Battery ground wires

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erikgil

erikgil

Joined
Jul 8, 2009
Threads
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Location
NW NJ and Western MA
All,

I'm looking to replace the wires from the battery for ground.

A while back I replaced the battery with some big honkin auto zone kind. Made it fit. While at it I was going to replace the pig tail ground that goes to the frame right next to it. THe frame bolt snapped and some still stuck in there. There's a hole right behind it that I ground to bare metal and fastend a new pigtail to it.

Basically I want to just redo the battery ground to the frame and to the block - to ward off any ill weirdness as well as have peace of mind.

What parts do I need? DO I go OEM?
 
egads they're pricey.
 
I like 1/0 welding cable. 2ga is fine, really. Measure how much you need, buy it from Airgas or the like, along with fittings. While you're there, get a hammer-action crimper (like this one), and have them cut to length. Seal them up with adhesive-lined heat shrink tubing (McMaster-Carr, or a local electrical/electronics shop).

And if you're going to do a lot of this sort of thing, buy in bulk from McMaster-Carr. Saves time and money.

(Another source of good battery cables is GenuineDealz. I've heard good things, but never ordered from them.)
 
erikgil said:
egads they're pricey.
Click to expand...

As you will discover, so are the materials. :)

And his time is not free. If yours is free, or cheaper than the price of nice cables, DIY. It's fun, once you get the hang of it. Expect to screw a couple up at first...
 
One thing about welding cables is that the rubber wire cover is soft and there is much greater possibility of tearing due to abrasion. Also, I'm not sure about the oil resistance of welding wire. Then there is the temperature rating of the welding wire.

My advice is to get the right wire for the job. There's a reason automotive wire is expensive and welding wire isn't. I've seen a loose 12V power wire strike a bolt on my truck once. It burned off half of the bolt head...Imagine all the sparks you could make with a loose wire near some fuel!
 
polarweasel said:
As you will discover, so are the materials. :)

And his time is not free. If yours is free, or cheaper than the price of nice cables, DIY. It's fun, once you get the hang of it. Expect to screw a couple up at first...
Click to expand...

Oh, I understand value, time and materials. I run my own (IT) service business.

I might go the DIY route, perhaps not. I do quite a lot of DIY. Just have to decide if I want to put all the pieces together.

I've been looking at these as well from anudder mudder. At this link:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/merchandise-storefront/343236-fj60-fj62-heavy-duty-battery-cable-sets.html
.

Appreciate the input.
 
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djawahir said:
One thing about welding cables is that the rubber wire cover is soft and there is much greater possibility of tearing due to abrasion. Also, I'm not sure about the oil resistance of welding wire. Then there is the temperature rating of the welding wire.

My advice is to get the right wire for the job. There's a reason automotive wire is expensive and welding wire isn't. I've seen a loose 12V power wire strike a bolt on my truck once. It burned off half of the bolt head...Imagine all the sparks you could make with a loose wire near some fuel!
Click to expand...

All good points.
 
Welding wire is not acceptable on our rigs. The wire itself is fine, but the insulation is not. It will break down with oil and fuel. We have even found it on boats with the insulation hanging and the bare wires exposed.

Even cheap auto wire is better than welding cable. I use marine grade wire. The only welding wire on my rig is to power my ready welder.

Tony
 
Kynot62 said:
Welding wire is not acceptable on our rigs. The wire itself is fine, but the insulation is not. It will break down with oil and fuel. We have even found it on boats with the insulation hanging and the bare wires exposed.

Even cheap auto wire is better than welding cable. I use marine grade wire. The only welding wire on my rig is to power my ready welder.

Tony
Click to expand...

From someone who has owned a boat before, and also helped out on pals marine rigs, thank you for that insightful opinion.

My rig is a bit of a beater and I'm not trying to ignore it but I know life, things get in the way, oil leaks persist and my FJ62 gets left like a horse who was rode hard and put away wet.
 
If all you need is a couple of ground wires, just run to the auto parts store for now. They will work perfectly well and are reasonable.

I do my own cables because I have access to marine wire, cable ends and the tools to crimp them.

And no matter what you end up using be sure to ground the body right there next to the battery as that is the main body ground....

Tony
 
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djawahir said:
One thing about welding cables is that the rubber wire cover is soft and there is much greater possibility of tearing due to abrasion. Also, I'm not sure about the oil resistance of welding wire. Then there is the temperature rating of the welding wire.

My advice is to get the right wire for the job. There's a reason automotive wire is expensive and welding wire isn't. I've seen a loose 12V power wire strike a bolt on my truck once. It burned off half of the bolt head...Imagine all the sparks you could make with a loose wire near some fuel!
Click to expand...
Local Powerstride battery shop only sells welding cable for making battery cables with. Looking into it, the cable they sell had a higher temperature rating than nearly every "battery" cable that we could find. This was for an R&D project at my old work where we were going to really put the power cables to the test (picture a 2.5+kw 3 phase motor IN a turbocharger!). We worked it pretty hard and never did even singe the insulation. The insulation has "oil resistant" printed on it as I recall, but even though it's what I used on my 60 I can't say that this has ever really been put to the test.
 
Be interesting to throw a bunch of different cable into an oil and fuel mixture and see what survives.

Ntsqd Just for the info ABYC sets the standards for the marine industry and specifically does not allow the use of welding cable in the DC systems. And the banks and insurance industry goes by ABYC standards, meaning you may not get a loan for the boat or insurance if a surveyor finds welding cable in the system. (Not that our wagons are boats...)

With all the changes in materials these days could there be welding cable that works just as well, maybe better even. Can't say why they don't allow it.

Tony
 
From experience with older German cars, which tend to also use fine stranded wire, I suspect that the ABYC's issue with welding cable is the fine stranding that is not tin plated. Inter-stranding corrosion is a real issue with those cars, can sometimes only be fixed with a new wiring harness.
"In the olden days" welding cable insulation probably wasn't as good around petro-chemicals as it appears to be now. We got oil on those cables with no ill effect, but nothing like what it could see under a hood or in a boat. I wouldn't call it proven by that exposure by any stretch.
I agree, that would be an interesting test. I'd use engine oil, gasoline, and diesel.
 
Stop in at a local tractor store. I got 1/0 cable at John Deere and they attached the ends for me. Lot cheaper than buying pre-made setup. Did the pos and neg sides. Spent about $25 but that was 3 years ago. May be a bit more now.
 
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