Battery Terminal Expansion Options (2 Viewers)

[jakemccurdy]

Anyone have any insight on adding electrical to the starter system? My switch panel has m10 lugs on the main wires but the terminals on the GX are m12. I ordered several battery terminal expanders on Amazin but their all huge and most don’t come with a cover. I don’t really want to go without a cover one since I drink and wrench often.

Anyone have particular brand of terminal they like for their GX? Any thoughts on making a cover for something like the terminal below?

I guess I could relug the wires to m12 also but I’m thinking I’ll run a 0/1 main feed back to my rear at some point so will have to cross this bridge at some point.

 

[Banandalorian]

I don’t really want to go without a cover one since I drink and wrench often.

I lol'd

I've been eyeballing the sdhq terminals for a while. They are pricey but I also don't know that battery terminals are something you want to use the cheapest Amazon brand for (I could be wrong and this may not matter)

SDHQ Built Complete Billet Battery Terminal Kit

SDHQ'S Complete Billet Battery Terminal Upgrade kit is designed to replace and protect your vehicle's OEM battery terminals. These blocks distribute power for your accessories

sdhqoffroad.com

 

[MotoDave]

I hate the look of a bunch of wires going to the battery terminals. If you need that many extra circuits (that you're definitely protecting with the proper fuse, right?) i'd use a bus bar like this

https://www.bluesea.com/products/2307/Common_150A_BusBar_-_Four_1_4in-20_Studs_with_Cover

 

[re_guderian]

I lol'd

I've been eyeballing the sdhq terminals for a while. They are pricey but I also don't know that battery terminals are something you want to use the cheapest Amazon brand for (I could be wrong and this may not matter)

SDHQ Built Complete Billet Battery Terminal Kit

SDHQ'S Complete Billet Battery Terminal Upgrade kit is designed to replace and protect your vehicle's OEM battery terminals. These blocks distribute power for your accessories

sdhqoffroad.com

i have the SDHQ ones, and yeah, they're pricey. Their brick and mortar store is close to me (and close to @jakemccurdy as well). I'm still bothered by the fact that the really expensive silicone covers have an exposed spot in them. Not sure why. Other than that, they are beefy. Not sure I'd go that route again, though. I mean battery terminals aren't rocket science, you'd think. But with lights, winch and extra crap hooked up, it's good to have options.

 

[jakemccurdy]

Those are all pretty good options. As much as I’d love to go grab the sdhq I don’t think I can justify it at that price. Wish there was one similar without the overland tax.

I may go bus bar or just re-lug it. I appreciate your guys input.

 

[NCFJ]

Look at marine electrical hardware. Blue Sea has all the components you could ever need and it is all marine grade.

I'd stay away from the Amazon type battery terminals shown above. All show and little go.

 

[Rednexus]

Amazon bus bar is the way to go for smaller accessories (light bars, etc).
Amazon product ASIN B09LLWWTF1
Feed it from the battery with a 10-ga or larger wire. I'll be building a setup using this to feed my custom relay box/switch setup in the coming weeks.

These are of course too small for something like a winch. But I will be powering my onboard air via the bus bar.

 

[Banandalorian]

i have the SDHQ ones, and yeah, they're pricey. Their brick in mortar store is close to me (and close to @jakemccurdy as well). I'm still bothered by the fact that the really expensive silicone covers have an exposed spot in them. Not sure why. Other than that, they are beefy. Not sure I'd go that route again, though. I mean battery terminals aren't rocket science, you'd think. But with lights, winch and extra crap hooked up, it's good to have options.

I have a switch panel which pretty well covers my wiring except for maybe a winch at some point so I don't really need the extra connection points. It's more for cable management options and having better covers vs trying to cut or bend the OEM terminal covers to fit around the additional wires. I'm not sure if that's worth $170.

 

[r2m]

I like the bus bar option. From McMaster-Carr you can get a 1/2" x 1/2" x 6" long copper bar (McMaster-Carr - https://www.mcmaster.com/products/copper-sheets/material~110-copper/shape~sheet-and-bar/multipurpose-110-copper-sheets-and-bars-8/length~6/thickness~1-2/width~1-2/) for less than $13.00, drill and tap your own holes for your accessories and run a 1 AWG copper cable/wire from that bus (wherever you mount it) to the battery. Then your battery only has on connection.

