Booster Cable Suppliers

[hippymill]

Not really a modified tech question, but where is a good source for high quality jumper cables? looking for long term durability and flexible cables.

[motorcityxj]

NAPA has some nice very thick guage copper ones. I forget how much mine were. Very nice though. Allot of cheap jumper cables are super fat insulation with suuper puny copper wires. Besure to look at the wire guage. treat your self to one of these also, i got mine from northern tool.

http://www.amazon.com/Bucket-Boss-Brand-Jumper-Extension/dp/B000022688


i looked at napa i cant remeber what guage mine were i thought 4 guage ... by looking at the prices i think i musta got 6 guage ones. around $38 bucks at NAPA

the one i boughthttp://www.napaonline.com//MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=470&LineCode=BK&PartNumber=7825254&Description=Booster+Cables+%2f+Professional+H%2fD



link to enitre line from budget to commerical grade $17 - $178

http://www.napaonline.com//MasterPages/NOLMaster.aspx?PageId=430&Keyword=jumper%20cables&KeywordCat=Booster+Cables&VehCode=N


also PM a mod and ask them to move this to off topic, its not modified tech.

[RCman]

I've got two sets of these (one in my DD, one at home):
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2DBBC216P&N=700+309932+115&autoview=sku

Great cables... stay away from the cheapo 16 - 8 AWG ones...

[5-90]

I've got two sets of these (one in my DD, one at home):
http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2DBBC216P&N=700+309932+115&autoview=sku

Great cables... stay away from the cheapo 16 - 8 AWG ones...

Not bad - 4AWG is an ABSOLUTE MINIMUM for jumper leads, with 2AWG or larger preferred (my personal sets are made from aircraft GPU leads - paired 00AWG. Anderson on one end, clamps on the other - I can gang them to get about 40' of reach if I need it!) I got the leads from a batch of GPUs I was rebuilding at the time (Hobart JET-EX4's.)

All cable I use is "fine-strand" - like welding cable - which significantly improves handling and storage of the cablesets. The finer strands not only offer more flexibility, but more surface area (electricity travels mainly on the surface of a conductor,) which tends to increase ampacity slightly as well. I try to get "fine-strand" primary wire wherever possible - and I think it's worth paying a little extra for...

[UNCC_99XJ]

Got a 10' one from Harbor Freight....pretty cheap and have done a number of jumps with them.

I also have a jump box that I got for Christmas that i'm eager to try out.

[RichP]

You want good quality clamps on them too. Not those cheesy ones you see at the mart stores, insulated ones that only leave the teeth exposed. Most of the mart store ones are not jumper cables they are more charger cables than anything else. I bought a set at Sears, heavy duty with insulated clamps and they will actually jump a deader, they were like $50 or so but I also had a 10% off coupon :D :D :D

[dphillips]

Use these on the work truck. We bought them from a local West Chatham dealer. Don't even need to open the hood. Not sure who they are actually made by, but they were pricey. About $80.00 bucks if I remember correctly. The cables are thick and long enough for me to park behind my cherokee and still reach the battery if I need to. Can't be plugged in backwards (on my end). Probably a little overkill, but definetly worth it. The local Sheriff uses them on most of their cruisers too.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/dannyp69/Stuff/P2070003.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/dannyp69/Stuff/P2070002.jpg

[5-90]

Use these on the work truck. We bought them from a local West Chatham dealer. Don't even need to open the hood. Not sure who they are actually made by, but they were pricey. About $80.00 bucks if I remember correctly. The cables are thick and long enough for me to park behind my cherokee and still reach the battery if I need to. Can't be plugged in backwards (on my end). Probably a little overkill, but definetly worth it. The local Sheriff uses them on most of their cruisers too.
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/dannyp69/Stuff/P2070003.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d19/dannyp69/Stuff/P2070002.jpg

That's an Anderson connector - same one I've got on one end of each of my sets. I haven't gotten around to mounting the vehicle end (which will actually end up with one on EACH end of the rig!) but I like them, and the damn things just work.

Although, for the money, they should also have given you better clamps. I use the "parrot clamps" like in the Summit link - those things can really grab a post when you need them to!

[8Mud]

You want good quality clamps on them too. Not those cheesy ones you see at the mart stores, insulated ones that only leave the teeth exposed. Most of the mart store ones are not jumper cables they are more charger cables than anything else. I bought a set at Sears, heavy duty with insulated clamps and they will actually jump a deader, they were like $50 or so but I also had a 10% off coupon :D :D :D
I got a set of Sears, on sale, that are long enough to jump nose to tail, those suckers are really long. Well made, built for a lifetime.

[89Daytona]

That's an Anderson connector - same one I've got on one end of each of my sets.
Are both connectors the same? I can't really tell from the pictures.

I have a jumper cable set that has a similar style connector except it has a LED in it to show it has power.

[5-90]

Are both connectors the same? I can't really tell from the pictures.

I have a jumper cable set that has a similar style connector except it has a LED in it to show it has power.

Anderson connectors are the same within "current ratings" - 50A, 120A, 175A and 350A. They are commonly used with industrial battery chargers (high-current units used for charging batteries used in material handling equipment,) but are colour-coded to keep them from being used with battery racks whose voltage differs from that of the charger (typically, you'll find 24VDC, 36VDC, and 48VDC in material handling equipment. As long as you match the colour of the Anderson plugs, you're fine - I don't recall what the standard is offhand, but there is a standard.)

I've recently noted that there is also a "lookalike" variation on the Anderson that not only has colour-coded shells, but also mechanical "keys" in case you can't tell the difference between Grey, Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green. I suspect that these are not compatible with genuine Anderson connectors, but have not yet been able to confirm.

Andersons are commonly used on "quick-connect" setups for both jumper cables and winches (usually with 175A shells,) but I've also set up automotive battery chargers using 50A shells for ease of handling, and making it damn near impossible to connecting a battery backwards (which usually cooks the charger, and sometimes the battery as well. Ask one of my kids, who suddenly owed me $150 for not taking a flashlight out to watch what he was doing a few years ago...)


I'll typically use the same colour of Anderson connector on both ends (usually with a Grey shell, since it's an "unassigned" or "ambiguous" colour,) but it's not strictly necessary. I think Warn usually uses Red for their "quick-connect" wiring kits, and Ramsey uses (I think, again) Blue for their "disconnect" kits - I'd have to check.

Shells are made from Lexan (which takes some serious abuse to break...) and the contacts are tin-plated solid copper. Contacts are "self-cleaning" - the contact tips "wipe" each other upon assembly to help to ensure a good connection (can you tell I've been dealing with these things for years?)

[WB9YZU]

The finer strands not only offer more flexibility, but more surface area (electricity travels mainly on the surface of a conductor,) which tends to increase ampacity slightly as well.

Or not. The for DC or low frequency AC applications, the current handling capability of solid vs stranded of the same guage is the same. At DC, the skin effect is negligable.

The advantage here is flexability, and nothing more.

[5-90]

Or not. The for DC or low frequency AC applications, the current handling capability of solid vs stranded of the same guage is the same. At DC, the skin effect is negligable.

The advantage here is flexability, and nothing more.

Ah. So I'd got my signals partially crossed. Thanks for sorting that out for me...

So, at "low-freqency AC" - what's the cutoff freqency? Somewhere down around the 60Hz line freq, or in the lower reaches of RF?

[WB9YZU]

Ah. So I'd got my signals partially crossed. Thanks for sorting that out for me...

So, at "low-freqency AC" - what's the cutoff freqency? Somewhere down around the 60Hz line freq, or in the lower reaches of RF?

The "Skin Effect" is most pronounced at RF.