My new DIY jumper cable

[dogfight]

In my country the jumper cables are bad: small, bad clamp ... etc. I decide to make a new one.

I buy a cheap clamp set, all steels (iron), even the bronze like color jaws are steel, not copper (it is misleading).

This is a jaw, I remove it, trash it.

I buy a copper sheet, make new jaws, with cable holder to fix the cable. I also make a bridge between 2 jaws of each clamp to share load between them.

Final output:

Specification:
+ Cable: welding cable: 16 mm2 copper (gauge 5). 3 m each.
+ Clamp: steel, with 100% bronze jaws. the bridge between 2 jaws are 4x1.5 mm2 (6 mm2)

Expense:
+ Welding cable: 6m (16 mm2 - 5 gauge), ~12 usd
+ Clamps: 6 usd.
+ Bolts: ~1 usd
+ Copper sheet: 1.2 mm thickness: ~2 usd.

Total: ~21 usd.

I hope that it will work well .

 

[WWheeler]

I like what you did, especially for the cost. Did you make a positive and negative or did you only need the one for your application?

A few years back I needed to replace a heavy duty 25' set of 1awg copper cables that i had had for 30 years before they grew legs. I really wanted full copper cables like I had and not the copper clad almost all of the ones I saw are now made out of. I also fancied a bit of an upgrade too as am often jumping heavy equipment with them. After pricing anything remotely similar or slightly better than what I had I gave up and went with making my own 25' set out of a 50' coil of 0-awg welding cable and Associated Equipment's 'made-in-USA' 800 amp clamps. Pretty sure I have just under $200 sunk into them including the bucketboss bag to corral them. These are by far the best set of cables I've ever laid hands on.

 

[gte718p]

I like both examples here.

Back before the price of copper got out of hand I made my own jumper cables as well. The best thing I have done was make them with Anderson connectors. My F350 has an Anderson connector in the grill so I don't have to open the hood to jump people off. I also have an extension cord so I can make my cables 50 ft long for tractors and heavy equipment where access is a pain. However, I can take out the extension and not have to deal with a mile of cable when I don't need it.

 

[dogfight]

I made both positive and negative cables. You can see in the second last picture the clamp is negative one with black plastic handle.

In your picture i wonder how thick is the cable, as gauge 0 should have at least 8mm diameter copper.

Anyway gauge 0 is more than enough for any passenger car.

I took a photo of the negative here:

I like what you did, especially for the cost. Did you make a positive and negative or did you only need the one for your application?

A few years back I needed to replace a heavy duty 25' set of 1awg copper cables that i had had for 30 years before they grew legs. I really wanted full copper cables like I had and not the copper clad almost all of the ones I saw are now made out of. I also fancied a bit of an upgrade too as am often jumping heavy equipment with them. After pricing anything remotely similar or slightly better than what I had I gave up and went with making my own 25' set out of a 50' coil of 0-awg welding cable and Associated Equipment's 'made-in-USA' 800 amp clamps. Pretty sure I have just under $200 sunk into them including the bucketboss bag to corral them. These are by far the best set of cables I've ever laid hands on.

 

[WWheeler]

I made both positive and negative cables. You can see in the second last picture the clamp is negative one with black plastic hanle.

I see now. That's what I had to do also, but I did connect the two together every ~3' or so with large zip tie covered in heat shrink so I could keep them coiled up together.

In your picture i wonder how thick is the cable, as gauge 0 should have at least 8mm diameter copper.

Anyway gauge 0 is more than enough for any passenger car.

Yeah my cables are 0 awg ("1/0 Toughflex Heavy Duty Welding Cable"). I think you should be able to make that out in the picture. I think when I weighed them after making them they are just shy of 30lbs, or maybe it was just over, don't recall for sure but they are definitely heavy. And yeah, I need them for a lot more than just jump starting a passenger vehicle.

 

[ezover]

I have a old set I made about 30 years ago, company I worked for had vans with generators in the back, when they scraped them I took off the cables running from the battery in front to the generator in back.

I think they are 20 feet long.

 

[dogfight]

If I can find Anderson connectors my work could be easier .

I like both examples here.

Back before the price of copper got out of hand I made my own jumper cables as well. The best thing I have done was make them with Anderson connectors. My F350 has an Anderson connector in the grill so I don't have to open the hood to jump people off. I also have an extension cord so I can make my cables 50 ft long for tractors and heavy equipment where access is a pain. However, I can take out the extension and not have to deal with a mile of cable when I don't need it.

Just look at the weight and see how high the quality is.

I see now. That's what I had to do also, but I did connect the two together every ~3' or so with large zip tie covered in heat shrink so I could keep them coiled up together.





