I have an interesting question about battery grounds, My battery is actually in an old toolbox that i did a lot of work to, to convert to a battery box, it's bolted to the floor behind the p***enger seat, the question I have, is that the ground will be a bolt that holds the box to the floor, I have to s****e off the paint around it of course, and on the bottom of the floor pan, what is the best thing to prevent corrosion where the paint is missing, yet allow good electrical contact? I seem to remember putting petroleum jelly on battery terminals up north, would this work on the inside of the box? what about under the car? can i bolt it down then paint over the outside of the bolt? It's an Odyssey pc625, I moved my two fuse blocks from inside of the box to somewhere else, but left the block with the two main fuses in there. I asked my grandson for his opinion, but he just pointed at the box and went bla bla bla, It might be a detailed answer, but I don't speak baby.
I wonder if that weld-through primer would work? I always use anti-seize (messy) since it's around. I guess the red stuff they paint on the terminals would work?
thats a good idea, I just don' want bare metal, especially at a ground point, the current can make corrosion worse.
no they are completely sealed, they reabsorb any gas produced. they have an emergency vent in case something goes drastically wrong during charging, but if that opens the battery is ruined anyway.
Die lectric (sp) would work. I question a battery ground going to the sheet metal and not to the frame.
Use di-electric grease. It will prevent corrosion and allow conductivity. Hopefully you still have a good parts store that carries it. BTW, I really like the box and the way you modded it. Nice clean way to tuck all your electrical stuff away. My only concern is for the fumes g***ing out of the battery would be very detrimental to your electrical stuff unless you vent the battery out of the box.
it's a unibody,it's all one piece, i could run a short piece of cable from the bolt underneath to a frame rail. I won't go into the car as it's off topic, but thats pretty heavy gauge sheet metal in the floor pan.
these batteries are completely sealed, Thats one of the neat things about them, they are absorbed gl*** mat, anything outg***ed is reabsorbed. i found the box and picked this particular size odyssey because it fit perfectly in there. you'll have to pardon the floor, i just recoated all my floor pans with white tractor paint last night, once it's done being tacky i can start reinstalling stuff.
i'll just say it's old and i've got too much money in it and too many years in it. and WAY too much time
Best way to set up ground points on a frame, or even a body brace thick enough to accept the weld, is to braze or tig weld a stainless bolt head to it. Then paint around it to protect from rust and corrosion. Now you have the shank of the bolt sticking out to place cables and wires on for grounds. Coat them all with dielectric grease, screw a nut down tight, and you've got as good a ground as possible. Body metal can be grounded almost as well if you grind or s****e a spot clean to bare metal, then use a torch or heavy soldering iron with flux core solder to "tin" a spot where you have drilled a hole for the grounding screw or bolt. Then use the dielectric grease. Dave
Dielectric grease between the bare metal parts. Bolt everything together. Clean up grease that pressed out and feel free to paint over the joint. The paint on the outside will in no way effect the metal to metal contact that is helped by the dielectric grease.
well this thread is about the battery ground not the car, car has a lot of meaning since my dad picked it out for me, and his health isn't too good anymore. i won't mention it because it's not proper for this board but i may post a piece of two if it's interesting,
I just found about 30 packs of bulb grease I had forgotten i bought on clearance, same thing, dielectric grease, I love being a packrat, you never know what you are going to find in your garage.
Anyway you can run a ground from the battery to the engine block or trans? I'd enjoy seeing a pic or three of this car.
A product we use in the telecom battery strings is NO-OX dielectric grease, I have used it on my car batteries for years. http://www.sanchem.com/aSpecialE.html
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