GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

Well I tried using my amp's 8 guage but that didn't work. I tried a 4 guage and I still get nothing when I crank her. All the lights and everything turns off when I turn the key. I know normaly you use a 2 guage but I don't have it and need to fix one of my cars for work. The 4 guage is not getting hot and I have two 8 guage grounds (one with paint stripped and one without).

Has anyone had this "same" problem or know a fix and not a guess. I can guess a 2 guage but I have to walk to the store to buy it.

highspeed101

I used a 1 or a 2...what ever the biggest stuff is. But I would think that a 4 gauge should at least start the car...I mean all that has to be powered is the starter

jimlab

A little more information on where you mounted the battery and where you ran the individual cables to would go a long way towards getting you an answer...

wickedrx7

iTrader: (14)

4 Gauge isn't optimal but it should work. Check all connetions including ground. Make sure all grounds are secured to clean metal. Don't forget to ground the ground that went to the stock battery.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

Battery is sitting in drivers side rear glove box.

Cable is ran through firewall on drivers side and uder carpet just below the scuff plate and then to the bin. It's 15' of shielded 4 guage Rockford Fosgate twisted cable. 5' longer then it needs to be but I just need to start the car ( then a clean job later) cause the Honda is toasters strudle and I need a working car. There's about 6" of 4-g' cable from fusebox to 150amp circut breaker then (gold plated Fosgate slip on ends) to platinum Fosgate battery terminal. There are two 8-g grounds, one goes to the rear speaker hole (paint not removed) 1' long and the other to the same point as my amp 3' long (paint removed).

PFC shows 12.6v on new Optima 51R. Lights and radio on only drops to 12.0v. When I crank her it looks like everything shuts off but on close up inspection it dims very badly and reading the commnder the voltage drops to 5v.

rotoboy661

i used 4 guage starts her fine

some thing is not right man

check your ground??

make sure no paint is where the ground wire is connected too

GL man

Railgun

Check everything. It almost sounds like you have a short. I have mine in the same spot. Ran the + through a hole that was unplugged in the bin and fitted it in the fuel line shielding and up to the main breaker box. Tied it back to the stock fitting and grounded it (the battery) locally to a threaded hole that was in the bin. The engine ground remained where is was. No issues what so ever.

jimlab

Huh? What exactly would that accomplish?

Fusebox? Where is the circuit breaker located? It should be within 6-12" of the positive terminal of the battery.

If the engine is cranking but won't start, it sounds like it may be flooded. Have you run the battery dead playing with your electrical system at any point? It may also be that the battery doesn't have enough juice left to start the car even if registering a full charge.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

It's on the oposite end. I know it's all mickey mouse but I just need to make shure it starts then I can reroute the line. My CRX has a blown computer, broken window, etc.

The PFC still registers 12.5v. I've had the battery on the charger and it has never been used other then me trying to crank. The PFC reads 5V when cranking. All the gauges black out and the commander is barely visable.

rzograbian

i did the same setup that you did... one thing i would try is tightening the positive connection on both the battery and the stock location in the engine bay. mine use to do that and it would click and everything would go off... it was loose... other than that, it should be ok.

i have the same optima 51r but for my wire, i used "0" guage fireproof wire...

scotty305

iTrader: (2)

If you're using two 8-gauge ground cables connected to your battery, it's very likely that's the problem. Wires for ground connections should be as thick and short as possible. For the time being, you might be able to get away with adding two or three more ground cables, but make sure that they are making a good connection to the chassis. Scrape off the paint where your ground cables are connecting to the chassis ground. Think of the electricity as needing to make a complete cycle, with the ground being the most important part in the loop. Many electrical gremlins are due to poor ground connections.

15' of Rockford Fosgate stereo cable not very optimun, even if it is what you happen to have lying around. You should eventually get some welding cable from a parts store, that should help deliver the amount of current that your starter needs. Since you're increasing the length of the power wire, you need to increase the thickness to compensate.

In case the optima was drained, you might try getting a jump start. Connect positive to postive, and clamp the ground wire from the other car to one of your engine lift hooks. The exact placement is in the owners' manual.

