Need help identifying battery cable on DT466E

[Ozzy9228]

So I've got my batteries hooked up on my 2004 International Bluebird 3800 DT466E and she runs great but this mystery cable is bugging me. Can somebody please tell me where this hooks up to? Is it just a ground or what is it? I've circled it in the photo.

[Albatross]

Well, it's definitely a full-power battery cable.
Where does the other end lead?
Did your bus originally have a wheelchair lift?
I've never seen a bus with three starting batteries, but that doesn't mean that one wasn't made.

[skoontz]

Not sure about the cable, but my guess would also be for a wheelchair lift. my bus came with a third battery. It does have a wheelchair lift and ac, so I assume 3 were installed to handle the extra load especially at idle. The lift runs through a 90 amp breaker, so it needs a good size wire.

[Ozzy9228]

No, it never had a wheelchair ramp, that's why I'm stumped lol.

[turf]

same comment as the others.


crawl underneath and look where the other end goes. if its to the frame or engine block then its a ground, if it goes to a part, the its a hot. grounds are usually not very long so they're easy.

the top battery post is the only one inthe pic with 1 cable, so it looks like it goes there.

check your starter, dash lights, as sometimes starters are on their own circuit. if the starter works and the dash lights don't, its a ground.

good luck!

[Timeline]

I think it's the ground for a 3rd battery. This 03, 466\3800 had 3 batteries.

[nikitis]

It's likely the ground cable that gets screwed into the C-Channel of your bus. this is needed to make your body hot for items that use the body for ground. If this is the cable, items like your ceiling lights would not work because they ground to the hat channels. Which ultimately leaves to that cable. If you already have a ground cable going to the C Channel of the bus chassis, then you'll have to get under your bus and follow to where it leads.

Or it could be for some item that was removed like a chair lift. I know you said you didn't have a chair lift, but could of been something else that was removed. Ultimately you're gonna have to follow it. IF it goes to your C-Channel Bus Chassis, you really should hook that up as you may have a few auxilery items that don't work, suddenly begin to work once you hook it up because those non-working items may not be grounded properly due to that being unhooked.

[desrtdog]

Based on the size of the lug, I’m with the 3rd battery camp as well, although if there was a third, appears that the corresponding positive cable was removed.

(Note that on my BB I have 3 batteries, but also had a w/c lift…)

[Albatross]

yeah, I'm going to say third battery as well...


The holes in the bottom of the tray appear to be for a tie-down mount of some kind, specifically for a third battery of whatever size is currently in there. I think I use two Group 85 batteries, and those appear to be of a slightly different size.

And just in case you're not familiar with that terminology, a battery "Group" is just what they call the packaging size. If you look it up, you'll see just how wacky and particular it can get. Other than a couple of exceptionally compact engine bays I've had in a couple of vehicles (looking at you, Ford Probe & Toyota Supra), I've honestly never really paid that much attention to it, since I prefer things with enough space for me to work on. So my Ranger apparently uses a certain battery size, which I ignored, and bought a different battery for a full-size truck. It mostly fits in the stock tray, although my stock tie-down didn't work, so I added a couple of rubber hook straps to it and now it's fine. Same thing happened on the bus, I bought the largest batteries NAPA had for sale that could fit in it, and since I'm dealing with a battery-box with a slide-out tray, and I'm using 0000-gauge welding wire attached to side-post mounts, I'm not worried about it going anywhere.

[Kentucky Dreaming]

I had a couple of Probes. Loved the '94 GT.

It was like a go-kart.

[Albatross]

Originally Posted by Kentucky Dreaming

I had a couple of Probes. Loved the '94 GT.

It was like a go-kart.

Oh, it was probably one of the most-fun vehicles I've ever owned--and I bought mine with around 360K on the ticker. My only complaint was that the speed limits were never really high enough for me to really let it go where it seemed like it wanted to go. I do recall one night where I finally broke out of traffic and got on a straightaway section of the interstate, and when I finally got to a place that seemed comfortable, set the cruise control, and looked down to realize that I was doing 116 MPH. I backed it off a bit after that. I would definitely buy another one again--even with the flip-up headlights--but I hated working on that thing; it was too low to the ground, and the engine bay was too crowded.