Parts to make battery cables

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ColoradoLC

ColoradoLC

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Jun 3, 2005
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Centennial, CO
I know the basiscs for battery cable replacement, but that's just the basics. I really want to do this once and make it good, something beyond just the basics.

Has anyone made their own? Beyond the gauge wire to use, where would be a good place to source connectors and cable sleeves? What else should I replace while I am replacing these?

Thanks in advance...
 
Why not just buy them? You can get them at any auoparts store in 4 guage and 2 guage and in every 8-12 inches from 12-2" or something... seems like a lot of work to do something that has already been done.

Chris
 
Good options. Thanks. Is the 0/2 gauge the way to go for this?
 
TheGr8Doughboy said:
Why not just buy them? You can get them at any auoparts store in 4 guage and 2 guage and in every 8-12 inches from 12-2" or something... seems like a lot of work to do something that has already been done.

Chris
Click to expand...

Good option Chris and I may go that route, but considering I will be upgrading things on this rig for years to come, I only want to do this once and so I want to consider all of my options. If it's easier, cheaper and the same quality to get them from the auto parts store, I will probably do that, but that would take some of the fun out of it. ;)
 
I used 2/0 on mine. Total overkill, but isn't that part of the point?

I got my lugs at the local Napa. I just noticed today that my local ACE hardware store has all the lugs I needed for half the price.

My cable came from the NexAir store for about $1.50 a foot.

I got a hammer type crimper at the welding store for $20.

Most of my cable ends are crimped, then soldered, then wraped in heat shrink wrap.

I am very pleased with mine. I replaced my starter to battery cable first, and I noticed a quicker start.

I used braided stainless cables on a few of my ground straps. I made some of the others.
 
I went to west marine and got their battery cable--it's for boats and supposed to be water proof. They also had really heavy duty (but expensive) shrink tubing. I purchased military terminals for the battery post and purchased solder-on ring terminals from mcmaster carr. I then came across the Stella Maris website and purchased poste insulators and a power distribution post. I had a lot of accessory wires cluttering up my positive battery post, so I relocated them to the fender using a power distribution post. I did this in January, and so far iit's been working fine.

Good luck.
 
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Got mil-type batt terminals, tin-plated copper lugs, and shrink tubing(precut) from wranglernw.com, cable from Westmarine, 15' jaw-type crimper($180) from Grainger. 4 gauge or 2 gauge cable is big enough,IMO, unless you're going for ultra dual-batt/winch mania, then maybe bigger cable justified. Wrangler has cable also, but it's "welding cable" and it's cheaper, but not as nice as the marine-grade stuff, IMO.
 
I bought my cable and adhesive lined heat shrink from West Marine, cut it to size and then had a local auto electric shop crimp on the ends. That way I didn't have to buy the really expensive crimp tool but I got the same results - a good repeatable quality crimp and no solder to stiffen the joint and fatigue over time.
 
My 0/2 cable came from a local welding shop. I crimped the ends using a shaped blocked that fit in my vise. Ends came from NAPA. As said above, total overkill, but thats why I drive a Cruiser.

Hodag
 
Excellent information guys. Thanks.

I plan to start this project in the next month, so I will do a write up and post pics for anyone else wanting to do this.

I am planning on a winch, lights and a dual setup in the future, so I plan to go 2/0 gauge. I'll let you know how it goes.

Winston
 
I've got 1/0 gauge on my dual battery setup with optima yellow tops and a 175 amp hot rated alternator (~210 cold). 1/0 is fine for that amperage. I also have 1/0 grounds from each battery directly to the alternator. Works great. Can't say that I've ever asked the alternator for it's max output but I've never felt the cables get hot with anything that I've asked of it :)
 
soldering ends after crimping is a good plan, it seals out the moisture from wicking up the cable.

Its called tinning by some elec guys.
 
West Marine again

i got my wire at West Marine too - it was tinned - the actual electroplated tin coating on all of the strands that helps prevent the copper from turning to black crap in the salt water environment... they were kind enough to crimp the ends for me when i mentioned how expensive the crimp tool was... i had to provide the hammer - they called it a demo, LOL.

since i used to go to the coast a lot (when driving was allowed on the beaches in NW FLA) they recommended either soldering or non conductive silicone and then shrink wrap. they did the same thing for my boat and warned that if the connection from the insulation to the fitting was not completely sealed around salt water that the corrosion would eventually creep up the wire from the terminal ends and effect the wire’s ability to conduct electricity.

there are not too many places to go cruizing around here any more. almost all of the beaches are closed to vehicle traffic and most of the old woods trails have been blocked by private land owners who lease out the property to hunting clubs. many tree huggers say our four wheeling is damaging the environment. many of us four wheelers are environmentalists, too. i am sure where you can still see the wagon tracks for the trails west that the pioneers damaged the environment.
 
The whole solder vs crimp is a huge bag of worms. I'm not trying to start a flame war here, I'm just going to add the following because I find it an interesting subject. :)

I used to crimp and solder everything using uninsulated tinned connectors and a Klein crimp tool. I followed up with adhesive lined shrink wrap. For a time I felt like I was doing the right thing because I was taking the time to "do it right".

After talking to various people and doing some research I found that there were problems with this. Just adding solder doesn't mean that the joint is better; it may actually be much worse. The repeatability of soldering is very low (meaning you get varying quality with each joint that you do). The worst scenario is that solder wicks up the wire which induces a point of future failure. The quality of the connections I made certainly varied quite a bit.

The arguement for solder is that it seals out moisture, corrosion... This is probably true compared to the low buck crimp connectors at auto supply shops and cheap crimp tools. However look around your 60/62 - you won't see much (if any) solder.

How do the OEMs do this? A good crimp connection is gas tight which means that no moisture or corrosion can work into the critical area of the connection. Good pre insulated crimp connectors (see links below for examples) will also have a second metal sleeve that enhances the quality of the crimp and grabs the insulation of the wire to provide mechanical support for the joint. These take a somewhat special crimp tool to install correctly but the beauty is that it is brain dead easy to make a very high quality crimp with the correct connectors and tool.

This doesn't mean that solder doesn't have it's place. I just recently soldered in a resistor and will shortly be doing the same with some diodes in my electrical fan harness. But for most cases common in aftermarket wiring on cars and trucks I avoid it.

Here are some sources if you're interested in digging into this further:

http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/rules/review.html
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/terminal.pdf
 
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