# Adding alternate battery posts



## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

I have used extra cables to extend out through grille for jumping other vehicles from. Would work to jump the way you wish.

RR


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## DenverDIY (Oct 23, 2020)

Thanks, Rooster. Would you have any pictures of how you did it? I was thinking I’d look in a Jegs catalog.


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## de-nagorg (Feb 23, 2014)

Yes there are commercial sold kits to extend the cabling to an auxiliary power block.

Used to add a bumper winch to a 4x4, or to add a secondary battery if you add a stereo that pulls lots of power, or to extend an RV system to add 12V appliances into the living area.

Look for auxiliary power block, and cables in an RV place.


ED


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

A friend had something like this wired under the bumper and his cables have the male end to plug into it.


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## DenverDIY (Oct 23, 2020)

Thanks, guys. I didn’t think of trying an RV place. Solid advice and much appreciated.


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## Bud9051 (Nov 11, 2015)

I bought my son a set of cables and the connectors like Neal posted. Some tractors and lawn vehicles have batteries that are hard to access so with a little planning he can have cables and adapters to handle all occasions.
Bud


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## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

_Thanks, Rooster. Would you have any pictures of how you did it? I was thinking I’d look in a Jegs catalog. _

That was back in '70's and '80's.
Long gone and prior to digital cameras.
Every install a little different.
Have fun!

RR


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## Brainbucket (Mar 30, 2015)

Most vehicles that do that have an access point under the hood some where. What kind of vehicle do you have?


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## DenverDIY (Oct 23, 2020)

Honda Pilot. And before we turn on to “First Mistake Street”, my wife has to haul our two boys and a lab around, so there’s that. 
The positive post is accessible, but the negative is buried under the cowl for the air filter. Yes, you could connect the negative to a bolt, bare metal surface, etc but I’m looking for a reasonably priced solution that would allow to her to execute under pressure.
She’s a tap-rack-bang kind of woman, refuses to be a damsel in distress.


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## huesmann (Aug 18, 2011)

Well, unless your wife is jumping someone else's car, the negative jumper cable should be connected to the engine block on the "dead" car anyway, not the battery. Maybe that's why the negative is buried.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

DenverDIY said:


> Honda Pilot. And before we turn on to “First Mistake Street”, my wife has to haul our two boys and a lab around, so there’s that.
> The positive post is accessible, but the negative is buried under the cowl for the air filter. Yes, you could connect the negative to a bolt, bare metal surface, etc but I’m looking for a reasonably priced solution that would allow to her to execute under pressure.
> She’s a tap-rack-bang kind of woman, refuses to be a damsel in distress.


08-15 pilot or 16+?

Like Huesmann said, ground is ground. The starter grounds through the engine/transmission anyway.

I'm a Honda Master Tech, so my opinion might worth slightly more to you. I can try and grab a pic of the easiest place that will work for you without needing to come up with anything creative once I know what gen Pilot we are discussing. Though it might take me 1-2 weeks as I don't go back to work until next thursday and I'll have to get the same style pilot to work on to get you an accurate pic.


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## DenverDIY (Oct 23, 2020)

Hi, Lawrence. Thank you for posting. The Pilot is a 16 + platform. I am not arguing textbook battery jumping. I understand ground and why the procedure has been steadfast for so long.In my family’s case, it is an accessibility issue. My wife is simply not that tall. There isn’t much in the bay she can easily reach. We both like the BMS in the Honda, but believe in having a back up. Any advice is much appreciated.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

DenverDIY said:


> Hi, Lawrence. Thank you for posting. The Pilot is a 16 + platform. I am not arguing textbook battery jumping. I understand ground and why the procedure has been steadfast for so long.In my family’s case, it is an accessibility issue. My wife is simply not that tall. There isn’t much in the bay she can easily reach. We both like the BMS in the Honda, but believe in having a back up. Any advice is much appreciated.


Just an update, I have somehow only managed to work on 1 pilot in the past 2 weeks and unfortunately I was working on 3 cars at once so I didn't have a good chance to investigate and snap a pic.

Going off of memory only, you might be able to just use the airbox bolt as ground if the cable reaches, I know we've used them as ground when using a miditronics battery tester doing it on lazy mode. Not 100% if I've ever tried to jump start one there. And yes while it's just a 6mm bolt(10mm hex head), the main ground bolt for the negative cable is also a m6 bolt.

I haven't forgotten though, so as soon as I can I'll try to get the best answer I can come up with.


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## LawrenceS (Oct 21, 2020)

LawrenceS said:


> Just an update, I have somehow only managed to work on 1 pilot in the past 2 weeks and unfortunately I was working on 3 cars at once so I didn't have a good chance to investigate and snap a pic.
> 
> Going off of memory only, you might be able to just use the airbox bolt as ground if the cable reaches, I know we've used them as ground when using a miditronics battery tester doing it on lazy mode. Not 100% if I've ever tried to jump start one there. And yes while it's just a 6mm bolt(10mm hex head), the main ground bolt for the negative cable is also a m6 bolt.
> 
> I haven't forgotten though, so as soon as I can I'll try to get the best answer I can come up with.


@DenverDIY









So it actually looks like you should have a threaded hole 6mm x 1.0 thread pitch(which is a 10mm hex head bolt) hole already in that frame member. It might be used for something on an MDX as it is the same chassis which is why it is there but nothing is installed in it. I'd probably run a tap or a wire bore brush through it to clean any corrosion/paint out of the threads to get a good ground connection.

You could use a shouldering bolt as a ground, like this 2016 odyssey uses from the factory.










Yea just tried looking up generic shoulder bolts and I didn't have luck easily finding one with 6x1 thread as they seem to be listed under shoulder diameter not thread diameter.

If you wanted to, you could probably just steal 1 bolt out of your timing belt cover and that would work or order one from a dealer/online. Or if you wanted a taller post get a long 6x1 bolt and put a nut on it, thread the bolt into the hole and then tighten the nut up against the chassis to act like a jam nut.


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