Battery Cables

[My 90 oil burner]

I have looked through 14 pages so far and haven't seen a recommendation on where to get new cables at?

 

[ReticulateSplines]

Best to make them up yourself using some welding lead cable and high quality lugs. If done properly, it transfers the current really well due to the high cross sectional area of the cable and it is flexible. You can buy the goods at Tractor Supply. They are crimp on connectors, DO NOT try to solder them!

I can post up pics with my version of how it is done if you would like to see.

 

[My 90 oil burner]

Yes sir thanks

 

[ReticulateSplines]

I already had the cable, and I got the crimp on lugs at TSC, but you can go in and get all of the parts. If you can get welding lead lugs, that is best, if you have to get regular cable terminal lugs they tend to come with a plastic insulator around the crimp area and I ditch that plastic part.

Measure the lengths of what you will need and leave a little extra if you aren't practiced at crimping cable ends.

Measure/mark how much insulation needs to be stripped back to fit the strands into the lug. Welding cable is made of a large number of small strands and are easy to cut through so go slow, all the way around the cable and then bend/tear your cut line to remove the end of the insulation ensuring you leave all the strands intact. I use a razor blade or hobby knife.

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This is just a cut I made to show you, not for a reference on exactly how much insulation to remove!


Once you have done this, and tested fitment into the lug itself, it is time to crimp them on. Please refrain from the all too often assumption that a pair of channel locks or vice grips is sufficient. If you truly have gorilla strength, go for it, but I have redone a lot of work by others who use improper hand tools for this step. They make/sell large crimp tools in either a "bolt cutter"style or a swage type. I am guessing you have neither, nor the need to own them and they aren't usually cheap. I have for years used my bench vise for this step, with a zero failure rate.

What I do is get the setup held in the vice, [piece of heat shrink on the cable, then insert cable end into the lug] and close the jaws on the lug until it begins to flatten around the cable some. Enough to keep it from popping off but not too far, a decent oval shape at this point. Then, I place a piece of hardware from my bucket of spares over the center of the now oval shape. I close the jaws some more, pressing the hardware into the oval until it is pretty dang snug on there. Back the jaws off, remove the hardware, and then go back down on it again flattening it out a bit more. If you had to use cable lugs, and not welding lead lugs, they have a split in the cable ring (usually) so you after you open the jaws to pull the hardware out of the mix, you would need to turn the lug on a 90* to bring the edges back to shape.

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Above: welding lead lug

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Above: cable terminal lug

They both had heatshrink as well, just did that step after the pictures.


I think I may just make a video on this.... I might even be convinced to make you a set and send them up that way if you were interested. And I could use that opportunity to film it too.

 

[ReticulateSplines]

I want to add, the cable terminal lug pictured was used on a #4 cable IIRC.. that is the lead from the passenger Pos Terminal to the Fender mounted Starter solenoid.

 

[chillman88]

I have to ask... Why are you so opposed to soldering them? I was always taught that a soldered joint is far superior but I'm sure you have a reason I'm just curious.

 

[onetonjohn]

I have been using Del City for electrical stuff. They have a large selection, and have a lot of items I couldn't find anywhere else.
https://www.delcity.net/

I expect they are not the cheapest source, but I have been happy with the quality and selection.

 

[austin92]

I’d watch that video for sure. I need to do battery cables


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ReticulateSplines]

I have to ask... Why are you so opposed to soldering them? I was always taught that a soldered joint is far superior but I'm sure you have a reason I'm just curious.

In short - metallurgy

I did not say "never solder wires" rather I gave him the correct way to solve THIS problem. A solder joint has its time and place, this is not it. A solder joint can be far superior to a crimp, when it is deployed properly under the appropriate circumstances. In this instance, we are carrying large amounts of current and we want flexibility of the connection. Solder is like brazing is like welding, it takes heat to make it happen. 1) you need a bunch of heat to make a solder on this size cable, heat that will embrittle your wire before you get enough heat to wet in a good solder 2) your brittle wire is now susceptible to breakage 3) broken wires build heat from lack of ability to transfer the current [remember in this solution we are using a welding lead with high cross sectional area to deliver all of the current that we can] 4) heat de-solders too.

