triton0708

My friend gave me some 2/0 welding cable to make a new set of battery cables with. My ? is they don't have copper strands under the insulation, it appears to be aluminum? The cable says" 2/0 AWG type RHH 2KV Diesel Locomotive Cable." Will this work for making battery cables, or do the strands have to be copper?
Thanks all.

rockwithjason

The copper might be tinned with solder making it appear to be aluminum. Scrape some of the strands and see if there is copper under the tin. If it is copper conductor I would think that they would make good battery cables.

JKM

Aluminum is a VERY good conductor , but it's tendancy to corrode is more prevalent than copper , that's why it isn't used much.

phox_mulder

It also tends to "flow" over time, it basically is a solid liquid in a constant state of slow melting.

My house has aluminum wiring (which was perfectly ok back in the 60's I guess),
and I'm constantly dealing with dead switches, plugs, and lighting fixtures.
Every year they come out with a "new improved" way of connecting copper to aluminum to avoid this slow melt.



phox

biglar

I would check it very carefully, as said, to be sure if it's tinned copper. That would be good stuff, but if it IS aluminum, stay the h... away from it. I've run into aluminum wiring in mobile homes in my business as an A/C technician, and there are very good reasons why it's now outlawed in that application.

Lar.

triton0708

Thanks to all for the advice. After doing a search, it turns out it is tinned copper, and around 325 strands at that!! So these should be some crazy- good cablels when I am done. I plan to solder lugs onto the ends and use the heavy-duty military style clamps, since I have a few other wires that need to be hooked to the positive terminal. I'll keep ya'll posted and take pics along the way if possible. Thanks again, Jeff.