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  #16  
Old 12-06-2010, 11:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by layback40 View Post
I have a set made from welder leads & welder earth clamps. The copper is about 1/2" thick. They never get hot.
I have a set of heavy duty jumper cables I found on the side of the road one day. I think they were from a tow truck/wrecker since they are pretty heavy duty and are about 25' long.

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  #17  
Old 12-06-2010, 11:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Carlton View Post
You really can stop right there.

If the 240 had the correct battery..........less than three years old...........with clean cable clamps, you don't have a problem.

You wish to completely reengineer the vehicle and add significant weight to cure the simple problem of an old battery.

Doesn't make any sense.
Sorry about that, Brian. I'm tired and not typing clearly.

It is my JUMPER cables, not my battery cables, that are good cables with good clamps.

The battery was 6 years old and overdue to fail. As of today, the car has freshly cleaned clamps and a new Group 49H8 battery. We'll see what happens in the morning; car doesn't have a block heater and it's about 13 degrees out there at the moment. Expecting single digits by morning.

The reason I was surprised by the failure is that I had advance load-test the six year old battery two months ago on a relatively warm day. It returned a result on their little machine of 1,034 cranking amps available. I should have known that a battery that tested better after 6 years than it was rated for brand-new was probably an anomaly, but I decided to be hopeful and optimistic and hope I'd just finally gotten hold of a really good sturdy battery.
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  #18  
Old 12-06-2010, 11:56 PM
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I got a nice thick gauge copper jumper cables that were left in Trigger when I purchased it. They are Mercedes blue, have alot of length, and are very good at jumping.

I have a near identical set in the '85 SL of similar vintage, but they are red and white.
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  #19  
Old 12-06-2010, 11:56 PM
Craig
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Carlton View Post
You really can stop right there.

If the 240 had the correct battery..........less than three years old...........with clean cable clamps, you don't have a problem.

You wish to completely reengineer the vehicle and add significant weight to cure the simple problem of an old battery.

Doesn't make any sense.
Just another complex solution in search of a simple problem.
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  #20  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:01 AM
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Originally Posted by YoungBenz View Post
I had another 49 series in my trunk last winter that I had 00 gauge wire running up to the main battery under the car.
00 gauge is the gauge of my jumper cables! There is some serious copper in 00 gauge and there shouldn't be much voltage drop.
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  #21  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:03 AM
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Like Brian, I cant see the point of redesigning the electrical system in a car to overcome a problem of a bad battery or connection. Much easier to fix the original problem. Its winter where you are, old batteries give up in the cold.
Never attach the jumper lead to the battery posts. When you put a decent load on the leads, you will burn the post right off. If you have brass lead clamps, grab the jumpers to them.
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1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
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  #22  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:05 AM
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I think it was because I used the stuff with like 8 strands. Everyone I talked to said that the fine strand stuff like that is used in car audio is the stuff you want.
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  #23  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:08 AM
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Well, okay.

I've already done the simple stuff. I did that without even asking any dumb questions except double-checking the correct group number.

The obvious steps have been taken. The old battery was replaced with a new one and the cables were cleaned with a wire scrubber. That's really all there is to say about the basic solution.

What got me thinking was the fact that this morning, because the battery was on its way out for the last time, the engine actually turned over for 30 seconds or so, just at a reduced cranking speed. It simply occurred to me that I might not have had to be jump started this morning, if I had had two batteries instead of one, and thereby had essentially double the cranking time available to me.

It's a really cold day, and although my glowplugs work, the engine isn't in absolutely mint condition compression-wise. It's simply one of those that doesn't start well in the cold. Yes, I could address this by an expensive engine rebuild and injector cleaning and all sorts of stuff, and still probably have a cold-natured beast when I got done. It's simply almost worn out, I'm trying to get the last of the good out of it, and cold starts are difficult even under the best of conditions.

Two batteries instead of one means that on one of these cold, hard-to-start days, I wouldn't have run out of juice as rapidly as I did. I would have somewhere close to twice as much time in which to build up enough heat in the cylinders to get the engine started. It didn't seem like THAT ridiculous an idea. ANY battery can become discharged after prolonged cranking. The newest and best-charged battery will start to fall off after you drain it for 30-60 cumulative seconds of cranking across multiple glow attempts. With a second battery in the system, this effect would occur at half the speed. Therefore, I'd have a better chance of getting it started before completely draining what current I had available.

It was just a thought. I did say that I would only be interested in doing it if it were easily feasible. Since it isn't, it was just a "if somebody ever came up with this, I'd be interested" statement. Maybe I'll come up with it myself one of these days. It just seemed like a good way to prolong the opportunity to get an old, worn out engine started for those who do happen to be relying on it.
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  #24  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:11 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vstech View Post
there are different styles of jumper cable ends..... another style has serrated on one side, and round jaw on the other... properly pushed into the clamps...
I have a set like this on... extended loan... from my father. They're long and have thick conductors. At least 0 gauge wire. I wish I could find another set for a reasonable amount of money.

I once got a 1.6 VW started using these cables, with no battery in the 1.6 and a less then optimal battery in the supply car. Good cables make all the difference!

-J
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  #25  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:13 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by layback40 View Post
Like Brian, I cant see the point of redesigning the electrical system in a car to overcome a problem of a bad battery or connection. Much easier to fix the original problem. Its winter where you are, old batteries give up in the cold.
Never attach the jumper lead to the battery posts. When you put a decent load on the leads, you will burn the post right off. If you have brass lead clamps, grab the jumpers to them.
When I jump-start, nothing gets disconnected. The car's battery clamp remains clamped securely to the battery itself, and I simply clamp the jumper cable leads over the entire connection. The actual points of connection are on the lead battery clamp, but it remains connected to the posts just as always.

I've already done the non-redesigning solution. I'm not saying that I can't use the car again until I modify it. I was just envisioning the next time this happens not costing me the better part of an hour, being late for class, and standing out in the cold.

As a practical matter, both of my batteries would probably fail simultaneously, or else one of them would short a cell and then drain the other one because they were interconnected, and I'd just have a doubly expensive version of the exact same no-start condition. Wish I'd never suggested it now.
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Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

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  #26  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:14 AM
Craig
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Seriously, you are better off keeping a charged battery pack in your trunk for the occasional morning when that extra few seconds of fast cranking will make the difference between starting and not starting.
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  #27  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:16 AM
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I thought that's what all the other cars in the driveway were for...
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  #28  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:20 AM
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Originally Posted by compu_85 View Post
I thought that's what all the other cars in the driveway were for...
I can only drive one at a time to college, where it stays at my apartment. The others are at home. Normally that's exactly what I'd do, and I've done it at home several times. But when I've only got access to one at a time and the others are 100 miles away, I'm dependent on neighbors, none of whom have very much CCA available.
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Past cars:

1986 300SDL
1987 300SDL
1982 240D
1982 300SD


Current:

1987 300SDL
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  #29  
Old 12-07-2010, 12:20 AM
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Michael ,
Dont feel bad about your suggestion !! There is nothing wrong with tossing in an idea to get people talking, your idea has merit in some applications.
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I no longer question authority, I annoy authority. More effect, less effort....

1967 230-6 auto parts car. rust bucket.
1980 300D now parts car 800k miles
1984 300D 500k miles
1987 250td 160k miles English import
2001 jeep turbo diesel 130k miles
1998 jeep tdi ~ followed me home. Needs a turbo.
1968 Ford F750 truck. 6-354 diesel conversion.
Other toys ~J.D.,Cat & GM ~ mainly earth moving
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  #30  
Old 12-07-2010, 01:42 AM
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