Making battery cables

woodster · Nov 23, 2015

not sure if it will clamp down tight enough to do that but it may ...just take a new lug and test it ...i do know the crimp needs to support a certain amount of pulling strength ...i don't know what that is but on the #14 wire i think it's 100 lbs

Johnb · Nov 23, 2015

One possibility is to go to the website
http://www.genuinedealz.com/
and custom order battery cables on line. I don't imagine you could make them better, quicker or cheaper. They are tinned wire, marine closed lugs and glued heat shrink

woodster · Nov 23, 2015

Johnb said:
One possibility is to go to the website
http://www.genuinedealz.com/
and custom order battery cables on line. I don't imagine you could make them better, quicker or cheaper. They are tinned wire, marine closed lugs and glued heat shrink

thats where i got mine

Bad Obsession · Nov 23, 2015

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/battery_cables

It can't get any better than following Mainesail's instructions. He is the resident expert and breaks these things down well. He makes a lot of valid points and I followed this when I made mine this past year.

keys please · Nov 23, 2015

If you are near a west marine store they usually have a real good crimp tool their for people to use.... and just about anything else needed for that job....

Slow lane · Nov 23, 2015

I make all mine. I prefer to solder to the lug. Very easy to do with tinned wire. Just heat the lug with wire inserted fill with solder to top of lug let cool then slide heat shrink over and seal.

Charlie98117 · Nov 23, 2015

Another vote for soldering. I (carefully) use a propane torch.

heritage · Nov 23, 2015

This link: http://www.yandina.com/Soldering.htm goes into detail on how to solder battery cable terminals. Note that he also crimps the terminal before melting in the solder.

Siamese · Nov 23, 2015

I'm another genuinedealz.com customer. When I ditched my 4D's and went to 6v golf batteries per MaineSail, I used them to make the cables I needed. I seldom pay for others to do anything for/on my boat, but given the good prices and great service I got, they were hard to beat. And I didn't have to do anything. And I only need battery cables about once a decade.

25yearslater · Nov 23, 2015

I have a set I use to lug 600 Volt power cables but the drive might be a bit much. If you know an industrial or commercial electrician they are sure to have a set they could lend or do it for you. These don't crimp but squeeze the lug down much like a swaged rigging end. Never had one fail and they operate in environments hundreds of times more corrosive than any ocean ever thought of being.

MitchM · Nov 23, 2015

i went to a shop that made welding cable. showed them my old battery cables, asked the shop to make me new ones a foot longer same diameter with lugs on the end to fit standard battery top posts.. welding cable was 20% the price of west marine. 35 years later the welding cables are working just fine.

THECUSCUS · Nov 23, 2015

I'm another very satisfied Genuinedealz customer. You really need a good (expensive) crimper to do battery cables correctly. Make sure you get the proper sized lugs for your battery posts. Some batteries use different sizes for + and -, some don't. Another tip, if using Genuinedealz, is to get different colered shrink tubing on all your cables, which makes it a lot easier to identify both ends after its run all over your engine bay.

Siamese · Nov 23, 2015

jibes138 said:
Trouble with pre-fab is knowing the exact length to make them, too short and its' a disaster, too long and it probably means cutting it shorter and then having to crimp anyway. I guess I can pull the old ones measure them and then reinstall to keep the boat in service until I get them made up. I might try the swage tool just to see what happens with a piece of scrap wire. I made a short jumper out of #6 wire to go from the alternator to the battery cable terminal of the starter solenoid (per MaineSail's recommendation) using the local West swaging tool in the store, it was a really poor crimp, flattened the connector making "ears" on each side, I don't want to do that with battery cables, the wire is too expensive to screw it up.