Good luck,
-s-

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

Swiched batteries (from CRX) but ti still drops to 5v when cranked. I changed the ground to a 1' 4-g wire tot he same point as the amp with paint scraped off and still no luck. I'm just getting a click/clank. So now my thoughts are the alarm or the starter.

jimlab

Could be the starter cut relay of the alarm, but it could also be the starter solenoid. The easy way to find out is to jump power from the battery cable terminal of the starter to the solenoid positive terminal. Some people use a screwdriver and just touch it to both posts, but the safest way to do it is to wire up a temporary switch to connect the two terminals.

When you throw the switch, if the starter still just clicks, it's probably shot. If the engine just cranks over without starting, then your battery may be low or the engine may just be flooded. If the engine starts, then it could be the starter cut relay of the alarm.

jimlab

So will stereo power cable. Most people use welding cable because it's cheap, not because it performs any better. Electrons travel on the surface of the wire, so the more strands you have, the less resistance you have, which makes stereo power cable a good choice. Most people simply opt not to pay the high premium per foot for name-brand cable.

FWIW, I have 2-gauge Phoenix Gold power cable in my car.

Speed of light

iTrader: (8)

Jimlab, isn't the skin effect an AC (esp. HF & RF) phenomenon? I don't think there's any consequence at DC, except to say that the self inductance of the cable may be less and thus improve its [step] transient response.

wickedrx7

iTrader: (14)

[QUOTE=jimlab]Huh? What exactly would that accomplish?


Stock rx-7=bad grounds, hence all the $200 ground kits. This is the main ground that goes to the motor... agreed?

Grounding the stock location to the chassis will help to ground the motor. I know it runs from battery to the chassis then to the motor. If you ground it again, you have two points that are connected to the chassis. Most of those ground kits offer like 5 points or something. This might not be necessary, but when trouble shooting something like this, wouldn’t you want to cover all the bases?

jimlab

But you said to ground the ground that went to the stock battery. How does a cable going from ground to... ground... help?

It wouldn't affect the starting of the engine. I eliminated the original battery ground cable altogether and had no additional ground straps on my engine and had no problem starting it with 4-gauge (now upgraded to 2) cable and a Hawker Genesis in the bins.

jsplit

I've had that ground to ground arguement with so many people I was beginning to think I was the only one who realized it was pointless.

Gremlin1802

I ran 1 guage to my battery. Grounded the front, and put another ground for my battery. Also put a circuit breaker on the positive side, right beside the battery. I have no problems cranking.

FD3SR1

jegs battery relocation kits come with 4ga. wire. 4ga. should be fine if you have a test light or an ohm meter, use it to see where the power is being lost.

wickedrx7

iTrader: (14)

I guess I just like doing extra things to assure no problems. I guess it is overkill but you wouldn't know anything about overkill.

I actually fixed a friends starting problems by realizing his ground was not hooked to the motor after a rebuild. The only ground strap was the UIM and it wouldn't carry enough current so the car would intermittently not start. Hooked the ground to the motor and never had a problem again. When the motor would run with only the UIM ground, the ground got nice and hot.

scratchjunkie

i just bought a jegs kit and mine came with 2gauge.

Gremlin1802

Why the frown? 2 guage is better then 4 guage.

jimlab

In fact, 2-gauge is perfect. It's the largest cable that will easily fit in the channel beside the seat and beneath the fender liner, and for the ~9-10 foot run from the battery up to the battery distribution terminal in the engine bay, it's more than large enough.

GoRacer

iTrader: (2)

Well mine is still not starting, so I will carpool the rest of the week. I changed the ground to the rear strut bar. I sanded down the nut and the area around the bolt and attached the ground there with a 3' 4-G. I know it's supposed to be 1' but could that be the cause or do I still not have a proper ground? I wanted to use the rear seat belt hole for the permanent setup but I don't know for sure that the groudn is the problem. I cut off 6' of cable from the positive run, so now it's 11' long. THere's a foot extra so I car reroute and trim it later. The ends are not really crimped on. Allthough I tried but the crimp rings just kept calling me whimpy and kicked my butt. I don't know if this is the cause either. I also don't know if the wiring harness ground is grounding because the intermediate housing it's attached to I painted (black). I tired to jump the starter by touching the two studs together with a screwdriver and the start spun but it did not engage into the trans and start the engine.