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Battery cable ends - what’s best crimped, soldered, compressed etc

56wrench

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Dec 4, 2016
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alberta
some of these are different opinions but OHM's law is the determining factor of all electrical theory and discussion ( V=I x R). this discussion reminds me of the old JD split load 24v system-- fully insulated starter, generator with two 12v outputs charging two 12v batteries separately and the lights & other accessories split between each battery. what a PITA and a lot of connections to check and maintain. the best solution was to change to a 12v starter and 12v alternator and basically rewire part of the tractor. also ditch the skinny 12v batteries, make a new battery box , and use two 6v in series or two 12v in parallel
 

kshansen

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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
some of these are different opinions but OHM's law is the determining factor of all electrical theory and discussion ( V=I x R). this discussion reminds me of the old JD split load 24v system-- fully insulated starter, generator with two 12v outputs charging two 12v batteries separately and the lights & other accessories split between each battery. what a PITA and a lot of connections to check and maintain. the best solution was to change to a 12v starter and 12v alternator and basically rewire part of the tractor. also ditch the skinny 12v batteries, make a new battery box , and use two 6v in series or two 12v in parallel
And then there were those serious problem switches(actually series parallel) they could do all kinds of strange things with loose wires or dirty contacts inside. Converted a few Macks to straight 12 volts to make life much easier.
 

Birdseye

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Sep 26, 2020
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Topeka Kansas
Delmar, I like what you wrote but can’t quite picture it , can you upload a picture or a drawing/sketch ?

“...weld up a 3/8" nut to a length of pipe with a bar across the top for the negative battery terminal, even easier to remove the ground cable with no tools”
 

Flat Thunder Channel

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Apr 24, 2020
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Location
Ohio
All good theories, I can't argue with any off the thoughts/ suggestions. I do think it definitely will take longer to charge leaving them connected and only hooking up a single side of the battery tender. The tenders have a low charge rate ~1.25 or 1.5 amps max. So only connecting one leg to both provides half the power. I'm curious enough I might try a test just to see the difference. So far I always disconnected one ground since it's a quick operation. They are batteries are connected in parallel.

I love the battery tender products. I have mutiple chargers and seems like I'm always charging one or two old batteries just for emergency backups. I also pull the batteries for my equipment in storage to charge incrementally over winter.
 

Delmer

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Jan 3, 2013
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WI
IMG_5831.JPG

JL and Doublewide beat me to it. Can also make the top bar into a U to use any pry tool to tighten and loosen. Or a washer welded to the nut and then a half washer vertically to give the stud clearance, for a place you have even less room on top of the battery. These are for the ground only, I not too worried about the risk for the ground terminal as long as you disconnect it first and reconnect it last.

Another trick with old cables like the ground in the pic above, clean that one up with acid, solder it. Then add another ground cable from the battery terminal to the engine block if the original goes to the frame, and a third ground between the frame and engine block. Don't do that on the positive though, unless you have two batteries maybe each one gets a cable to the starter. More risky with the positive.

The two cables in the first post are ones I'm talking about, I'd never get those old wire strands to absorb the solder without dipping in acid until they're bright, and then using an acid flux also, then hose it off and soak in a bucket water overnight.
 
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NH575E

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North, FL
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This is the type nuts I used on my new battery's stud connections.

s-l400.jpg
 

56wrench

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Dec 4, 2016
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alberta
i only use resin-core solder for any electrical work and acid core for radiators etc. as to the old 24v starters i always found they cranked the engine faster than 12v. the old series-parallel switches worked well but could be tricky to diagnose and the wiring had to be good with clean connections. i'm still running my old '79 with the original system and it spins way better than my newer 12v systems, but then again, they are different engines
 

Delmer

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WI
I only suggested the nut contraption as an alternative to a disconnect switch, to keep the wiring simple just remove the ground cable for disconnect. Those tall nuts are available where ever you buy battery cables, and are easier to use than a simple nut, plus they protect the threads from damage and not getting the battery cables off years down the road.
 

Swetz

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Delmer, thanks for the clarification...now it makes total sense why you use that setup!
 

JL Sargent

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Jul 15, 2018
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Alabama
I found these.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ten-Group-...029584&hash=item2cc1c62b96:g:ZOsAAOSwmgJY7CUG

s-l1600.jpg
 

Swetz

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The ones I linked are stainless and capped as well. These should be available locally if internet is not your preference.
20201213_124930.jpg
 

stinky64

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Feb 25, 2017
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java center ny
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big truck wrench/fixer of things
Always be sure to check these battery capnuts for a plastic coating...that happens once! Out in the yard 15 degrees and can't figure out why 16 volt start truck won't charge truck batteries enuogh to turn over....pay attention dumba$s..it was dark...dumba$s
 

Camshawn

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Jan 25, 2017
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Langley BC
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I prefer crimping good quality lugs or battery terminals installed with a hydraulic crisper and covered by a thick adhesive heat shrink. I also squirt a good dollop of nolox into the barrel of the crimp. The thinner non adhesive shrinks do not stand up in my experience but do last quite a while. They need to be replaced sooner than the adhesive type.
The hydraulic crimped guarantees the correct pressure is applied to the crimp. Second best are the adjustable jaw crimpers . I do not like to solder as I feel that there are too many factors that are not controllable. There is also a non flexible spot where the solder ends that is more susceptible to breakage.

Ohms law does apply to all the connection path from battery posts to the starter and back from the block. The shorter the path the better. I have found checking bolted ground buss connections in high voltage switchgear that every bolt in the path has some resistance and they can add up to a significant amount. In a 12v or 24v this can be significant. I preferred to run the ground wire to the starter mounting bold or somewhere close by. If using parallel batteries, both battery negatives to that point and both positives to the starter post. This helps insure that the paths to both batteries are as close to the same as possible.
Cam
 

kshansen

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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
Always be sure to check these battery capnuts for a plastic coating...that happens once! Out in the yard 15 degrees and can't figure out why 16 volt start truck won't charge truck batteries enuogh to turn over....pay attention dumba$s..it was dark...dumba$s

That reminded me of a problem dad had many years back. Put a new battery in his AMC Matador, yea I said it was a few years back! Hooked up the cables and nothing worked.

I know some have figured the problem out already!

Dad was not a mechanic but also not a dummy either he could run an old Northwest crane dropballing boulders with the best of them! But eyesight was not the best in later years due in part to making the mistake of being nearby when someone smacked a bearing with a hammer. He had remover the red plastic cap off the positive terminal but did not notice the black cap on the negative terminal.
 
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