So you extended your fusible links and ignition wire to the trunk where your solenoid is?
battery tray in trunk
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Yep, then ran a #8 wire fused for the alternator to the battery for charging. The large wire is only hot when cranking.
so you have an 8 gauge wire running the length of the car that is hot at all times and the 10 gauge wires with the fusible links. There is no safety issue running the heavy guage wire from the battery to the solenoid in the engine compartment, BMW have been doing it for decades. I have a Grote 2 gauge wire from the trunk through the inside of the car isolated from metal and out through a grommet to the engine compartment.
and to put it in perspective think about the wires in your house, the 240 v wires that run your oven, washer and dryer are 10 gauge.....large electric heaters and furnaces are 8 gauge.
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I had my starter solenoid in the engine compartment for 13 years before I relocated it to the trunk. That's the safer way to go, the 8 gauge wire is fused to protect from a possible short.
I've not had a BMW, but that's interesting. I'm sure that they have it well protected. I do understand that 8 gauge is good for 40 amps. Not sure where you were heading with the household wiring, but that's a different situation altogether.
the conduit that has the stock wiring in it on the passenger side has an open channel on the side where it closes that the 2 gauge wire fits into nicely. I had a 4 gauge wire for about 4 years before I replaced it with the 2 gauge this year. I'm not sure why don't think it is safe to have a wire that is less than 15 feet pass through the car that is hot all the time that is just carrying the current from the battery. When you have the solenoid in the trunk and although the starter wire only has current when you are starting the car if you have a bad starter the wire that overheats will be the wire from the solenoid to the starter, not the wire from the battery to the solenoid so although you think the way you wired it is safer I disagree.
Yes, the channel does make a nice run for the #2 wire. That's how I ran mine also. The problem would be if this wire rubs and shorts, it will make massive amounts of heat since it's hot all the time. With the solenoid in the trunk this wire is dead, unless starting. If the starter would over heat, the key switch can be turned off, turning off the solenoid, and if that would fail too, there's always the battery kill switch. I feel that if there would be a short, I'd rather it happen when I'm trying to start the car, rather than some random time running down the road. In the end, we all are responsible for our own builds. I'm just offering my opinion to the OP on how I wired mine up.
There is no chance of the wire rubbing and causing a short but if there is what is going to stop the wire you have from the solenoid in the trunk to the starter from rubbing and causing a short when you are starting the car. You are doing more work than necessary by having to extend the two 10 gauge wires with the fusible links that are hot all the time plus the alternator wire which you have diminished it's capacity by putting adding a fuse to the wire. There are thousands of cars out there with a wire from the battery in the engine compartment to an amp in the trunk and there is no problem with shorts when the wire is run correctly. The other advantage to those of us who work on our engines is with the ford style solenoid in the engine compartment it's easy to bump the engine
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