see what stops working.

 

[Blackwolf101]

Could someone have added it to the alternator as part of these fashionable ‘big 3 (or4) wiring ‘upgrades’?

I'm not familier with these upgrades you've mentioned. Generally only 1 thich-ish red wired is connected to the back of the alternator (under the bolt and secured by a nut) and these plastic caps sit on that bolt/lug so they don't short out to anything as this particular wire is connected directly to battery + and is un-fused.. so if shorted to engine metal or chassis, it will just smoke up and melt. If not connected up to alternater as it should be, your car will still run fine, unfortunately the battery will not be getting charged, this single wire is solely responsible for charging the battery.

 

[Fu Manchu]

The ‘Big 3’
It’s when cables from chassis to ground, battery to chassis and alternator to battery are done with bigger than factory cable.
Some also involve a second positive battery to alternator positive cable.

 

[Fu Manchu]

To clarify further.
Alternator to battery, connecting to the earth point on the back of the alternator and going back to battery.

Alternator to positive, goes to battery positive.

 

[Blackwolf101]

The ‘Big 3’
It’s when cables from chassis to ground, battery to chassis and alternator to battery are done with bigger than factory cable.
Some also involve a second positive battery to alternator positive cable.

Yeah i know about these upgrades, just didn't know they're referred to as 'big3' LOL however they are mostly of benefit when you ugrade the alternator to higher output one. Saying that, even if you use original wire and there are some voltage losses in that cable, the regulator will always make up for it. So for example if you loose 0.3V in the lenght of the cable, the alternator/regulator will push it's output to 14.8V (so that you still get the 14.5V on the battery.. just as an example).. so theoretically if you would to conect a 1mm(sq) wire from alternator to battery and turn on the headlights (while engine running, and battery fully charged at 14.5V) lights combined wattage 130W (headlights and parklights) which is 8.95A which means you'd get bigger losses on that wire, say 5V but still have the required 14.5V on the battery, tho alternator will be working harder and pushing out 19.5V while the said wire would be quite hot (as it dissipates the 5V within it). The regulator in the alterantor (part of it inside the instrument cluster) gets feedback from the car's voltage (battery) and not actually from the alternator itself, so if there are voltage drops detected, it opens up more voltage flow (via the brushes) to the rotor winding to create a stronger magnetic field in order to generate more voltage on the stator winding to give more output. But long story short, putting in thicker wire upgrades will probably only extend the life of the regulator and the stator brushes. Regardless how thick wire you use to connect between battery and alternator, remember that this wire is connected to the stator windings which are only about 1mm thick, altho there are 3 such windings inside as it is a 3-phase AC system that gets rectified to DC by 10-20A diodes.. All in all, i would deffinitely not waste my time upgrading the alternator wire to slightly thicker than the factory one as doing that is futile. An alternator can only provide you as much current as it's designed for, if you push it beyond these limits you'll stuff it up, and thicker wire won't increase the current. If you do require more current to run lots of current hungry devices, install a second (identical) alternator. Upgrading to thicker wires is however beneficial for starter motors.

 

[99notout]

Yeah i know about these upgrades, just didn't know they're referred to as 'big3' LOL however they are mostly of benefit when you ugrade the alternator to higher output one. Saying that, even if you use original wire and there are some voltage losses in that cable, the regulator will always make up for it. So for example if you loose 0.3V in the lenght of the cable, the alternator/regulator will push it's output to 14.8V (so that you still get the 14.5V on the battery.. just as an example).. so theoretically if you would to conect a 1mm(sq) wire from alternator to battery and turn on the headlights (while engine running, and battery fully charged at 14.5V) lights combined wattage 130W (headlights and parklights) which is 8.95A which means you'd get bigger losses on that wire, say 5V but still have the required 14.5V on the battery, tho alternator will be working harder and pushing out 19.5V while the said wire would be quite hot (as it dissipates the 5V within it). The regulator in the alterantor (part of it inside the instrument cluster) gets feedback from the car's voltage (battery) and not actually from the alternator itself, so if there are voltage drops detected, it opens up more voltage flow (via the brushes) to the rotor winding to create a stronger magnetic field in order to generate more voltage on the stator winding to give more output. But long story short, putting in thicker wire upgrades will probably only extend the life of the regulator and the stator brushes. Regardless how thick wire you use to connect between battery and alternator, remember that this wire is connected to the stator windings which are only about 1mm thick, altho there are 3 such windings inside as it is a 3-phase AC system that gets rectified to DC by 10-20A diodes.. All in all, i would deffinitely not waste my time upgrading the alternator wire to slightly thicker than the factory one as doing that is futile. An alternator can only provide you as much current as it's designed for, if you push it beyond these limits you'll stuff it up, and thicker wire won't increase the current. If you do require more current to run lots of current hungry devices, install a second (identical) alternator. Upgrading to thicker wires is however beneficial for starter motors.

Great write up, very clear and concise. Thanks!

 

[Blackwolf101]

Great write up, very clear and concise. Thanks!

Cheers, yeah i try