Yeah my cables are 0 awg ("1/0 Toughflex Heavy Duty Welding Cable"). I think you should be able to make that out in the picture. I think when I weighed them after making them they are just shy of 30lbs, or maybe it was just over, don't recall for sure but they are definitely heavy. And yeah, I need them for a lot more than just jump starting a passenger vehicle.

I think 20 feet is ideal for passenger cars.

I have a old set I made about 30 years ago, company I worked for had vans with generators in the back, when they scraped them I took off the cables running from the battery in front to the generator in back.

I think they are 20 feet long.

 

[WWheeler]

Just look at the weight and see how high the quality is.

I think 20 feet is ideal for passenger cars.

Yeah, I totally agree lighter weight and shorter lengths are fine for most passenger vehicle uses but 20ft won't reach from the battery box on one of our GMC Topkicks to the hoe, stumpgrinder, etc on the trailer behind it so would be useless for what we need them for most often, and I've had the displeasure of watching a brand new set of 1 awg copper clad aluminum cables just melt before our eyes before they could get the tractor to turn over. Larger gauge 100% copper is the only thing that will work reliably on heavy equipment at that length.

I will add though that even just for passenger vehicles in my part of the world where so many of our needs happen roadside of a highway having a set too short to jump a car or truck from being parked behind it going the same direction could get someone killed if the only other option is to have to try and come at the vehicle head-on on the wrong side of the road only because your cables are too short to do otherwise. Been there. Done that. On the side of a busy divided highway. Consider myself lucky to get to tell the tale. Not to mention around here that's a reckless driving ticket (for good reason). On many cars 20' might be long enough to get at it from behind, but not always.

 

[dogfight]

Yeah big and long cables are great in any circumstance. I always love heavy tools.

Yeah, I totally agree lighter weight and shorter lengths are fine for most passenger vehicle uses but 20ft won't reach from the battery box on one of our GMC Topkicks to the hoe, stumpgrinder, etc on the trailer behind it so would be useless for what we need them for most often, and I've had the displeasure of watching a brand new set of 1 awg copper clad aluminum cables just melt before our eyes before they could get the tractor to turn over. Larger gauge 100% copper is the only thing that will work reliably on heavy equipment at that length.

I will add though that even just for passenger vehicles in my part of the world where so many of our needs happen roadside of a highway having a set too short to jump a car or truck from being parked behind it going the same direction could get someone killed if the only other option is to have to try and come at the vehicle head-on on the wrong side of the road only because your cables are too short to do otherwise. Been there. Done that. On the side of a busy divided highway. Consider myself lucky to get to tell the tale. Not to mention around here that's a reckless driving ticket (for good reason). On many cars 20' might be long enough to get at it from behind, but not always.

 

[gte718p]

If I can find Anderson connectors my work could be easier .

I buy mine from http://www.genuinedealz.com/quick-connect-plugs. They ship.

I used 1/0 wire for mine. I was dealing with big diesels, offroad equipment, and boats at the time. The 50ft jumps was useful but was an unwieldy beast.

 

[gte718p]

If I can find Anderson connectors my work could be easier .

I buy mine from http://www.genuinedealz.com/quick-connect-plugs. They ship.

I used 1/0 wire for mine. I was dealing with big diesels, offroad equipment, and boats at the time. The 50ft jumps was useful but was an unwieldy beast.

I will add though that even just for passenger vehicles in my part of the world where so many of our needs happen roadside of a highway having a set too short to jump a car or truck from being parked behind it going the same direction could get someone killed if the only other option is to have to try and come at the vehicle head-on on the wrong side of the road only because your cables are too short to do otherwise. Been there. Done that. On the side of a busy divided highway. Consider myself lucky to get to tell the tale. Not to mention around here that's a reckless driving ticket (for good reason). On many cars 20' might be long enough to get at it from behind, but not always.

Also why I put and Anderson connector on the back of my truck as well. It was also handy I could run a winch or a work light off of it.

 

[WWheeler]

I buy mine from http://www.genuinedealz.com/quick-connect-plugs. They ship.

I used 1/0 wire for mine. I was dealing with big diesels, offroad equipment, and boats at the time. The 50ft jumps was useful but was an unwieldy beast.



Also why I put and Anderson connector on the back of my truck as well. It was also handy I could run a winch or a work light off of it.

Yeah you got me looking at pricing and watching a few vids on Youtube about that style of connector. Now I want to wire up my 4Runner like that and make a whole new set of shorter cables just for it. It won't replace what I need the longer set for on our work trucks but it would be a lot more convenient for when I'm in my daily driver.

That, and I also have had a small portable winch that's still sitting in the box it came in for a couple years. I made a mount for it on both of my trailers but it's been waiting on me to get around to wiring something like that up. Kick myself for not getting around to it every time we have to push something heavy up on them.

