Making your own jump leads

[eltax91]

Chaps

I had call to attempt to use my thin and cheap (and frankly pitiful) jump leads the other night. Sadly, they got too hot and did not transfer enough current to get my car going. So, this has steeled my resolve to make my own leads. This way I can make them a decent length and choose my own cable thickness and clamps.

So, anyone made any before? Whats an appropriate weight of cable to buy? Say I wanted to be able to jump my 525i and future proof myself in case I go back to dirty DERV. Any recommendations of a decent supplier?

[guru_1071]

I bought a set of commercial ones.

thick wire with quality clamps.

they have lasted for years.

if your going to make them your self you need to source welder earth clamp wire (or similar)as its very supple, normal battery cable is too stiff for jump leads, it would be very hard to coil them up

[CoolHands]

dunno. Check vwp for suitable parts/cable.

eg
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinest...
+
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/VWP-onlinest...

[Strawman]

You can buy good quality ones for about £20,
e.g. http://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/...

Not worth making your own IMO.

[IroningMan]

Arc welder cable - but by the time you've found suitable crocodiles you might as well have bought some commercial vehicle leads to begin with.

[Exige77]

Get some from Costco.

Proper Jump leads.

Ex77

[V8RX7]

I looked into it and it wasn't worth making your own.

Halfords do some excellent ones, very long and happily start dead flat 3ltr diesels.

Trade card helps but IIRC I paid less than £40

[GC8]

You can usually make your own for FAR less than an equivalent commercial product will cost to buy - jump leads are commonly high markeup and low quality.

The clamps are cheap and can be bought from a variety of sources. For the leads I would opt for good thich welding cable, clamped and soldered on: lovely.

If youre buying ready made jump leads them always look at the copper cores thickness where it joins the clamps, rather than being swayed by the outer dimensions. Ive seen £10 cables with more current carrying metal than leads costing four times as much! Its a lark.

Id expect to pay about £6 per metre for good quality rubber insulated cable, so £25-£30 for cable and a couple of pounds for clamps and youll have something that no commercial product will be able to come close to - keep your eye on them though as someone will always have their eye on them!

[eltax91]

GC8 said:

You can usually make your own for FAR less than an equivalent commercial product will cost to buy - jump leads are commonly high markeup and low quality.

The clamps are cheap and can be bought from a variety of sources. For the leads I would opt for good thich welding cable, clamped and soldered on: lovely.

If youre buying ready made jump leads them always look at the copper cores thickness where it joins the clamps, rather than being swayed by the outer dimensions. Ive seen £10 cables with more current carrying metal than leads costing four times as much! Its a lark.

Id expect to pay about £6 per metre for good quality rubber insulated cable, so £25-£30 for cable and a couple of pounds for clamps and youll have something that no commercial product will be able to come close to - keep your eye on them though as someone will always have their eye on them!

Thanks for the info. And to all the other posters. I will look at the ready made Costco ones and weigh up the benefits

Any good online suppliers to buy the cable/ particularly the clips from?

[S0 What]

I allways make my own, extra long and extra tough, especialy where the clamps join the cable but i use them a lot being a mechanic, it works out cheaper than a really good set of H/D leads.
Those machine mart ones are crap! get clamps with full metal jaws not plastic with the metal inserts like they are, if you use them more than once a month it's worth getting or making really good ones, they will last you a lifetime, made mine 7 years ago, they get used 2 or 3 times a week and they havn't needed a repair yet.
Any decent car spares shop will have decent full metal clamps/crocodile clips and the cable, for decent i'd say any pair over £50 should be decent (and with full metal clips) but you can pay up to £190 for a real good set with surge protection.
Also made my own jump pack



I've allways been one for function over form.

Edited by S0 What on Saturday 25th May 20:51

[sparkyhx]

I had the Halfrauds heavy duty ones until the clamps broke. Turns out the clamps were just plastic with a bit of metal for the crocodile bit. So I bought the halfords cheapy ones and made a good set from the cheapy (but metal) clamps and the thick heavy duty cable from the others..................and kept the hard case from the heavy duty ones as well.

