I was walkin threw Canadaintire this weekend when I came across something and right away I thought of a couple of rx7 owners. For the couple of people that have problems hooking up your batterys cause you dont know which wire goes to what i think you should buy these, there $3.89 canadain. You cant go wrong I might even buy them cause when I get tired workin on cars I start to make mistakes. Heres picture;

 

My battery wires are color coded already.

 

i think what throws everyone off, is that the ground cable has a yellow stripe. in my experience, usually the positive side is marked instead

 

Every colored connector I've ever bought had connection problems.

 

May favorites are the marine battery brass strap style connectors.

 

The problem with those is that they are temporary clamps. In short order the contact area between the wire and clamp will corrode, and the wire will continue to corrode up under the insulation as these terminals provide no seal between the wire and the elements. Even if they are totally slathered in dielectric grease the acid rich environment eventually ends up eating the cable and clamp. Not to mention that after a few install/removal cycles the lugs are inevitably stretched and ruined, resulting in a loose fit.

If you want to replace your battery cables properly, automotive stores sell replacement battery cables with cast lugs that are sealed to the end of the cable. They provide an eyelet terminal on the other and come in varying lengths. Also, most of them are colour coded.

What he said. The eyelet terminals used on the cables crimp/solder on solidly and provide an area so that heatshrink tubing can be applied to seal the joint after it is packed with dielectric grease. The brass straps also do not stretch like the lead lugs do.

 

True dat. I have em and they screw up my connections. I had to scrape the insides to a rough preforrated texture to make sure it works properly.

They sucks though

Jason NYC

 

so they pretty much blow eh, good thing i didnt get them LOL. Thanks for that write up Aaron. Yea i need ones cause one of mine is broken/cracked bad maybe ill just buy those strap style connectors.

 

If it's that important you can always just put a sticker on the side of the clamp...

 

Here is another clue. Every Japanese vehicle i have ever owned (including motorcycles) use a black wire with a yellow stripe for ground or negative.

 

Yeah, those clam one ones are a failure waiting to happen. Even better than the stickers are coloured Zip Ties. Just wrap it around the cable where it attaches to the clamp - red for pos etc.

My issue is that I need to replace the positive battery cable, and they are all just single cables from battery to starter. I want one that has the starter cable (obviously) but also has a wire that goes to the main fuse block - like the stock harness - all cast into the lug. The only ones that have seen have a tiny second wire - like a trigger wire or something. 18 AWG wont cut it for the main power supply! I want to avoid open connections like the ones above.

 

In that case you have a few choices:

1. Run a cable down to the starter bolt, then run another up to the fuse box

2. Run a cable down to a distrobution lug and then from there go to the starter and fuse box

3. Make your own cable by soldering two cables into a cast lug and then adding the appropriate eyelet terminals to the other end

4. Buy an engine harness from Mazda

5. Use a strap style battery connector (marine or modern car style) and use two cables with eyelets on each end to connect the stud on the strap to the fusebox and starter

6. Move the whole battery to the back, install a distrobution point up in the engine compartment and run cables as necessary.

 

Thanks Aaron,

1. Hadn't thought of that one. I had thought of it in reverse - battery to + side of fuse box, + side of fuse box to starter, but decided I didn't like that plan.
2. This is the plan that I had decided to impliment, but was weary of open connections, so finding the appropriate distribution lug is the key. I don't trust the "car audio" style blocks in this application.
3. This is what I have now, but it's a hack job. I wasn't able to truely seal the ends of the wires into the lugs, so they've become loose and corroded. I think it says more about my skill than the method.
4. Cha-Ching!
5. Again, hadn't thought of that one.
6. I have amps in one of the bins, and am reluctant to relinquish trhe other bin at this time. But the distribution point idea is still the one I was thinking of.

 

Yeah, car audio style blocks suck.

You may be able to find an appropriate lug at a local electrical supplier. Around here we have Nedco, Westburn Ruddy and a host of others. It won't be specifically designed for your purpose but will basically be a stud in an insulating phenolic block with mounting tabs. If you can't find such a thing locally and don't want to make it, Waytek Wire has them online at http://www.waytekwire.com . $30 minimum order though.

 

A proper distribution block is exactly what I need - thanks! I used to have an account at nedco and westburn and was able to make a whole grounding kit with stuff from them, but of course that was at my old job. When I moved, I gave my dad a virtual gold mine of connectors, eyelets, C-Taps and cable that I couldn't take with me. Now I need to look out here for some options to rebuild my stock.

I'll look at waytek to see what my options are, then do so research locally. Worst case is that I'll buy some electrical supplies from waytek to make the $30.

Thanks for the input!