jumper cables

[justanothercase]

After reading the post below (juice cables) it got me thinking about how i would like to have jumper cables with vise grip ends. A nice set of copper jaws that i can adjust and clamp to battery post or ground on tractor or vehicle. Anyone else think that would be a good invention.
 

[ShadetreeRet]

Sounds like an idea to me! If you buy the high dollar cables, the clamps on them are higher quality than the cheap sets from the big box stores. but yes, I can see cable ends made like vise grips. They should work well. May be kinds xpensive though.
 

[MarkB_MI]

I've never had a problem getting a good connection with quality cables. The cheap cables that everyone else seems to buy have flimsy clamps that can't grip anything and use ten gauge wire covered with thick insulation to look heavy.

Many cable sets, even the better ones, lack a jumper between the clamp jaws. Soldering a 12 gauge stranded wire between the two jaws will significantly improve your cables' performance.
 

[thurlow]

As has already been said, a good set of clamps works every time. Friend of mine usta have a surplus store on the outskirts of town (he closed about 10 years ago and I still miss him). He sold mostly new and used metal, but also lots of other stuff. He went to many of the government-surplus auctions in the SE and would come home with some 'finds'. One time he had several thousand feet of cable (00 iirc)....which I think had been used as welder leads on one of the TVA dams. I bought enough to replace the leads on the welder and make 5 or 6....long.....sets of booster cables; a set for the shop, one for each truck, etc. I think the clamps I put on 'em were 1600 amp. I'm long retired and have a newer pickup, but I'm sure I'll have my old 1st generation-Cummins one-ton dually when I die; it'll be 20 years old this Valentine's day. I special ordered it from the dealer and remember the day it came. The booster cables I keep in it are behind the seat and have clamps only on one end.


 

[guido]

Hello justanothercase,

My boss made up a set with two old pairs of vise grips in the seventies. Maybe you can get a patent on it. I know he never did.
We had 3 group 31 batteries in parallel as a jump start system with the visegrips on the other end. The 00 size cable ends were braced to the pliers. Should I have taken a picture of them.
Guido.
 

[j hikemper]

found a set of decent cables in water at a junkyard ,, no contact would go thru ,, poured brake fluid on wire to clamp connecters ,, next day they worked like new ,,.