What are the stock battery wires?

[Nevalite]

Hey,

I did the big 3 a while back when I installed my sound system. I was messing with my battery today and I noticed that I still had the stock wires on the battery, along with the new ones for the big 3. For those of you that don't know the big 3 is replacing your battery-->ground, alt-->bat and engine block-->ground wires.

I want to take off the stock wires but I just want to make sure I know which ones are which.

On the negative terminal:
Theres 1 ring style terminal wire connected that is actually 2 runs of wire connected to this 1 ring thing. Basically a 2 in 1 wire.
Is that the stock ground? Is the only stock wire on the neg terminal the ground?

On the positive terminal:
Theres 2 ring style terminals connected, one bigger one that sits on the bottom, and a smaller one that kind of locks on top of the other. I imagine one of them is the stock alternator wire and the other goes to the starter?
Which one is the alternator wire and which one is the starter wire?


Thanks a lot

[MyFreeCamry]

If you did a big 3 already correctly, you should have already replaced those stock wires

[frojoe]

there is no reason to remove the old wires, as the electricity will take the path of least resistance. having the old wires will just provide a backup, and if you ever remove the system you won't have to reinstall. there is absolutely no reason to remove the old ones performance wise. If you're worried about aesthetics, then go ahead.

[Nevalite]

Originally Posted by MyFreeCamry

If you did a big 3 already correctly, you should have already replaced those stock wires

Thats not true, like frojoe said electricity takes the path of least resistance and a lot of people leave the stock wires on.

I just want to remove them for aesthetics and I'm wondering if what I said in the first post is correct. Is it?

[frojoe]

You are correct about the negative terminal, there is nothing but a stock ground on that one. For the positive terminal, both wires run into a harness with a bunch of other wires. I think the only way for you to tell which is which would be to test the circuit. One of the two will run to the alternator, and the other to the starter I believe. Test them to see which is which. Just taking them off one at a time would work too, when the car starts, then you took off the right one. Whatever you do I would disconnect whatever wire you are going to remove and make sure everything works before you rip it out.

[wtftoy]

So where do you guys buy the wires for the big 3 upgrade? Ebay? Using 1/0 gauge right?

[Black95Cam]

Originally Posted by wtftoy

So where do you guys buy the wires for the big 3 upgrade? Ebay? Using 1/0 gauge right?

1/0 yes.. ebay you can too.. but that doesnt limit to other online store..

[frojoe]

depending on your total wattage, 4 gauge might be plenty, and it would be cheaper. I used a tsunami 4 gauge wiring kit for 2 amps. Here are some pics of my install. Just scroll down a bit.