So even if you dont have wire strand breakage, if you have some other issue (oh lets just say fuel lines that allow air to the system) and crank that sucker over to purge it, build up of heat will ruin that connection.

So in the solution provided a mechanical fastener is not only easier to accomplish, but it will remain flexible and always transfer the most current it can. When you factor in a length of heat shrink that goes over as well as a distance behind the mechanical fastener acting as a strain relief, you have a well made connection that will last for many years! There isnt much that peaves me as much as redoing work that could be easily avoided.

Thanks for asking your question! I am always interested in learning, and never afraid to share knowledge.

 

[DrCharles]

By the time I would have bought all the pieces and spent the time to build it, I decided to just go ahead and buy a replacement harness. This one was decent quality.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C7YJK4Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Engine cranks just fine, much better than the heavier-gauge but very badly constructed attempt by a previous owner. (I posted a picture on another thread of a twist-and-tape junction... never seen that on a 3/0 cable!)

 

[Josh Oldenburg]

I just got done making cables for my 7.3 out of 4/0 cable i had laying around. It is huge! Two new batteries and a new 3.6kw starter and she flies. Maybe ill get her to actually fire up tomorow now.

 

[Josh Oldenburg]

In short - metallurgy

I did not say "never solder wires" rather I gave him the correct way to solve THIS problem. A solder joint has its time and place, this is not it. A solder joint can be far superior to a crimp, when it is deployed properly under the appropriate circumstances. In this instance, we are carrying large amounts of current and we want flexibility of the connection. Solder is like brazing is like welding, it takes heat to make it happen. 1) you need a bunch of heat to make a solder on this size cable, heat that will embrittle your wire before you get enough heat to wet in a good solder 2) your brittle wire is now susceptible to breakage 3) broken wires build heat from lack of ability to transfer the current [remember in this solution we are using a welding lead with high cross sectional area to deliver all of the current that we can] 4) heat de-solders too.

So even if you dont have wire strand breakage, if you have some other issue (oh lets just say fuel lines that allow air to the system) and crank that sucker over to purge it, build up of heat will ruin that connection.

So in the solution provided a mechanical fastener is not only easier to accomplish, but it will remain flexible and always transfer the most current it can. When you factor in a length of heat shrink that goes over as well as a distance behind the mechanical fastener acting as a strain relief, you have a well made connection that will last for many years! There isnt much that peaves me as much as redoing work that could be easily avoided.

Thanks for asking your question! I am always interested in learning, and never afraid to share knowledge.

Great answer

 

[onetonjohn]

Using some heat shrink wrap at the terminal to cable connection makes the ends look clean (you can get it in both read and black so it matches). It probably also help protect/seal the connection. On thing about the solder type posts is that you don't have the exposed wires on the terminal side of the crimp. The image show above has a single wire into the terminal. I believe that a couple of the cables have two wires coming out of the terminal. Alternatively, some people like to use the military style terminals.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

I will chime in with first-hand experience:
First off I'll say that I switched to all marine-style terminals and used welding lugs as described above.
Soldered terminals WILL de-solder when cranking a hard air-lock out of these engines. I wasn't just cranking the bejesus out of it either, I did the 30 seconds crank, 2 minutes wait thing. Over and over... saw/smelled smoke. Melted insulation and the soldered joint was now flopping all over. (This was at the passenger positive terminal, on the wire going to the starter).

Without replacing the wire, but simply cleaning it off and vice-crimping a new terminal on there, I've had 3 years of perfectly fine operation.

BTW I love the idea of putting a bolt, etc between the vice and lug for crimping! I've wanted a better way to crimp in a vice and that fits the bill. Thanks!

 

[onetonjohn]

There must be a trick to solder terminals. Del City has the solder plug sold with the terminal. That might prevent the over solder problem mentioned above. All the factory terminal a soldered, so it can't be all that bad. That said, they may have some way to preheat the entire assembly (like baking a circuit board before soldering a via to ground plane) to prevent the overheating and making cable brittle mentioned above. I crimped my last set of cables I made, but I'd be interested in hearing how to make the soldered terminals turn out like the factory terminal/cable.