 

[dscheidt]

I will add though that even just for passenger vehicles in my part of the world where so many of our needs happen roadside of a highway having a set too short to jump a car or truck from being parked behind it going the same direction could get someone killed if the only other option is to have to try and come at the vehicle head-on on the wrong side of the road only because your cables are too short to do otherwise. Been there. Done that. On the side of a busy divided highway. Consider myself lucky to get to tell the tale. Not to mention around here that's a reckless driving ticket (for good reason). On many cars 20' might be long enough to get at it from behind, but not always.

A shop I used to work at had a set that were about 40' or 45' long. One of our customers, a welding contractor, gave us a piece of welding cable that another contractor had cut on a job site. He'd backcharged the GC for the replacements, and didn't need the remnant. We made jumper cables out of them, which were long enough to jump most cars when the rear bumper of the tow truck was against the rear bumper of the target car. The vast majority of the time, we used a portable boost pack, which worked for 'left the lights on' cars, but sometimes when it was cold, we do so much the boost pack wouldn't have enough time to recharge, or couldn't cut in the cold. Then I was very glad to have them.

 

[gte718p]

Yeah you got me looking at pricing and watching a few vids on Youtube about that style of connector. Now I want to wire up my 4Runner like that and make a whole new set of shorter cables just for it. It won't replace what I need the longer set for on our work trucks but it would be a lot more convenient for when I'm in my daily driver.

That, and I also have had a small portable winch that's still sitting in the box it came in for a couple years. I made a mount for it on both of my trailers but it's been waiting on me to get around to wiring something like that up. Kick myself for not getting around to it every time we have to push something heavy up on them.

Once you do it, you will wonder how you lived without it. I used my rear connections to run my winch mounted on a hitch. I had the normal receiver on the truck, a receiver on my flatbed, and on my trailer.

The other useful thing I did was when I Dewalt battery packs died I switched to Makita. I wired up a couple of old Dewalt tools to be 12v corded tools.

The final project I want to do is wire up some addition switch so when the truck is disconnected I can change the batteries from parallel to serial and have 24 volts at the anderson connectors for stick welding or running the ready welder.

 

[FigureItOut]

I like it. I'm curious, how is your cable attached to the jaw? I couldn't tell for sure from the pictures.

 

[AA/FC]

I made my own set a few years ago, too. I ordered the extra heavy duty double fed jumper cable clamps from Goodall, along with 25' of red, and 25' of black 4/0 (4 ought, NOT 4 gauge) fine strand welding cable from ebay. The finished cables are extremely heavy but they work great!

The cable clamps I bought are part number 14-950 (4/0 size) and can be seen here. http://www.goodallmfg.com/product/extra-heavy-duty-battery-clamps/

The fine strand 100% copper USA welding cable can be found all over Amazon and ebay.

 

[dogfight]

Following your post I start thinking about a winch with water proof Anderson connectors.

Yeah you got me looking at pricing and watching a few vids on Youtube about that style of connector. Now I want to wire up my 4Runner like that and make a whole new set of shorter cables just for it. It won't replace what I need the longer set for on our work trucks but it would be a lot more convenient for when I'm in my daily driver.

That, and I also have had a small portable winch that's still sitting in the box it came in for a couple years. I made a mount for it on both of my trailers but it's been waiting on me to get around to wiring something like that up. Kick myself for not getting around to it every time we have to push something heavy up on them.

The cable's copper core are split in two, then will be attached to the jaws by two bolts, sandwiched between the jaw and an copper sheet. Those 2 bolts also attach the jaw to the clamp. The jaw also have two arms to wrap around the cable.

I like it. I'm curious, how is your cable attached to the jaw? I couldn't tell for sure from the pictures.

I like those clamps.

I made my own set a few years ago, too. I ordered the extra heavy duty double fed jumper cable clamps from Goodall, along with 25' of red, and 25' of black 4/0 (4 ought, NOT 4 gauge) fine strand welding cable from ebay. The finished cables are extremely heavy but they work great!

The cable clamps I bought are part number 14-950 (4/0 size) and can be seen here. http://www.goodallmfg.com/product/extra-heavy-duty-battery-clamps/

The fine strand 100% copper USA welding cable can be found all over Amazon and ebay.

 

[Ign]

I did not carefully read each reply, but I like the OP's "jumper" between jaws....which reminded me of the better welding ground clamps: they also run a jumper but it's flat, braided exposed copper such that the strands also conduct in the case of, say, sliding the clamp all the way on to a table top until the edge of the table also contacts the flat strap in the "throat" of the clamp

 

[franzdom]

Like the above post, I also only read the OP and #18. This is very smart, I love your design. Straight to the point! BTW, what country are you in?

 

[dogfight]

Thanks. I am from Vietnam.

Like the above post, I also only read the OP and #18. This is very smart, I love your design. Straight to the point! BTW, what country are you in?