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I am thinking about making a 20Ah LiFePo battery for my jeep with 4 tenergy LifePo4 cells from eBay.

I will solder the terminals directly to each other, but for the leads going to the car, can I use 6awg wire connected to some anderson connectors?

I already have one of these anderson connectors on my car that I use for external 12volt items such as power inverters.

Will the anderson connectors be able to handle enough current to run my starter motor for a few seconds (2-3) or should I use different means of connecting the batter?

I cannot find how much power the starter on my Jeep is, but I'll figure it out when I get home tonight. I will measure how much the voltage drops when I turn it on, and from there I can figure it out.

While I already have all of these connectors, I am open to better solutions as well.

Thank you.

P.S. I am planning on doubling the capacity of the battery to 40Ah once I get it up and running. So please don't tell me that 20Ah isn't enough for a jeep. :)

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Starter motor for a gasoline engine usually draws 100-200A. When it's cold the current is higher, since the engine is harder to turn. A starter for a diesel engine uses more current. While the connector may survive the current without melting, it may drop too much voltage. – Pentium100 Jun 30 '12 at 2:32
you are just added a battery to the system not trying to use these batteries in place of the 12 volt starting batteries is that correct? – Larry♦ Jul 1 '12 at 15:00
Please provide more details as to what you are using the batteries for, and what you need them tied into the electrical system of the car for. Are you wanting to crank the vehicle if the 12 volt starting battery goes dead, or are you just wanting to supplement the 12 volt starting battery to help run accessories longer. – Larry♦ Jul 1 '12 at 15:06

migrated from electronics.stackexchange.com Jul 1 '12 at 14:38

1 Answer

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The SB50 you linked to are only rated at 50 amps, not nearly enough for what you want. Anderson does make larger ones the SB350 series is rated at 350 amps and would be large enough. It's also going to take a much bigger wire 6 gauge will be too small for the amount of current you will be flowing.

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