Warning re: SPF battery cables

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
I just went to shorten the red #4 battery cable supplied with my SPF. The end I planned to keep had a heavy lug that lookrf likr t had been crimped, but it was done improperly. I gave it a firm tug and the cable pulled out of the lug.

Had this disconnection occurred with the cable connected to the battery the results could range anywhere from being stranded to starting a fire. Furthermore, poor quality crimps in high-current cables can deteriorate slowly over time and during that time become a source of intense heat as the terminal connection increases in resistance.

If your car uses any SPF-supplied heavy cables I suggest you check the integrity of their terminal lugs. To be safe, solder them or replace them with professionally-crimped cables.
 
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Rick Muck- Mark IV

GT40s Sponsor
Supporter
I just went to shorten the red #4 battery cable supplied with my SPF. The end I planned to keep had a heavy lug that lookrf likr t had been crimped, but it was done improperly. I gave it a firm tug and the cable pulled out of the lug.

Had this disconnection occurred with the cable connected to the battery the results could range anywhere from being stranded to starting a fire. Furthermore, poor quality crimps in high-current cables can deteriorate slowly over time and during that time become a source of intense heat as the terminal connection increases in resistance.

If your car uses any SPF-supplied heavy cables I suggest you check the integrity of their terminal lugs. To be safe, solder them or replace them with professionally-crimped cables.

Personally I think any battery cable end that is just crimped, or worse those "bolt-on" ends (sold ad "temporary" but left on forever) are a crime against nature. A battery cable end should either be moulded on (lead type) or crimped AND soldered (all others).

I would suggest that the ends be given the torch and solder treatment in any case. A lot of electrons are lost via poor connections. And those "3M Scotchlock" connectors on wires? Using those should be punishable by battery jumpers hooked to your bollocks with a rheostat!
 

Jack Houpe

GT40s Supporter
Personally I think any battery cable end that is just crimped, or worse those "bolt-on" ends (sold ad "temporary" but left on forever) are a crime against nature. A battery cable end should either be moulded on (lead type) or crimped AND soldered (all others).

I would suggest that the ends be given the torch and solder treatment in any case. A lot of electrons are lost via poor connections. And those "3M Scotchlock" connectors on wires? Using those should be punishable by battery jumpers hooked to your bollocks with a rheostat!
Propane torch and rosin core solder is the answer, I make all my own cables out of welding cable, far more flexible and handles more current.
 

Seymour Snerd

Lifetime Supporter
I don't have any problem with cable crimping in principle, since done properly it achieves a uniform cold weld all the way around the conductor and it's a little quicker and cheaper than soldering. However, to do it properly requires specialized tools and the correct process (i.e. being trained and paying attention). And of course so does soldering, but a bad solder is easier to see than a bad crimp. In this case it certainly looks like a false economy on the mfr's. part given the risk you'll send out hundreds of bad cables into the field.

And then there's my part in this whole fiasco. I had already bought and had in hand several feet of #4 welding cable, terminal lugs, a torch and spool of solder right on my bench. But I figured "there's a perfectly good cable, why waste a perfectly good lug, I'll just shorten it" (my depression-era mother would be proud).
 
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