Where can I find the Mother of all Jumper Cables? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Carrameow · #1 11-04-2005, 07:23 AM

Where can I find the Mother of all Jumper Cables? I left my lights on yesterday and my buddy only had these puny little cables, which took forever to work! That scared me, winetr is coming and I dontw ant to be stranded in the Midwest Plains without Jumper Cables.

TX76513 · #2 11-04-2005, 08:00 AM

Make them yourself. Get some good 6 g copper tangle free wire and some heavy clamps. Made mine 18' and had them for decades

Bought all my materials at a welding supply store.

RUN-EM · #3 11-04-2005, 08:00 AM

Get welding cable and add ends of your choice. Solder the ends on. Make sure they have good spring tension to firmly attach to the battery posts. In a pinch, ya can even tow the sucker with them

Regards,

Run-em
1983 300 S D-aka.- SPARKY THE DIESEL

PagodaLover · #4 11-04-2005, 08:04 AM

I've had to do a lot of thins with jumper cables. Tie down loads with them. Held a broken door closed with them. One of the best tolls ever invented for the automobile.

I vote make your own set, too. But do insulate carefully!!

Good luck.

nazrat · #5 11-04-2005, 08:06 AM

Walmart sells 4 gauge cables for $20. I've had 3 sets for about 6 years and none of them have failed. The insulation is thick and the ends are well made. I'm sure that you could find better but for $20 these are a bargain. Unless I go to a specialty shop I can't buy 40' of 4 gauge cable for $20 around here.

-Tad

leathermang · #6 11-04-2005, 08:06 AM

Yes, go to the welding store... consider something like Ought size cable... and the connection to the ends are very important... also, the way it attaches to your battery is also... the stupid hand spring held ' clamps' on regular jumper cables have VERY SMALL actual contact area on the things they are clamped to.... amazing they still sell them....
RAW Contact area is important when trying to get big current moved from one place to another...

dannym · #7 11-04-2005, 08:52 AM

I rarely have trouble with the regular store bought kind but I have at times doubled up on them.

Danny

JamesDean · #8 11-04-2005, 09:19 AM

i have a pair of blue ones...pretty thick ones too. had em for years. very heavy duty.

Dervman · #9 11-04-2005, 09:42 AM

PLEASE DO NOT connect both your Jumper cables directly to the Battery terminals

I still see people doing this and it makes me crazy.
Always connect one Jumper cable to the positive + terminal on the charged and 'dead' batteries first.
Then connect the other cable to a solid chassis ground as far away from the battery as lead length allows.

There are two main reasons for this (this is 'Auto-Shop 101' but it might enlighten some folks):
Firstly, Lead-Acid car batteries give off highly flammable Hydrogen gas (think Hindenberg) and the spark from connecting the Jumper cable could easily ignite the gas causing your battery to explode. Maybe not a problem with the 'dead' battery, but the charged one could be giving off gas.
Secondly (and less likely), if your battery has died because of an internal short, connecting a high-amp power supply across the terminals is probably a very bad idea and could damage the "good" battery.

Ralph69220d · #10 11-04-2005, 09:52 AM

Dervman is absolutely correct. In the event you do connect the battery grounds directly to the battery grounds do this: First connect the positive lead to the battery being charged, then the other end to the positive pole of the charging battery. Second, connect the ground cable to the battery being charged, and then to the charging battery. This keeps you and your face away from the low/bad battery when the completed circuit is made.

Glinko · #11 11-04-2005, 10:33 AM

Yeah, I have some kind of red and black cables that came with the emergency kit my daddy gave me for christmas last year. I used them three times yesterday and they worked fine, didn't even have to charge for more than a minute and the car fired right up.

Of course, the alternator wasn't working, so the tiny charge only lasted about 30 miles. Luckily I got home before the headlights had completely died.

Anthony Cerami · #12 11-04-2005, 11:01 AM

Make them yourself ……..
-4 vise grips
-2 lengths of insulated stainless braided cable (or welding cable)
-4 furrels
cut cable to desired length and strip ends back 3/4 of an inch
crimp furrels in place.
weld furrels to vise grips
mother of all jumper cables !!!

83-240D · #13 11-04-2005, 11:20 AM

sears has some pretty heavy duty cables that i bought and have used.

Brian Carlton · #14 11-04-2005, 11:36 AM

I'm with Greg on this.

The size of the wire is not the limiting factor in transferring current. The clamps are the problem. The points on the clamps provide very little area for the charge to pass through. If a better system could be utilized at the cable ends, the difficulty in jumping a diesel would be eliminated.

Making giant cables out of 0 gauge wire is not going to overcome the limit of the clamps.

Habanero · #15 11-04-2005, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Carlton

I'm with Greg on this.

The size of the wire is not the limiting factor in transferring current. The clamps are the problem. The points on the clamps provide very little area for the charge to pass through. If a better system could be utilized at the cable ends, the difficulty in jumping a diesel would be eliminated.

Making giant cables out of 0 gauge wire is not going to overcome the limit of the clamps.

For DC current, resistance is a function of wire length as well as surface area. So even though the clamps don't have a lot of surface area, the pathlength is very short compared to the length of cable. Of course getting the best clamps with the most contact area is still important, but wire size is also of importance.

Mine are 0 gauge welding wire with the highest surface area clamps I could find and 12 foot long. Weren't cheap to build (~90 bucks all together) but I doubt I will have to build another pair for a long time.