Okay...tongue in cheek, here, but...if you're not capable of measuring a battery cable, you sure you want to be the guy to make them?

nameless · Nov 23, 2015

Genuinedealz is an excellent source of professionally made cables, especially if you know the correct length. I purchased the FTZ crimper as I am doing a complete rewire of my Cat 30. I have increased the size of all cabling and completely redesigned the 12v system. I don't believe you can solder properly crimped cables (cold formed with no space available for the solder to flow) and there should be no need to do so. 20 years of aircraft maintenance and the crimp was the solution. Very little soldering.
So, if you need just a few cables, and know how long each is Genuinedealz is the way to go. If there will be a bigger need the correct crimper should be in the tool bin. Once you are done I'm sure you could sell it to some other smart sailor for a reasonable price, and know the crimps and the terminals used are the best & safest ones on your boat.

Ron20324 · Nov 23, 2015

I used a hot knife to cut the insulation without breaking strands. After using the whammer-crimper, I hung the cabled so the solder would run down into the lug. I used 1&2&3-inch heat shrink pieces overlapped. This, from Good Old Boat 2006...

uncledom · Nov 24, 2015

I cut the insulation with a razor knife, massage conductive grease into the cable, fill the connector with conductive grease and then crimp with a Hilti crimper that leaves the die size in the crimp. You might be able to rent one or borrow one from an electrician. I then cover the cable end with shrink tubing.

4arch · Nov 24, 2015

A method that has worked well for me in measuring for new custom battery cables when I'm not replacing 1-for-1 and therefore don't have old ones to measure is this:

Find an old, stiff piece of line without a lot of stretch or give - preferably 1/2 or 5/8 inch 3-strand, but braided would be OK if it's stiff enough. This approximates the thickness and pliability of a 2/0 marine cable surprisingly well.
Run the line where the battery cables are to be routed. Use temporary ties to secure the cable exactly as it will be in its final installation.
Mark the posts at each end with a marker or tape.
Remove the piece of line.
Lay the line out flat and straight.
Measure between the markings with a tape. This is your cable length. Unless it's a short little jumper, I usually add an inch or two for good measure. I also make clear in my comments to the fabricator that the measurements are taken at the posts, center to center.

Maine Sail · Nov 24, 2015

MitchM said:
i went to a shop that made welding cable. showed them my old battery cables, asked the shop to make me new ones a foot longer same diameter with lugs on the end to fit standard battery top posts.. welding cable was 20% the price of west marine. 35 years later the welding cables are working just fine.

The reason welding cable is generally not used is due to the jacket construction. EPDM rubber, what most welding cable is made from, is highly flexible, a desired characteristic for welding cable, but is not immune to oils, gasses etc..

I have re-wired far to many boats with rotting EPDM welding cable, at a high cost to the owner, because the EPDM jacket failed and rotted in engine room or bilge pass through spaces.. I had a Defever trawler two years ago with welding cable that looked like chewed bubble gum, literally swelled, deformed and melted. It literally fell apart in your fingers. It caused massive DC corrosion issues, among other problems...

The wire inside is perfectly fine, and IMHO tinning is irrelevant in properly made battery or inverter cables using a proper wire that resists oil and chemical attack.. The stranding is very close to, and in some cases identical, to what we use on boat cable, but the EPDM rubber jacketing is the issue.

If you can find a PVC or thermoplastic welding cable, and they do exist, then it can be fine. I would however suggest finding one that is 105C rated, that meets UL burn tests etc. is very difficult... The problem is this type of welding cable costs about the same as marine UL1426 wire...

In the quantities I buy UL1426 battery cable it is actually cheaper than UL 105C PVC welding cable.
One thing that is critically important is that over current protection is dictated by the jacket temp rating. The trip rating of over current protection for main banks that may be called on to at one point start the motor and a 105C wire has much higher allowable max ampacity for OCP and can utilize a larger fuse and still remain below the 100% or 150% ABYC Table VI standard for max ampacity. Most generic welding cable is not even temp rated and most EPDM cable is 60C... To get the equivalent quality in welding cable is still not inexpensive and the specs often leave a bit to be desired.

I have seen welding cable outside bilges & engine spaces last 30+ years but in engine spaces I've seen it eaten/destroyed in a year. When in doubt stick with a Marine UL1426 rated wire...

Making battery cables

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