Thread: Whats the difference between

1. Skin effect applies only to AC current and is negligible up to tens if not hundreds of kilohertz.

2. The current ratings on jumper leads are apparently meaningless - very few if any of the ones I have seen would actually carry their rated current for more than a few seconds without melting at least the insulation. This is ignoring the fact that their clips would not stand it either - in fact the contact area on most of them would be guaranteed to provide enough resistance to limit the current enough to prevent damage to the cable, albeit not to prevent damage to the battery terminal and clip. And if you are actually trying to run starter current through the cable (as opposed to giving a battery a boost and an assist), the voltage drop will be more of a problem than the heating effect. If you are only boosting the battery, lighter cables can be an advantage from the point of view that they limit the current to prevent damage to the donor vehicle's battery and electrical system from the virtual short presented by the dead battery in the vehicle being started.

3. As stated welding cables are multi-stranded to provide flexibility - in fact they make excellent jumper cables, but the clips on the ends still tend to be the main limitation.

John

I should show ya my 1400amp cables.... only melted 3 sets of clamps off of em and destroyed countless battery terminals.

They used to be used to slave start dead leopards.... Should handle a landie....

when ya dont shop the green kmart or pickles your payin too much

Originally Posted by byron

I'll second that Opinion!.....all of the above .....especially.....

Welding cable IS a very good choice especially industrial grade [usually rated for longer continuous or more frequent interval use]......but the really good stuff is uber pricy......different construction using more and finer strands of wire......remember that current carrying capacity is a function of cross section area of wire and that electron "flow" is basically along the surface of any wire......thus lots of fine strands plaited together give a markedly greater current capacity than a single heavy wire of same thickness as the bundle of fine wires.

I mentioned on a previous thread on this site that I bought, at auction, a roll of 20mm welding cable, and have not had a battery lead problem since. In my younger days, we used cable like this at the Evans Deakin yards in Brisbane, welding off large (7ton) copper choke welders. 6mm/1/4" electrodes, 400 amps, 100% duty cycle, with 100-200 ft. of cable extended, six or more welders burning metal at a time off one choke welder. Size does matter. Get big thick cables. Remember the Mother Superiors advice to the novices, look out for the African curate, long, thick, and black. Go to a truck wrecker and get the battery leads off North American tractors ( prime movers), Western Star, White, KW, Mack, Freightliner, even maybe a Looselybuilt which are Ford and poorer quality.

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

In my younger days, we used cable like this at the Evans Deakin yards in Brisbane, ...

I remember Evans Deakin from when I went to high school at Salisbury in the 60s. I went past them every day.

Do ED still exist?

Ron

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

I should show ya my 1400amp cables.... only melted 3 sets of clamps off of em and destroyed countless battery terminals.

They used to be used to slave start dead leopards.... Should handle a landie....

when ya dont shop the green kmart or pickles your payin too much

RAEME or 1st ARM Regtmy pick would be Reccy Mech since you live in the town with two states and used jumpers ona Big Cat, Mate I live way over here in WA and I spent 10yrs locking people up who shopped at the green KMART (MP's)man do I have some stories to tell for a few beers In answer to your first question I'm setting up a dual/triple battery unit in the Fender to run a 12000lb winch without fuss. I didn't answer because I was on a 6hour trip to pick up some 34's Simex JT2's on moddified Disco rims if you want to part with say 3m of the "Cat Kicker" let me know how much postage and a 6pack would cost and I will reinburse your "Spanner ass"
cheers Mate
Nigel
Too the rest of you I will ditch the jumper idea and maybe just reto fit one end with anderson plugs as to easy acces the batts when jumping another..

close but no cigar..

my rough ADF history

96-99 1 armd regt, loaned to 2 cav + 5/7 several times to drive umpire ffr's m113a1/driver sig, tilly dog

99-00 1csu, m113a1/driver sig, tilly dog TPT lacky and workshop slave for the sigs who didnt think m113's needed maitenance

00-02 1/15rnswl m113a1 driver sig/transport supervisor/recruiter

02-04 10FSB truck driver/terminal operator, left after being knocked back for deployment cause I was med class 3 apparently cause I was preggers

04-06 stayed in townsvile driving cranes/trucks

for $15 at the pickles site there I picked up 30 steel treks on 2 pallets. Dropped in the middle of the pallet with the good tyres on it was a tank slave cable. I assumed it was a loaded pallet as only the top tyre had red xx's but was still servicable and inside the 5 year limit on the treks. The other pallet was a write off without one good tyre on it.

The light weight ones I was talking about arent that high a quality cable but still have a fairly thick wire in em... since I gotta do pics this arvo I'll pull em out and get some pics for ya. From memory I got the light weight ones from a mine site in QLD after some idiot put em on my crane and forgot to take them out after jump starting a scraper.

and 06-now accepted into the RAAF as a mechanic on the strength of my plant maitenance operators ticket but recruiting lost the certificate so now I have to redo the mechanics course.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

but recruiting lost the certificate so now I have to redo the mechanics course.

Never give anyone your originals, only certified copies.

Ron

Originally Posted by DirtyDawg

400amp jumper cables and 200amp battery cable..apart from the obvious amp difference could you use the jumper cable as a permanant battery cable?

reason: battery cable 200amp $12.95 per metre I need 2.5m of positve and same length Neg about $60 all up
400 amp jumper leads 3m length with surge protector $39.95 and the cable is joined for most its length making for a tidy installation.

being the electrical genius that I am, I thought the likes of Ladas or Drivesafe would know plus all the input from the regular Know-it-alls is valued aswell before I get my visa card out again

I would concur with what's already been said - the right cable would be rated at 200 a continuous, the jumper cables are peak (short term) ratings - and in my view are not to be trusted - pay a little bit extra and buy peace of mind.

Whatever the scientist says - the more copper you have between point a and point b = less resistance, less chance of burning out, - and do think multi stranded - as the surface area of 100 strands is 70% greater than one strand of the sum of the total of 100 strands.