Ok, so I am sure that this has been discussed many times, and in my searching, I found some good threads, but none that really talked about using a battery other than a std Ford battery, or the Optima 34/78 dual post battery. I found some talk of an Odyssey style battery, which is smaller, but won't crank our cars for long if needed, so was curious if there were other common sizes that people had decided to run, that they make billet battery boxes for.
As many others, I am moving the battery to the back hatch area, but I will be mounting mine up just behind the passengers side rear fold down seat. Not back right next to the pass side 6x9 speaker, which is what I usually see. I am doing this so that I can keep as much open space for cargo, or my T-tops, and also keep the speaker area clear so that I can actually hear the music when I'm not listening to the symphony under the hood.
So, I found a couple different battery box options; I want to go with a billet design regardless, not a sheet aluminum box, or a plastic box. I even found a billet style through some marine supply places that have a cover over the top that matches their upper deck, to prevent accidental shorting across the top of the terminals... which is a concern.
Here are the box styles I found:
I like this design the best, nice and simple, but would be awesome if it had a lid like the 2nd pic.
Here is a cast aluminum box, with a top plate and a lid:
Both of the above boxes assume a battery style/type. They assume the Optima 34/78 style, and I am ok with the Optima, its a great battery, but at $170 my cost (which is a decent discount over retail), its still expensive to me. I wondered if there weren't some different options of gel style batteries (want to avoid corrosion, degassing, etc.) that others have had good experience with.
Finally... battery terminals. I will be making my own leads, and the plan is to solder the cables to the terminals, as I don't care for the clamp-on style... they are prone to issues. I saw some of these quick disconnect style connectors, which look pretty slick, but they don't seem to have a solder option. Curious if anyone has found any creative quick disconnect terminals that solder to the battery cables?
If not, no biggie, as I will be running 2 gauge wire, and if there aren't any good quick connect options, I will just run these:
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