Battery Cables

[Frank Smidler]

Does anyoneone have suggestions on battery cable lengths?

I have my RV-6 set-up like an RV-7 with the battery forward of the firewall and the contact below. (the only benifit of being a slow builder is you have time to add upgrades) I will mount a common ground block above the battery, just above the longeron level.

I plan to buy the braided ground strap and the flexable battery cable from B & C. Any opinion on these items? Are they worth the extra $?

I can maesure the wires from the contactor to the (+) terminal and the one from the (-) to the ground block but I do not know how much slack to allow. Without the engine in place I don't know what length I need from the ground block to the engine block.

[jarhead]

The fast, smart-a$$ answer is "shorter is better".

Basically it's gonna depend on your exact configuration. Consider using a couple pieces of solid copper wire (Romex or HomeWire type stuff) as a mock-up to figure out the best routing, and get measurements from that.

As far as slack in cables goes - if you're wiring point-to-point between components that don't have any relative motion between them, and it's a short distance (~6"), cut the cable about an inch longer than the point-to-point distance, so the cable will form a gentle arc when it's connected.

If it's a really short distance (~2"), a copper bus bar is better than trying to cut and terminate a cable that short.