Long story short - battery cable connectors on my truck have finally had it. The cables themselves have had it too so I need to make some new ones.

I ordered some 2/0 marine battery cable along with various connectors, solder pellets, and connector covers. That hurt the bank account .

I'm having a problem soldering the connectors to the ends of the cables... the wire is made up of many small strands and when you go to press the cable into the connector full of molten solder, many strands catch on the edges and fray out and make a general mess of everything... point is I'm just not satisfied how its going.

Here's a picture of what the cable I got looks like, click on it for a bigger version:



I can get the connectors on just fine by turning the connector in the direction the wire strands are wound just fine, its pressing it straight in like you have to do with a connector full of molten solder in a vice that isn't working.

I was looking at this crimper, http://www.harborfreight.com/hydraul...ool-66150.html.

Has anyone ever used one like it? Any other tips for making these cables? This project is definitely getting the best of me.

 

The trick to using soldered joints for cable connections is to pre solder the cable itself before you insert it into the post connector.

What this does is make the end of the cable a solid mass........all the strands are soldered together. When this end is inserted and soldered into the connector, it makes an incredible strong connection because the solder has flowed into every crevice and space around every strand of wire.

I have been doing this for years and was shown this method by a gentleman that has been doing it for millions of years.

Personally, I prefer to pre solder the wire/cable into a solid mass and then crimp it into the connector with a hydraulic crimper. The crimpers are available cheap on Ebay for under $200 and it's an investment for life to boot considering how often you will use it.

The hit with a hammer crimpers work fine but a hydraulic crimp is a lot better.

Jeff

 

A crimped connection isnt very good (higher resistance). I worked in a power plant for 5 years and never once seen a soldered connection.

I tried doing soldered connections and didnt like the results either.

 

I relocated my batteries and made new cables for everything. I had connectors that fit snug, like your, and I had the best luck with flux/wire solder than the pellets. I stripped the insulation to fit into the connector and then pulled back the insulation as far as I could so the heat wouldn't melt it, too. Then I cleaned the connectors really good with a fitting wire brush and put a little flux on the wire and in the connector and slid them together. I clamped the connector in the vise and used rosin core wire solder and heated mostly on the connector til the solder flowed. They came out much better than the ends with the pellets. I don't think the pellets have enough solder so I helped them with the rosin core. I slid the insulation down against the connector while the end was still warm and put the heatshrink tubing on. No Korrode is about the best noncorrosive soft solder flux and it's very much worth a few bucks to buy fresh flux. The heat around these parts ruins flux and bad flux will REALLY cause problems. I think the ultimate way would be to crimp the connector with flux in there and then solder it so no corrosion could ever get between the parts. Craig

 

If you do choose to solder - make sure you use some flux remover to remove the flux residue

 

I used a bolt splitter with the "splitter" ground down a bit to crimp my connections. Works great, but if you don't mind spending the $60 vs $10 the hydraulic is a bit more....consistant.

 

Who do you know with a hose end crimper?

 

Well I went and picked up the hydraulic crimper from HF today... its well made and looks like it would work great except for the fact that you can't even fit a 00 connector through the jaws.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but 2/0 and 00 are the same size, right?

The wire will barely even fit through the jaws with the insulation on, so forget even trying to get the cable connector through there.

My boss is already not happy because I took the first part of today off to try to get this done, and it looks like I've made zero progress on this today... what a waste.

Think I should take a dremel to the tool inserts and widen them up a bit to fit my connector, or just take it back and order a manual "bolt cutter" style crimper?

 

Are you sure the tool is open all the way or the dies are installed correctly? Looks to me like there is something wrong with the tool. Strange. Things go for me like this too - you arent the only one.

If you have a tool rental place around where you are you can probably rent a Thomas and Betts or Ideal crimper.

And I was getting ready to buy one of these.


EDIT - the tool specs say that the capacity is: 0-0.45" - measure the outside of your ring terminal - if it is less that 0.45", there is some issue with the tool.

 

[QUOTE=dieselfuelonly;2907669]Long story short - battery cable connectors on my truck have finally had it. The cables themselves have had it too so I need to make some new ones.

I ordered some 2/0 marine battery cable along with various connectors, solder pellets, and connector covers. That hurt the bank account .

I'm having a problem soldering the connectors to the ends of the cables... the wire is made up of many small strands and when you go to press the cable into the connector full of molten solder, many strands catch on the edges and fray out and make a general mess of everything... point is I'm just not satisfied how its going.

Here's a picture of what the cable I got looks like, click on it for a bigger version:



I can get the connectors on just fine by turning the connector in the direction the wire strands are wound just fine, its pressing it straight in like you have to do with a connector full of molten solder in a vice that isn't working.

I was looking at this crimper, http://www.harborfreight.com/hydraul...ool-66150.html.

Has anyone ever used one like it? Any other tips for making these cables? This project is definitely getting http://www.polarwire.com/
http://www.acterminals.com/

 

The Harbor Freight crimper has a bad habit of having undersized dies even though they are marked the size you are wanting to use.

If you do a Google search on the matter, you will find a lot of guys just drill out the needed die and go for it. There doesn't seem to be a problem with drilling them out.

The undersized dies have been hit and miss with these crimpers from Harbor and they don't seem to know why.

I got my crimper off Ebay and paid a bunch more but the dies are in Metric and are the correct size. Unfortunately they are on loan to someone and I can't tell you the metric size for 00 gage wire.

Jeff

 

Looks like typical harbor freight chinese junk.

2/0 and 00 are the same, wire diameter should be right at .365" Grind out the dies if you want it done tonight, a little de-ox in the connections wouldn't hurt anything.

 

If you have noalox and use it on all electric connections that I need to work. Noalox prevents rust and a power loss or ground problems if used in electrical connections. I use it in all the Tractors I haven and battery connections .

 

Youre right Jeff. Hard to believe they can screw something standard like that up...

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums...lic-30951.html

 

I've got one of the hammer type crimpers which is fine as long as you aren't trying to get in somewhere tight.

http://www.solar-electric.com/hacrtoforlal.html

Noalox and adhesive type double wall shrink tube make for a decent connection.