I did the big three upgrade for my first mod!

BEFORE










AFTER

 

So I see the new cables but I don't know what they're for. Can you tell me? Whatever it is, it looks nice.

 

It's the big three upgrade:

1/0 awg or 4 awg wire recommended.

ADD without removing existing wiring the following three:

1. battery ground to chassis wire
2. chassis to engine block wire
3. alternator plus to battery plus wire

Typical this upgrade has been done by people who have high electrical power usage by the vehicle (i.e. stereo, lights, amateur radio, etc). Many OEM manufacturers use the thinnest wire that they can get reliability. I believe the Dodge OEM wiring is 6 awg at the thickest. Copper is expense.

The resistance in the wire causes a voltage drop, by adding these three wires the goal is to create great efficiency.

I read in another forum that a guy with a 2012 Ram did the upgrade and notice a 1.5 mpg increase.

Guys did the math for the wiring efficiency impact of the change in resistance of the new wiring to the voltage. Better spark = better combustion. Alternator is able to deliver the charge more efficiently to the battery = less parasite drag of alternator.

The improvements I've noticed so far are my remote starts works from a farther distance. It's to early to tell because I haven't driven long enough to even know if there is a change in mpg.

There are claims to helps with increase of mpg, remote start from further distance, better engine starting,no dimming/flickering of lights, and electric equipment works better.

The upgrade is relatively cheap and I could have done mine for much cheaper. I also added a battery to fuse box and a engine block to battery.


I got my cables from https://weldingsupply.com. They have several colors available.

They also have the ring terminals.

5' of red (+) 1/0 awg cable for alternator to battery and fuse box to battery (Weldingsupply.com)

7' of blue (-) 1/0 awg cable for chassis to battery, engine block to battery, and frame to battery (Weldingsupply.com)

Tsunami 1/0 awg 2 into 1 marine distribution block (ebay)

ANL 1/0 awg inline fuse holder and 200 amp fuse between the alternator and battery (ebay)

7 x Efx 1/0 awg ring terminals (ebay)

4 x 1/0 awg Copper crimping ring terminals (Home Depot) I used a hammer and large center punch on my driveway. It worked really well.

2 x Xscorpion battery terminals (ebay)

1/0 awg wire cutter (ebay)

 

you will have to keep us posted on improvements, or lack of them.

 

Thanks for the explanation, I hadn't heard of this.

 

Im curious as to why you would not remove the existing wires? If you replaced the existing with the larger wire wouldn't that alone remove the resistance caused by the smaller wire?

 

^^good question^^

 

I didn't remove mine, because I saw that most installs recommended not to remove it. I figured it would be extra work anyhow.

The reasons that I have read is that the current will take the path of least resistance with both the original and new wires installed.

 

Any update to this? I've heard of the grounding wire added to the throttle body but this one is new to me.