One thing that surprised me about the Ridgeline was that the positive battery terminal is easy to reach, but the negative terminal is buried under an air box and there's no auxiliary ground post anywhere nearby. The user manual says to connect to the engine hanger bracket which is on the passenger side under the engine cover, which is pretty far away. Other people have noted that there's an unused 6mm weld-nut near the battery and have thrown a 6mm bolt into that hole to provide an auxiliary ground. I also saw some other people on this forum bring out a short section of battery cable. My idea was to merge those two solutions.
I bought this 18" long, 2 gauge, 5/16" lug battery cable for $13.50:
And this package of 6mm x 40mm bolts from Farm and Fleet:
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And this 1/8" x 2.5" brass pipe nipple from Farm and Fleet. Then I cut out a 1" section and finished the ends:
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Brass has about 1/3 the electrical conductivity as copper, and steel has about 10% of the conductivity of copper. My goal was to try and keep the electrical pathway as conductive as I reasonably could. I thought I had some copper washers laying around but I couldn't find them when I worked on this yesterday. So I ended up just using steel washers until I can find my copper washers (or buy some I guess).
Also, I'll have to keep an eye on the copper or brass / plated steel junction to see if I get any galvanic corrosion. I smeared some wheel bearing grease on the parts before assembly which should inhibit the corrosion, so I doubt it'll be a problem.
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The new negative post is on the far right of this pic:
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I bought this 18" long, 2 gauge, 5/16" lug battery cable for $13.50:
Amazon.com: 2 AWG 2 Gauge Single Black 18 inches w/ 5/16" Lugs Pure Copper PowerFlex Battery Inverter Cables for Solar, RV, Auto, Marine Car, Boat : Automotive
Amazon.com: 2 AWG 2 Gauge Single Black 18 inches w/ 5/16" Lugs Pure Copper PowerFlex Battery Inverter Cables for Solar, RV, Auto, Marine Car, Boat : Automotive
www.amazon.com
And this package of 6mm x 40mm bolts from Farm and Fleet:
And this 1/8" x 2.5" brass pipe nipple from Farm and Fleet. Then I cut out a 1" section and finished the ends:
Brass has about 1/3 the electrical conductivity as copper, and steel has about 10% of the conductivity of copper. My goal was to try and keep the electrical pathway as conductive as I reasonably could. I thought I had some copper washers laying around but I couldn't find them when I worked on this yesterday. So I ended up just using steel washers until I can find my copper washers (or buy some I guess).
Also, I'll have to keep an eye on the copper or brass / plated steel junction to see if I get any galvanic corrosion. I smeared some wheel bearing grease on the parts before assembly which should inhibit the corrosion, so I doubt it'll be a problem.
The new negative post is on the far right of this pic:
