Monday, May 01, 2006 at 23:15
The batteries when discharged will want to draw up to 30 amps each. I reckon an 8-gauge cable would be barely adequate. 4-gauge cable would be adequate. Its the thick stuff thats about as thick as your battery's starting cable.
Need to run the cable carefully so its not as risk of shorting out on metal - I personally would have it encased in split conduit to be sure.
You'll need short circuit protection - best way would be to have a fairly thick fusible link at the car battery and at the first C/T battery.
You'll need a 175amp Anderson Plug at the towbar connection.
You'll need some sort of isolator like a Rotronics, Pirana, etc etc
You'll need a very good earth lead going to a substantially good connection on the vehicle's body or ideally both the body and back to the starting battery.
I know a lot of people will not do it quite this way, but if you want to have a good system I suggest the above.
Other people (particularly if they only have a single battery in the CT) will get by with thinner 8Ga cable, simple 40amp circuit breakers at each battery, and 50amp anderson connectors, but it may take longer for batteries to recharge.
Cheers
Phil
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