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Jump leads and battery cables
blakep82 - 26/3/16 at 03:55 PM

Can anyone see an issue with this? Jump leads seem cheap. 12m of cable for £15. You couldnt buy 4m of battery cable for that. I bought these jump leads a few weeks back. Wanted some good quality long leads
Heavy Duty Battery Jump Start Leads Cable 800amp 6m Long Jumpleads Car Van Boost

Could these make good battery cables too?
They say 800a which is a lot, but am I missing something here? Why so cheap?

mark chandler - 26/3/16 at 04:27 PM

It's what I did, buy some decent crimps and really heavy duty jump leads then chop them up.

sprintB+ - 26/3/16 at 04:47 PM

Yep, I've done the same, 3-4 years now, no issues. On my other kit I have welding leads as the battery is in the boot and they reached, never had no issue with them either.

907 - 26/3/16 at 05:32 PM

Aluminium, and not copper ?

I also imagine it's 800amp just for a moment, and not a rating for continuous flow.



I always cut a bit off my welder earth if I need a battery cable.

Trouble is I can now only weld stuff 300mm away.

Paul G

blakep82 - 26/3/16 at 07:01 PM

quote:
Originally posted by 907
Aluminium, and not copper ?

I also imagine it's 800amp just for a moment, and not a rating for continuous flow.


Aluminium not copper? What do you mean? Its copper cable. And arent all battery cables whatever curremt just for a few seconds of cranking? Just a bit confused now
Its for a mot'd running drivable landy I bought, which isnt really drivable lol but was cheap! Last time I tried starting it, big sparks fired out underneath when I connected up the battery. So I expect the positive is shorting. 6m cable will be more than enough, as the battery is in tye back, plus plenty to make engine earths too

steve m - 26/3/16 at 08:23 PM

"
Trouble is I can now only weld stuff 300mm away.

Paul G"


hahahahahahahahaha

very funny

BenB - 26/3/16 at 08:38 PM

I got some cheap ebay jump leads like those. Piece of shit. Super skinny wire (bell wire) coated in very thick insulation. 800 amps my fricking arse.

omega 24 v6 - 26/3/16 at 11:21 PM

What Ben B said really sums it up.

907 - 27/3/16 at 05:33 AM

quote:
Originally posted by blakep82
quote:
Originally posted by 907
Aluminium, and not copper ?

I also imagine it's 800amp just for a moment, and not a rating for continuous flow.



Aluminium not copper? What do you mean? Its copper cable. And arent all battery cables whatever curremt just for a few seconds of cranking? Just a bit confused now




I'm not saying that your leads are not pure copper, just that they might not be.

Aluminium is a fairly good conductor of electricity, but not as good as copper. The thing is, it's a lot cheaper.

The two metals will also form an alloy when mixed in various quantities. Aircraft aluminium (Dural or Duralumin) is aluminium
with a small percentage of copper added.


Because we are dealing with an expensive and a cheap (relatively speaking) material the temptation is to add a bit of cheap to
make the expensive go further.

A quality welder for instance will have copper inside it, where as a cheap buzz box will have aluminium.




I'm not a "sparks" but as I understand it when an electric motor starts there's a power draw much greater than once the
motor is spinning, so it's those first milliseconds that draws the most and not the "few seconds of cranking".


The one that really get my goat is stuff that looks like copper in the eBay photo but is only copper plated.
Welding earth clamps with copper coloured jaws that are more magnetic than a limpet mine. Grrrrrrrr !


Paul G

cliftyhanger - 27/3/16 at 07:16 AM

Yep, look for the cross sectional area of the cables, rather than rely on a figure plucked out of the ether.
35mm2 cable is probably what you want, as a landy will take a bit of cranking.....

Just like those little amps that are 2000w output, but actually 10w rms (at best!)

mark chandler - 27/3/16 at 07:42 AM

That's why you need to purchase the heavy duty commercial leads.