[redtwin]

S0 What said:

I've allways been one for function over form.

I like that, wish I hadn't thrown that old battery now. It wouldn't hold a charge if car was parked up for more than a week, but would have been ideal as a jump pack left on an Optimate.

[rallycross]

redtwin said:

S0 What said:

I've allways been one for function over form.

I like that, wish I hadn't thrown that old battery now. It wouldn't hold a charge if car was parked up for more than a week, but would have been ideal as a jump pack left on an Optimate.

This is what I use as well a decent battery with a handle and heavy duty 6 foot long jump leads works a treat !

[Welshbeef]

Exige77 said:

Get some from Costco.

Proper Jump leads.

Ex77

This or change your battery every 4 years you'll never need to jump start again.

I buy the Bosch silver one which is 5 year warranty (I got pissed off with having this issue so just bought good battery). When I came to sell or part x cars I'd asses the battery in the replacement car and if worse than the Bosch - and of course that it was the correct size and amp hours - I'd change them over so that I'd keep the newer battery.

[V8RX7]

S0 What said:

Also made my own jump pack



I've allways been one for function over form.

Dad used to do similar but with a bigger battery. He found that the battery rarely lasted more than a year as it didn't like being cycled (full to flat)

He bought a Clarke 4000 about 7 years ago and it's still going strong.

[S0 What]

V8RX7 said:

S0 What said:

Also made my own jump pack



I've allways been one for function over form.

Dad used to do similar but with a bigger battery. He found that the battery rarely lasted more than a year as it didn't like being cycled (full to flat)

He bought a Clarke 4000 about 7 years ago and it's still going strong.

It's usually plugged into solar pannel (with charge controler) i have on the roof of my workshop (from a camper i scrapped) or plugged into the cig lighter in the truck so it never gets flat, i'd just got back from a "my car wont start can you come look at it" call

It's usually running this with a wire brush in it to clean panels pre welding (50p at a car boot with a knackerd battery) works great

Edited by S0 What on Monday 27th May 15:37

[quiraing]

I made a 5m-long set around 20 years ago using flexible 35mm csa flex (oil-industry-spec, I think it was called tri-rated cable - it's flexible) and 2 welding clamps with teeth filed into the jaws. Quick spray of clamps with WD40 each year and they'll last for years. If anyone's making their own then don't choose clamps which may be too big to clamp onto battery terminals.


Slightly off thread but still useful - a battery isolator switch is really useful - saves unbolting terminals and then trying to get a tight connection after charging.

I bought one of these for under £10 - the one with the removable black rotary wheel. Makes things so much easier. Useful from a safety point of view too - you just unscrew the little wheel and take it with you - or if a car is parked for long periods and has a small current leakage even when not being used.

http://www.electricalcarservices.com/Battery-Isola...

This is not an ad - I used the suppliers above but lots of other suppliers sell similar.

Edited by quiraing on Monday 27th May 16:45

[GC8]

I always fit quick release battery clamps to my cars. Im about to fit an Anderson jack too (making for very easy boosting where required), but with the battery being in the rear flared wheelarch, Im not sure where exactly to mount it.

[Bonzai]

I've been looking into this subject lately, after being let down by a cheapie pair of leads with plastic clips. I've decided to treat myself to a pair that will last a lifetime and be suitable for any application.

For the cable, as suggested previously it seems that welding cable is the way to go, either 50mm2 or 70mm2, and the best clips I have found are these;

1000 amp Angled Crocodile Clip Fully Insulated Brass - http://www.smak.co.uk/crocodile-clips/1000-amp-cro...

They're not exactly cheap, but they look high quality and they are solid brass...

That company also sells the welding cable as well as other high quality clips. They have ready made sets to suit most budgets and application; The most expensive ones that indicate "brass" come with those angled crocodile clips.

[link removed]
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[link removed]

This is not an ad, just thought I'd share my findings on the quest to find the highest quality jump leads.

Hope that helps

Edited by Bonzai on Wednesday 2nd July 22:06

[GC8]

A wise member suggested welding cable when the thread was young...