Home Made Battery Cables

[ArdWrknTrk]

This is why I suggest buying a cable the right length off the shelf.

Or using the solder pellet lugs that Ryan used to send with his cable kits.
You can solder your own cables. It's a lot easier that holding three things and trying to pump the swedger shut.

A propane torch kit is under $10 at any box store.

[ArdWrknTrk]

14:30 for actual swedging action.

https://youtu.be/ca37WnL6Oxo

There's quite a bit of Anthony350's stuff I disagree with, but his lugs come out looking great using what appears to be the same yellow & black crimper.

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - Thanks for the video.  I watched it out to 20 minutes.

You are right that his his crimper is yellow and black like mine.  But I believe his is the smaller version, probably a 5 ton, while mine is a 16 ton.  Here's his on the left and mine on the right and you can see the difference in the heads.  As he said, his is cast.  And you can see that it has a reinforcement rib because it is open, where mine is closed and doesn't need the rib.

What I find interesting is the comparison of his crimper to the 5 ton one from TEMco that I'm considering, which is shown in the picture below.  They appear to be the same save for the return spring on the TEMco unit, which addresses what he mentioned - the need for a 3rd hand.  I have the same problem with my crimper and have found the same solution - put it on the bench.

But he did get nice crimps, and I'd bet he has metric die.  I don't know that for sure, but his crimper isn't the TEMco unit and theirs is the only one I'm finding that states that it has AWG die - and half sizes to boot.  But he has found the right die/terminal/wire combination to get the right crimp w/o wings.  And I've not found that.  The closest I can come is by using MagnaLugs, which have significantly thicker sides, and that makes them work fairly well with the metric die and AWG wire.

Again, I believe the key is finding the right die/terminal/wire combo, and he has done it and I haven't.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Doesn't look hard to slip a spring over the piston for convenience.  

I'm glad that I find soldered connections with adhesive shrink good enough.  
I don't have to deal with any of this.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

You could always ask in the comments, which lug he is using.

I find he is pretty responsive and willing to share info.

[kramttocs]

Gary Lewis wrote

Again, I believe the key is finding the right die/terminal/wire combo,...

Good video and I like the idea of adding a spring for return. Your statement, Gary, is absolutely correct.
The one he is using is the same as the one I have and I use it much more often than the big one. He is spot on with wishing it had a flat base though

[Gary Lewis]

Jim - I'll ask him.  But he's using an un-tinned terminal and I like to used tinned terminals exactly for the reason he mentioned - they don't corrode as easily.  So I won't want to use whatever terminal he's using.  But I might be able to find the same one already tinned.  (Yes, I could tin them, but now you might as well solder them on.  I think we are parked, man!)

[Gary Lewis]

As an update on this subject, I just ordered the TEMCo Hydraulic Cable Lug Crimper TH0006 V2.0 5 US TON.  But instead of ordering it from Amazon, where the cost is $114.95 and is supposed to be "In stock on April 21, 2021", I ordered it from TEMCo where the cost was $103.46.  And while their website says it is supposed be in stock today, Drew said it will be "a couple more days", and that if I'd order online I'd go to the head of the line for it.

Further, we discussed the "wings" that I've been getting as well as the idea of getting a specification for the size of a properly-crimped terminal.  On the wings, he said just to fold them back in, as I've been doing, because they aren't harmful.  But he said I'm not going to find a spec on a properly-crimped terminal because that depends on the die, the terminal, and the # of strands in the wire used.  So since the terminal manufacturer doesn't know what die nor wire is going to be used they can't provide a spec.

Having said that, he's confident that with their AWG die and the fact that you get intermediate die, meaning the equivalent of a #11 between 12 and 10, we can find the right combo of die, terminal, and wire that gives a clean crimp.  So I ordered it and will let you know.  

[grumpin]

That looks like nice set. Especially for $103!

[ArdWrknTrk]

Thanks for doing the legwork.
Looking forward to the update.  
But I'm interested in why you would need a hydraulic crimper for a #10 or 12 wire?

1/0, 2/0,  yeah I see that...

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks, guys.

As for needing a hydraulic crimper for #10 & 12 wires, I can't say that I really do.  The need is for a crimper that does a good job on 2/0 wire, which this crimper is said to do, but it just so happens to also do down to #12.  So I'll give it a try.  