 

[sheptastic]

I wasn't a fan of the big, exposed metal blocks connected to the battery terminals either. I went this route:

 

[r2m]

I wasn't a fan of the big, exposed metal blocks connected to the battery terminals either. I went this route:
View attachment 3414114

Very clean! I use those breaker fuses too and they're great!

 

[OCGX]

This is what I run, very similar to the SDHQ. I was able to remove the factory lug clamps and bolt directly to this terminal.
Amazon product ASIN B09MKCCM83

 

[swild]

@sheptastic would you mind sharing the battery thing link and how you mounted your air compressor? That looks like the perfect setup.

 

[BigSwede]

Those are all pretty good options. As much as I’d love to go grab the sdhq I don’t think I can justify it at that price. Wish there was one similar without the overland tax.

I may go bus bar or just re-lug it. I appreciate your guys input.

I looked at a bunch of options, but the thing that tipped the scales to the SDHQ terminals for me was that they accept the factory cable ends and so don't require re-termination of the cables. But yeah, pricey.

 

[Washingtontaco]

SDHQ is the way to go!! See below.

Builds - 2018 Premium 460 build

Not forgotten. I wanted it on the same circuit as the factory plate light. Currently the 7 pin is removed from under the rear bumper as their no safe place for it to exit below the bumper line. This is another deferred mod that needs to be accomplished. Finding and cutting a good location in...

forum.ih8mud.com

Post #544

 

[jakemccurdy]

@sheptastic would you mind sharing the battery thing link and how you mounted your air compressor? That looks like the perfect setup.

@sheptastic did a better job than me on his install but I think he got the idea from this idiot:

Just use a 2781 Like Shep did instead of the 2780 like in the video.

 

[jakemccurdy]

I wasn't a fan of the big, exposed metal blocks connected to the battery terminals either. I went this route:

Nice! I went a similar route with the install on HDPE. Did you use a cutting board too? I still need to dress my wires a bit better to clean this up. I ended up just re-lugging the power lead to my switch panel to a size that worked with the factory terminal since I don't have a high amp gauge that needs to be fed. If I did need to feed a second system though it looks like @OCGX has the winner. Love the SDHQ's builds and they're like 10 miles from my house but I'm much to cheap a bastard to to part with $150 for a set of battery terminals.

I also got one of these (https://amzn.to/45QStcm) and a 100AMP fuse which should straighten out that bend.

 

[sheptastic]

@sheptastic did a better job than me on his install but I think he got the idea from this idiot:

Just use a 2781 Like Shep did instead of the 2780 like in the video.

@jakemccurdy I did indeed draw inspiration from your install.
@swild There's some info in my build thread, particularly Sheptastic 2015 GX460 Build - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/sheptastic-2015-gx460-build.1282907/post-14459701 and Sheptastic 2015 GX460 Build - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/sheptastic-2015-gx460-build.1282907/post-14418311 (where I credit Jake's videos).

 

[sheptastic]

Nice! I went a similar route with the install on HDPE. Did you use a cutting board too?

Yep. I transitioned an older cutting board from the kitchen for camping and used my old Coleman camping cutting board for the electrical.

Sheptastic 2015 GX460 Build

Just got some beverage line to make the new Dometic water faucet more functional. I picked up the faucet before our last trip and it worked great for us. It's pricy for sure, but it's got some good build quality. I tried a cheap one initially, but the water tasted horrible. I'm hoping the...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[r2m]

Yep. I transitioned an older cutting board from the kitchen for camping and used my old Coleman camping cutting board for the electrical.

Sheptastic 2015 GX460 Build

Just got some beverage line to make the new Dometic water faucet more functional. I picked up the faucet before our last trip and it worked great for us. It's pricy for sure, but it's got some good build quality. I tried a cheap one initially, but the water tasted horrible. I'm hoping the...

forum.ih8mud.com

Delrin and Polypropylene are great materials for cutting boards AND under the hood among many other uses.
They are UV, chemical resistant, and withstand high impact and light weight (compared to metal options). I've been wanting to use it for skid plates for a long time, but haven't had the time or money to make it happen.