Building Battery / Alternator / Starter Cables for CUCV

[Csm Davis]

Top, I had never seen that type until you posted that link, so I sure won't disagree with your assessment of them. But I will say this: I don't think there's any possibility that a compression fit can be as good a connection as a properly done crimp or soldered connection.

Of course, even with that being true, it's quite possible that those are "good enough", meaning, if we could put a number on the quality of the connection required for good, reliable service for a lifetime, and that number were, say... 50, it might that your compression type come in at a comfortable 70 while the crimp or soldered connections come in at 90 and 100. (And the auto parts store clamp types would probably come in at a solid 10 or 15!)


So, crimp and solder are better, but maybe the compression type is plenty good enough.

Just speculating here.

Marcus I think if you look closely at the crimped on fitting versus the compression you will find the connections are stronger in the compression fitting. I have seen many crimp on fittings fail even the ones made by Quick Cable which would be my first choice, they leave much more room for errors when installing them. If you use the hammer style crimping tool which seems to be the most used they are way less than a compression style, the swedge hex crimping tool it is close to what the compression style is but I don't trust that the dimensional tolerance of all the different wire makers will be the same, the hex tool can't make up for this the compression fitting naturally does and can be tightened more later if found loose, but in 20 years of use I have never had to retighten one.
I do agree that a properly done soldered connection is a better electrical connection.

 

[Csm Davis]

Here is probably my biggest reason for liking them they are grunt proof or beatle bailey proof, I have the experience to solder a terminal on or crimp one on and get it right but not all privates can do them correctly. The compression fittings are assembled with normal hand tools and any connections that that are found to be loose can be easily tightened. So less prone to expensive tools and learned processes and easily repaired on the trail.

 

[tim292stro]

I read you on the easy/cheap/"good-eough" points. I have a few compression-type that I keep in my truck should I have a cable problem, but in 15 years I've only ever used them to help others who had the clamp-type fail on them. I'd personally caution that they are not "fool-proof", and much of the same expertise that is required to make a good crimp is required to make a good compression connection: wire condition and cleanliness, stripping length and strand damage prevention, force used during compression... I have seen plenty of corrosion on compression-type terminals and that is my "bone to pick" if you will.

I dug up this picture of a cut/cross-section of a "good crimp" of a smaller connector (18Ga) to illustrate my next point:


When done correctly, each strand and the connector form a cold weld. This is a gas-tight, metal-molecule-to-metal-molecule bond. Even this well-done crimp has tiny pockets where air (and its moisture) can get in there and start to do damage, this is why I solder too on my cables. Soldering can be done wrong too, to much heat, too much solder, not enough of either...

I agree that proper tools are an expensive part of proper crimping jobs, as are the correct crimp lugs and terminals (usually copper for copper). I hate the hammer type crimpers:

They mess up more ends than they get right, even when they look good on the outside they can be a hot mess inside. I have seen a lot of brass and copper plated steel ends crimped on to copper cable - and have subsequently seen those ends fail.

I think we can all agree that the clamp-on type are absolute garbage:


As I have said, I do keep the compression type on-hand for emergency repairs, but I usually replace them with crimp/solder connections later to protect the wire. I also prefer to use a lug terminal versus a battery clamp, this allows the separation of failures of the clamp and the cable's lug. One more cross section picture of a proper crimp before soldering/heat-shrink:

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

I think we can all agree that the clamp-on type are absolute garbage:

Yep, and the hammered "crimp" fitting are not much better, in my book.

As for crimped.... Well, crimped connections are mil-spec in a lot of applications where soldered connections are NOT. Dunno about batteries, though.

 

[shepherm]

I tried to make a post last week but not sure what happen to it.

I have started replacing my cables the other day and use a combination of crimping and soldering. I've been using a set of $35 10 ton hydraulic wire crimpers from ebay. They seem to work pretty good and have most of the size dies that I use, 8 ga, 4 ga, and 2/0.

Things I use:
Hydraulic crimpers
flux
solder
heat shrink adhesive lined

I plan on making a video in the next couple days by here is my process of making cables:
strip wire
apply flux to wire and lug
cut small pieces of solder and place in lug
insert wire into lug and crimp
heat lug and melt solder
install heat shrink tube

 

[number9er]

When it's warmer out I'm going to upgrade the charging/starting circuits with heavier wire, possibly fuses instead of fusible links, and eventually an auxiliary 12v bank for accessories. In the meantime, I'll try to keep updating the image in the first post with information about the OEM system, so that maybe this thread will be useful for someone replacing/upgrading/repairing theirs. The gauges are available in the TMs, so I've put those on the graphic. I really just need lengths at this point. I got a NOS battery interconnect and 12v supply cable on the innerwebs:

The 4ga short wire is 24", the 8ga longer wire is 55", and the fusible link is 5". I've added these to the graphic on post #1 of this thread.

 

[roveroverme]

I have 20" and 33" pre made Professional crimped and soldered 2gauge wires. Also I have the necessary fuse blocks to keep things safe they are 32v and have 450amp fuses in them. PM me

 

[shepherm]

Here is a short video of how I make my battery cables

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5J2MOGQtMLk&feature=youtu.be

 

[tim292stro]

Nice. If you find yourself doing a lot of ends, you might save yourself some time and use electronics solder-paste. For example this 5-tube pack has a Tin/Lead solder with a no-clean flux at about $10/tube. Squirt a little in the connector before you shove the cable in and it saves you the solder-cutting and cable-fluxing steps.

One cuation with your method, is that you have to burn off all of the flux - flux is by design an acidic compound, when heated it eats metal providing a textured/clean surface for the solder to wet out on. You would want to make sure that you don't leave any unconsumed flux where engine heat might reactivate the acid as this can trigger corrosion right where you don't want it and can't see it (in the cable end). It's another reason I like the pastes, the ammount of flux in the paste is just enough for the volume of solder to "consume" during the bonding stage at the temperature the solder melts.

 

[natemccabe]

Resurecting an old thread here, but I'm getting new cables made as I shorted the starter lead. Can I just use a regular eyelette on the starter end or does it need to be the funky end thats on there?

 

[reaper556]

tagging this thread for latter

 

[reaper556]

I have 20" and 33" pre made Professional crimped and soldered 2gauge wires. Also I have the necessary fuse blocks to keep things safe they are 32v and have 450amp fuses in them. PM me
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So you are using the mega fuses in place of the old fusible links?