[kramttocs]

Looking forward to the results as well. Have used my smaller one like this a number of times over the past few days and already it's getting finicky on the strokes.

[Gary Lewis]

Update: The crimper should be delivered on April 6th.  So they are now in stock.

Meanwhile I've been looking for good terminals.  I need some to install the fender-mounted starter relay.  So I did a lot of searching and found what looked to be a very good terminal set: Gardner Bender 15-108 Electrical Ring Terminal, 12-10 AWG terminals.  But a bit of reading on them seems to say they are not made in the USA and are of inferior quality, which may mean they are not from Gardner Bender.

So I moved on and found this Molex 194130109 Solderless Terminals Kit from Amazon.  It purports to be made in the USA and has excellent reviews.  So I ordered a set.  We shall see.

[ArdWrknTrk]

The unfortunate downside to a global economy and corporatism is product made "to a cost" on the other side of the planet.
There's not much we can do about that.

I'm looking forward to your review when you get the press and lugs in hand.

Hubble used to be in my backyard (Shelton or Stratford) now their headquarters is a community college (not paying taxes) and you can guess the rest...

Trying to source what we really need is becoming a game of cat and mouse.

[Gary Lewis]

Was just sharing my experiences shopping on Amazon with my daughter and SiL.  They've recently purchased things from Amazon that are blatant copies of name-brand goods.  But the font is wrong in the packaging, the material thickness is 1/2 what it should be, etc when compared to the genuine goods they can buy locally.

So I'm confident that the Gardner Bender terminals are copies, not genuine.  Hopefully the Molex are genuine.  But I'm getting very wary of things purchased from Amazon.  Even what are said to be name-brand items aren't.

[CRittaler]

Hi Gary,

When you get the crimper can you measure the dimensions of the 2AWG die?

I have a Harbor Freight version that has the dies marked in AWG, but I have to use their 0AWG to crimp my 2AWG flexoprene.

[MrRy]

Just to add my .02

I have had some experience in car audio,
Involving very high amperage draws,
Parallel and series battery connections.

In doing so, I decided to see how absolutely dirt cheap I could do some of the cabling and terminals.

Used, discarded welding leads
partial roll of 3/4 copper tubing,  cut into 3" sections, one end pounded flat, drilled for whatever sized terminal up to 1/2"
Soldiered with plumbing soldier and flux to the 0 or 00 leads.

Withstood clamped amperage draws in excess of 500 @ 14.6v in a span of 17ft repeatedly,  for 18 months before the battery bank boiled dry.

Don't take my advice, but in summary don't be scared to try something.

[Gary Lewis]

Chris - I'll be happy to measure the die, all 18 of them.  And I'll also measure the die on my 16 ton crimper, which I'm sure are metric.  And I'll bet yours are metric with just a table to convert them to AWG.

I suspect that the TEMco die are a true hex given what the adverts say, and I know the metric ones I have aren't.  They are wider than they are tall. So what I'll do is to draw up the two on CAD and post that.

Ryan - I have jumper cables for my winch that are made from welding cables.  They are used when the winch is on the trailer and is to be powered by the battery in the truck.  They work great.  But I prefer the tinned marine cable I've used elsewhere since the tinning will prevent the copper from corroding.

On the use of copper tubing for terminals, I've seen that done, and I'm sure it works well.  But like on the wire, I prefer the tinned ones that are closed on the end since that also protects both the terminal and the wire.

Having said that, a few of us have found that the metric die don't get along very well with the standard-sized AWG lugs.  But with thicker Megalugs they work pretty well, although they still leave wings.

So I'm hoping the new crimper will crimp standard lugs nicely.

[Machspeed]

On a side note, if you're like me and only need a couple of cables every now and then, I highly recommend the following: https://www.batterycablesusa.com/

I ordered battery cables from them and was very pleased with the cables and their services. The cables  ordered are very high quality and the price was quite reasonable.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

You don't have any problem with plumbing flux wicking up the wire strands and corroding inside the jacket???

The cable kit I bought from RJM had little solder 'pellets' in the lugs.
You'd clamp the lug in a vise, push the stripped end of the cable against it and heat the whole thing with a torch.
When the solder melted and you could feel the cable bottom in the lug you were done.
And it would solidify quickly because of the heatsink of vise and 2/0 cable.

I'm not sure how rosin flux would work with the newer lead free plumbing solders, but the old school No-Korrode acid flux would have that cable green within a week outside.