Auto battery

You might consider using a battery that has BOTH top and side terminals. Readily available. I use the side terminals for the normal vehicle functions, top terminals for the add-ons. It does help eliminate some of the clutter.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Marrs
Loading thread data ...

Good suggestion, Bill, but the truck is brand new, as is the factory battery, but a good idea for replacement time. Thanks. Ken.

Reply to
Anonymous

Duhh.... I guess I could have disconnected the new battery in the new truck ... but (and this is no excuse) I wanted to get an accurate taper angle so the clamp would be a good fit. Then again, I would have to go through all the hoops to get the computer in the new truck re-set.... I got some nice dimensions from a couple of sites mentioned... they will work fine. Ken.

Reply to
Anonymous

I very much doubt it. Some testing by the US Army back in the late 60's found crimp (assuming proper crimping tools) best followed by soldered followed by cable clamp. I was fortunate to aquire AMP crimpers surplus ranging in size from #26 to #0 and have yet to have a connection made with them fail in service. Cable clamps of various types are common in house wiring and work quite well but that is a dry environment not subjected to wide temperature variations.

If you have a hydraulic press, you might consider making crimping dies for the sizes you need. Surely the specs are on the web somewhere.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Edwards

Personally, I prefer crimp with silver solder, especially rn high current applications. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

Are you silver soldering after crimping?

You would have to build up a heat shrink or ??? stiffener over the cable near the joint. Silver soldering temperatures would anneal the wire to dead soft making it very susceptible to failing due to flexing.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Edwards

I would trust a *good* crimp (e.g. made by an crimper made by AMP in preference to a screw type connection, or a soldered connection.

Note, that to do it with 1/0 or larger, you will need:

1) The crimp terminals themselves -- best in my opinion are made by AMP 2) Appropriate dies. (AMP part number 48756 for the ones with P.I.D.G. crimp (Pre Insulated Diamond Grip) 3) The hydraulic head for closing the dies. (You will need a *lot* of force to do the job properly.) 4) A hydraulic pressure source. You can do it with one of the Enerpac hand-pumped 10,000 PSI pumps, or a foot-driven one, or an electric one. (I have the electric -- complete cycle is automated from the press of a button) and the Enerpac hand pump.

The head you will need will work for 1/0 up through 4/0 (with changes of dies, of course.) A smaller head will handle #8 through #2 (four different dies, again).

There are two styles of dies for these sizes. The number that I gave is for P.I.D.G., and offers proper support to the insulation of the crimped connection. The other style does not bother crimping the insulation grip, and I forget it's name. It uses somewhat different terminals. (I am set up in PIDG for everything from #26 up through 4/0 with two exceptions --- 1/0 (I only have the other style of dies, not the P.I.D.G), and 4/0 (I have nothing in this size other than a few terminals -- so far.)

The smaller head (#8 through #2) can be had with a connector to use the hydraulic pump of your choice, or built into a hand-operated hydraulic pump. The larger head (1/0 through 4/0) only comes with a connector to a hydraulic line and the pump of your choice. Note that while some come with the standard hydraulic connectors used by Enerpac, others come with different connectors. I had to make an adaptor from the large head's connector to an Enerpac to use with the rest of my stuff.

Good Luck, DoN.

Reply to
DoN. Nichols

Reply to
larry g

NASA agrees.

Gary

Reply to
Gary Coffman

Yes to all, except that I disagree on the failure due to flexure, the copper is softer thence less susceptible to fatigue failure. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

Yeah, Rex.... I found it a couple weeks ago, but I couldn't remember what it came out of, so I tossed it away. Ken.

Reply to
Anonymous

I do have a press, and making the dies is a good idea. Thanks. Ken.

Reply to
Anonymous

Yup, Bill already mentioned that. Good idea, too. Ken.

Reply to
Anonymous

I've got some hunks of copper I've been saving to make battery connectors. If you want I'll send you a couple for the cost of shipping. email for specs if you wish.

michael

Reply to
michael

I have had such failures since the soft wire and the lack of reinforcement by the insulation concentrates any bending right at the connector. It doesn't stay soft then. The cure is to provide a strain relief (a good idea anyway) by applying a couple layers of heat shrink of different lengths.

Ted

Reply to
Ted Edwards

My standard exactly. Gerry :-)} London, Canada

Reply to
Gerald Miller

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.