Automotive electricity is one of the most misunderstood things there is and most of the problem comes from the fact that you cannot see it do anything or how it works, all you see is the end result good or bad. So when it comes time to work on the electrical side of things most car owners would rather do most anything else.
But a few basic principles and a little technical advice from yours truly will make your life much better. If you have called and talked to me on the telephone asking for advice one of the things you will hear me repeat often is..."Simple is Good!..."
So... when it comes to adding electrical accessories to your antique vehicle...things like electric radiator cooling fans, electric fuel pumps modern car stereos air conditioning, even the simple things like fog lamps and spotlights, all of those things need a reliable supply of electricity to work.
This is how NOT to add electrical accessories to you antique vehicle.
So that is where the remote battery stud comes in. You can mount a remote battery stud anywhere you want... to establish a reliable source of electricity for all of your electrical accessories. All of those electrical accessories can get their power direct from the battery, from a single source in an easy to reach location.
Because the remote battery studs get their power directly from the battery the electrical current delivered by the remote battery stud is free of voltage spikes and power surges (the battery will act as a capacitor and will absorb all of the voltage spikes from things like the starter solenoid) thus protecting you electrical accessories from damage.
You also know if you have read any of my tech books that the ground side of the electrical system is just as important and the battery side. So if you use a remote battery stud to ground all of you electrical accessories back to the battery you can be assured they will all work as they are supposed to. Electricity needs to travel in a complete circle and anything that interrupts that current in either the battery side or the ground side of that circuit means something will stop working properly on that circuit. Think of this as like having a kink in a garden hose.
This is how all of your electrical accessories should be powered !
Where did Remote Battery Studs Come from...?
I was on a new 20,000 sq. foot building tour. We just happened to walk by the electrical service entrance panel (front panel was off as they were hooking up wires) and as I glanced inside I immediately honed in on two studs, one red and one black.
I asked the electrician what those were called and what their amp rating was...and he gave me the "deer in the headlights look" then mumbled 200 amps..why...are you an inspector? "Nope, you are good...carry on..."
Looking at those studs in that panel box, I immediately thought of automotive applications knowing all of the grounding issues most antique vehicles have. This would be a simple way to ground all of the electrical accessories back to the battery. Rated at 200 amps they will more than do the job and they are cost effective. Being color coded is even better.
Also... these would also work to provide direct battery power from a battery to a host of accessories from any remote location where the stud was mounted, and the power would come direct from the battery. That eliminates problems with voltage spikes and power surges and you could power a host of accessories from a single source.
I eventually found the manufacturer, set up an account and now order 500 studs at a time. They have become good sellers as customers figure out how to use them. The education process takes a while because it is not something normal and not built for automotive applications. Once you use them you soon figure out these are the best things since sliced bread. They are simple and they work.
One day... a few weeks after my fourth order the manufacturer's sales manager called and wanted to verify the name of my company. He said..." as many of those things as you are ordering you must be one of the largest electrical contractors in the country " and I cannot believe I have not heard of your company before. " I tried to convince him I was using then for automotive applications but he was not buying it.
Adding Fused Electrical Circuits... The HD Power Block
If you want some of your circuits to be fused such as those for your modern stereo, you GPS or your cell phone charging circuit you can also install a HD Power Block. It has six individual circuits that accept the modern ATO type fuses and the power block comes with a 10 gauge power wire already attached that has the ring terminal end to fit onto the remote battery stud.
The HD Power Block uses Modern ATO Type Fuses.
The power block is rated at 60 amps total with 30 amps maximum per circuit. A power will work to replace the early style circuit breakers and are much more reliable. One power block can replace six circuit breakers and when connected to the remote battery stud can provide reliable electrical power that is free of voltage spikes and power surges.
I have working on the electrical systems of antique vehicles for more than 30 years. I am self taught and have suffered my share of social embarrassment when I wired something incorrectly and soon after the smoke leaked out. One thing I learned early on is once the smoke has leaked out, you cannot put it back, so it is better to not have it leak out in the first place!
If you go to most any car show and look at an antique vehicle that has a modern stereo installed, one of the first things you notice is that a lot of them will have the LED lights are burnt out in the radio dial. What caused that? Most likely a voltage spike from the starter solenoid. When the contact points close in the starter solenoid the 200 volt voltage spike that is created is free to travel thru the electrical circuits. Without proper protection from voltage spikes and power surges the LED lights are the first thing...the $400 stereo radio is next, so loosing the LED lights should be a warning to the car owner that something is wrong. While it did not matter to the older mechanical electrical accessories like heater blower motors it does matter to any solid state accessory like a modern radio, a GPS or a a cell phone that is charging in the cigarette lighter. When smoke leaks out of those accessories it gets expensive!
So here we are... back at "Simple Is Good!" If you install a pair of remote battery studs along with a HD power block all of the electrical power you supply to your electrical accessories will be free of voltage spikes and power surges. You will have no loose wiring connections and no intermittent ground issues. In short (sorry couldn't resist that) everything works as it is supposed to and life is good! And that is the way it should be!
