Battery Cables

eagle19952 · April 24, 2018, 09:28:40 PM

Quote from: kyle4501 on April 24, 2018, 08:06:50 PM
John,
While you make an excellent point (that I agree with), I don't think that someone who is worried about the cost difference between welding cable & tinned marine boat cable is going to be able to understand the value of the proper crimper and wire cutter.

At least they have been exposed to a more robust way.

Anyone turning there back on properly crimped cable is probably making a lot of critical mistakes.

richard5933 · April 24, 2018, 09:50:02 PM

Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I anted up for a hydraulic crimping tool when I added the battery box and cables to our current bus. I didn't get the best out there, but it does a great job and only cost about $50 on Amazon. I had previously used the hammer/anvil method, but you guys are correct - there is no comparison between the two. Not only does the hydraulic crimping tool do an infinitely better job, another advantage is that lugs can be properly added to cables in the field if necessary without access to a solid surface for pounding.

neoneddy · April 24, 2018, 10:56:02 PM

Maybe I'm a monster. I crimp and solder. I figure if I have a good connection I won't build heat and then the solder will hold fine. Been Rock solid this last year.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oonrahnjay · April 25, 2018, 05:17:52 AM

Quote from: Iceni John on April 24, 2018, 07:43:20 PMEverybody here is talking about the cable and heatshrink (obviously very important factors), but what about the actual crimping process? I've seen plenty of cables, including high-current starter cables, whose lugs are attached by those hammer crimpers, assuming such a tool deserves to be called a crimper! To prevent moisture wicking between the strands, and to assure the best possible electrical contact between cable and lug, the lug ideally should be squeezed on all its sides so it compresses onto the cable so tightly that it and the cable have effectively cold-welded themselves together into one solid indivisible fused mass of copper. No hammer crimper will do this - all they do is dent the lug down into the strands of wire, leaving individual strands still separate from their neighbours. No bueno. ...

I'm in the middle of the cable process myself. I was loaned a "hammer crimper" by "someone who knows everything and it's 'good enough' " and I was thoroughly underwhelmed by the quality of connection. I cut a connection (on 2/0 cable) and found that the wire strands were (mostly) circular but the terminal sleeve was D-shaped. There was a pinch where the dent made by the hammer crimper pushed into the cable strands but there were big areas where there was little-to-no contact at all.
Next day, a Harbor Freight ("Horrible Fright!") ad popped up with a hydraulic crimper on sale. I'm not much of a believer in HF, but some of their stuff is OK for a "hobbyist" -- it will never live in a pro shop for day-after-day use, but this crimper will probably for 10 years for the guy who picks through the tools in my shop after I die.
I'm just not going to have loose or improperly crimped connections on my bus.

scanzel · April 25, 2018, 05:34:28 AM

Because my battery bank is 24v with 8 AGM batteries wired to pos/neg bus bars I needed many battery cables made up. By the time I figured out how much red/black cable I needed plus all the connectors and heat shrink I found that my local battery supplier could make them better and less expensive and quicker. I just supplied all the measurements and he made all the cables for about $300. The only issue is before I went this route I bought a real nice American made adjustable head lug crimper that set me back $125 now I have no use for it.

eagle19952 · April 25, 2018, 09:11:32 AM

Quote from: scanzel on April 25, 2018, 05:34:28 AM
Because my battery bank is 24v with 8 AGM batteries wired to pos/neg bus bars I needed many battery cables made up. By the time I figured out how much red/black cable I needed plus all the connectors and heat shrink I found that my local battery supplier could make them better and less expensive and quicker. I just supplied all the measurements and he made all the cables for about $300. The only issue is before I went this route I bought a real nice American made adjustable head lug crimper that set me back $125 now I have no use for it.

buy a bunch of lugs.
take them to a rally.
offer a upgrade service
charge 5$ and a beer
soon someone will buy the tool

DoubleEagle · April 25, 2018, 10:29:59 AM

Quote from: scanzel on April 25, 2018, 05:34:28 AM
The only issue is before I went this route I bought a real nice American made adjustable head lug crimper that set me back $125 now I have no use for it.

Is it the TEMCo TH0005, by any chance? It gets pretty good reviews.

windtrader · April 25, 2018, 11:09:06 AM

I look forward to the day when my coach gets to the point where the finer points of battery cables is on top of my punch list!!!

belfert · April 25, 2018, 03:22:17 PM

Why is SGT cable considered so much better than welding cable? It appears to just as fine stranded as welding cable.

kyle4501 · April 25, 2018, 07:09:56 PM

Quote from: belfert on April 25, 2018, 03:22:17 PM
Why is SGT cable considered so much better than welding cable? It appears to just as fine stranded as welding cable.

Insulation is as important as the wire stranding !!!!

http://custombatterycables.com/info_pages/wire_types.htm

DoubleEagle · April 25, 2018, 07:27:29 PM

Quote from: belfert on April 25, 2018, 03:22:17 PM
Why is SGT cable considered so much better than welding cable? It appears to just as fine stranded as welding cable.

It is SAE rated and can take higher temperatures and oil exposure. Some versions of welding cable have insulation that can take oil exposure, but have not been certified by SAE. Welding cable would need more support to keep from drooping or flopping around. Many people get by with welding cable, but it is not optimum. I would not use it in the engine compartment, or where salty road spray can hit it.

belfert · April 26, 2018, 03:08:36 PM

I thought the issue with welding cable is the fine strand. An earlier post mentioned welding cable failing at the crimp due to the finely stranded wire.

DoubleEagle · April 26, 2018, 04:27:07 PM

Quote from: belfert on April 26, 2018, 03:08:36 PM
I thought the issue with welding cable is the fine strand. An earlier post mentioned welding cable failing at the crimp due to the finely stranded wire.

That is one of the issues if the connections are not completely covered. The fine strands can corrode relatively quickly if they are not protected - much more exposed surface area. It's the fine strands and soft insulation that makes welding cable so easy to whip around the floor and loop on a holder. Those are traits are not needed in a coach environment, in my opinion. The reasons for choosing one cable type over another are usually cost and/or the desire to have the long term best.

HB of CJ · April 28, 2018, 04:34:13 PM

We had our 6/0 cables custom made using the available like new condition multi strand mining cables. The insulation was like new. Seems the hard rock mining companies just replaced the cables whether or not they actually had any visible wear? Perhaps it was done every so many hours of usage?

The rented Mother of all mechanical cable crimpers was about 6 feet long, weighted at least 80 pounds and looked like a very very large pair of bolt cutters. The connections were crimped but not soldered. The shrink wrap was yellow if memory serves. A rose budd propane hand torch was also rented.

chessie4905 · April 28, 2018, 05:10:28 PM

Some additional information here.
https://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/design-installation/inverter-battery-cables