jump leads

[mabsydney]

At the risk of asking a dumb question......

What jump leads should I carry? I looked in K-mart (don't see any point spending lots on bits of cable) and there are 100, 200 and 400 amp to choose from and then there are the ones with anti surge protection.

What should I get for my fourby?

[Big Red Toy]

a second battery

get the 400's i've cooked a set of the little ones. get the surge thing if your car has a computer etc...

[mabsydney]

thanks big red........yeah a second battery is on the list..........when i have the money.....

[Top Cat]

Whatever you do, dont be scabby with jumpers..........the pissy ones wouldnt start a mini bike..........I dunno how they can sell them actually.

[high n mighty]

Ive also fried a small set, the 400's etc aren't that dear anyway.
I personally dont beleive these surge protecting junk but my set has that lil box on em anyway.

[ausyota]

I sell jumper leads at work. I have seen "400 amp" leads that are crappier then "200 amp". Before you buy any set of jumper leads pull back the rubber on the allagator clamps and have a look at how thin the wire really is!!! A lot of the time the "400 amp" leads just have thicker insulation over the same size wire . Also have a look at how dodgy the crimping is.
Choose carefully.
Best way is to go see an auto sparky and get him to make some up out of battery lead and attach clamps.
Paul.

[Utemad]

Make your own or buy good quality ones.

If you look at the actual wire and not the super thick insulation you'll see where most of the bulk is on the cheap leads. The cheapy leads also tend to have dodgy alligator clips that don't open wide enough to clamp a terminal properly.

Having said that I've jump started a 6 cylinder car with speaker wire before. All you have to do is have the donor car running and connect the two batteries for a little while (measured in minutes) and charge the flat battery a little bit. Which you should do a little bit anyway.

[Guy]

Make your own or buy good quality ones.

If you look at the actual wire and not the super thick insulation you'll see where most of the bulk is on the cheap leads. The cheapy leads also tend to have dodgy alligator clips that don't open wide enough to clamp a terminal properly.

Having said that I've jump started a 6 cylinder car with speaker wire before. All you have to do is have the donor car running and connect the two batteries for a little while (measured in minutes) and charge the flat battery a little bit. Which you should do a little bit anyway.

done exactly the same thing .. Jumped started a 308 with my zuk and a few feet of speaker wire .. But I normally have a custom made set of 4 meter long jumpers made from welding cable on hand. They work great with heavy duty clips on em

[Bluey]

if making your own, i reckon 8 - 10 m would be ideal. that way the cable will still reach even if donor car is front or behind stuck car (ie. don't need to have cars pointing to each other)

just use big cable, and clamps that have some form of electrically joining each side of clamps aprt from hinge bolt. that way current can flow either side




Bluey

[mkpatrol]

Arc welding leads work best & Ashdowns sell heavy duty alligator clamps.

[Guy]

if making your own, i reckon 8 - 10 m would be ideal. that way the cable will still reach even if donor car is front or behind stuck car (ie. don't need to have cars pointing to each other)

just use big cable, and clamps that have some form of electrically joining each side of clamps aprt from hinge bolt. that way current can flow either side




Bluey

they get to be a PITA to store and use at that length as they are simply to long .. what sorta vehicles are you working on that are 8 meters long ?? that would be one hell of a parking experiance ..

[p76rangie]

Have a set of the Kmart 400 amp leads and used them many times to start the V8 without any issue. Have also used them to weld things in the bush without a problem. You cannot usually buy the wire for what Kmart sell the complete leads for.

[Utemad]

Have a set of the Kmart 400 amp leads and used them many times to start the V8 without any issue. Have also used them to weld things in the bush without a problem. You cannot usually buy the wire for what Kmart sell the complete leads for.

Your right. I bought some for $7 from K-Mart although they were complete crap. I only bought them for the clamps (even though they are crappy ones) as the cheapest aftermarket clamps I could find were $13/pair although they were better quality. I already had 16 sq mm flat cable triple insulated (outer insulation joins the two cables as one). Overall they are 8.5m long so you can jump start a car without nosing them together with the batteries side by side as stated previously. Has come in handy a few times with people in my estate having their cars parked nose in to their garages. With them rolled up and with a removable zip tie around it all they are not bulky at all.

When I joined the cable to the clamps I ran the cable right down to the tip of the clamp and soldered the cable there. I was going to run a small length of the same cable to the other jaw but never got around to it.

The original K-Mart cable must have been about 4 sq mm and about 1.5m long. But the insulation made them almost as thick as my triple insulated 16 sq mm cable. Go figure?

So long as they work for your application though it doesn't really matter what you have. Just carry some spare speaker wire

[rock hopper]

i use and sell 4m jumper leads .
that are made from 35mm welding cable . and heavy duty clamps .
rrp $150-00 . i sell them for $100-00 ...
i also sell the welding cable by the mtr ....

[slowhilux]

Im bout to make myself up a set of jumper leads, from 50mmSQ cable. Should be good for bout 550-600amp intermitent . Its a bonus when you can do it all for NOTHING

[Bluey]

if making your own, i reckon 8 - 10 m would be ideal. that way the cable will still reach even if donor car is front or behind stuck car (ie. don't need to have cars pointing to each other)

just use big cable, and clamps that have some form of electrically joining each side of clamps aprt from hinge bolt. that way current can flow either side




Bluey

they get to be a PITA to store and use at that length as they are simply to long .. what sorta vehicles are you working on that are 8 meters long ?? that would be one hell of a parking experiance ..

Overall they are 8.5m long so you can jump start a car without nosing them together with the batteries side by side as stated previously. Has come in handy a few times with people in my estate having their cars parked nose in to their garages. With them rolled up and with a removable zip tie around it all they are not bulky at all.

this sort of thing. when you cant get cars nose to nose or side by side. atm don't have long cables, when i had to jump my car had to join 2 sets of leads of cables togeter cause i was a bottom of driveway, one side was fence the other steel pillar for deck. and batteries on opposites side too

will make up some proper cables at some stage, if get decent cable without inches of insulation shouldn't be too baulky. might be bit heavier tho but price to pay

[Shadow]

i got a pair an my uncle made up (electrician) it uses some heavy duty welding cable, about 3.5 metres long and have never been to short for me.