When I was home from college on Thanksgiving break I put in a second battery on the passenger side. I was told I should use welding cable to connect the two, but at $5 a foot + ends + labor to have them custom made its way to much for what I'm looking to spend.

So I then went to O' Reilly's down the road, but they didn't have any regular batter cables long enough. Anyone have suggestions?? I had the thought occur to me last night about cannibalizing a set of jumper cables but I'm not sure about that.

Also I was told to connect both positive and negativ cable to both batteries, not to ground the negative cable from the second battery. Any iformation would be helpful.

I will try to get a picture up tomorrow. Next week is finals week then I'm back home for Christmas break and hope to finish this little project then so I can re-run the wiring and and the 2nd pair.

 

Not sure on the other things but I cannibalize jumper cables for the large wiring all the time. It is far cheaper than buying wire.

 

Where the hell are you finding welding A/C cable for $5 a foot? My local welding supply sells 2 gauge for $2.69 a foot and it's just over $2.50 at my local Ace hardware.
Amazon.com had some in 10' rolls for about $22 shipped last I looked and ebay had some listed for around $1.55 per foot.
The pound on ends run about $5 per 8 pack and the screw lock type run about a buck a piece.

Another thing I found at my local welding supply shop was quick connects. Warn wants like $70 and this place had a very secure, twist lock type for wire from 6 gauge all the way to 2/0 for $9 each. Great for portable winch mounts:

 

Stinger high strand wire and the matching connectors will do you well. Solder+Crimp+Shrink Tube and those will never come apart.

 

thats the way to do it!

using jumper cables is a bad idea at best, most the "higher end cables" are 4 gauge at best, which is the very least you should use, your connections are correct as far as + to - but it doesnt matter if you run the ground to the engine or the other battery, i say its better to go to the engine tho, because another good ground will never hurt these trucks, but your prices are very steep...

 

if i was going to add another battery to my truck i would probably get the ground cable off another truck to use as a ground and then run relatively short piece of good wire straight from the alternator to the positive terminal on the 2nd battery.

 

I asked my dad to check the local store back home and thats the quote they gave him, but i will definitely look on ebay and amazon now.

Thanks, I had the jumper cable idea, but part of me thought it was a bad idea, thanks for the info and letting me know the connection would be correct.

Here is picture I just took:

(http://s1219.photobucket.com/albums/...rent=truck.jpg)

 

the best way to *** a second battery, is to go to the wrecking yard, ebay, or any other means, to find a 2nd gen cummins, then rob the passenger side battery box, and the cables, and you are set

 

Yeah, I plan on going that route myself. The only delay is I gotta get the oomph to take off my hood and do some cutting to make my fake scoop functional. Re-route my existing CAI to what will then be a full functioning scoop, thus freeing up the spot where my filter and heat shield currently reside.
Two birds with one stone as it were.


As far as the OP goes, jumper cables aren't stout enough. Minimum 4 gauge for 6' or less, 2 gauge for anything over is what I've always gone by...

 

I went and bought a brand new deep cycle marine battery, and the only battery box on ebay at the time was $50 + shipping, so i just went to the dealership and got one for maybe a couple $ more

How is this for cable: http://cgi.ebay.com/2-GAUGE-RED-POWE...#ht_1499wt_906 ?