Good gauge for Jumper cables?

[JohnBrowning]

I have a set I made from 1 guage and reused an old set of juper cable ends. I have jump started catapilers with it and while they got a tad warm they held together just fine. Old Welding cables work good too.

The set I gave my Dad about 15 years ago are 3 gauge and 36 feet in length. Keep in mind I worked as a Mechanic for a short time and worked in Heavy Equipment and Salvage prior and dureing college off and on. Ihave no idea today where you might find a good set of cables beside going to a place that specilizes in commerical fleet supplies or SNAPON or MATCO etc..........

If you can try to get ones with either silicone or virgin rubber insulation and the thicker the better. Cracking is the main reason welders chuck their cables for new ones but you can paint plasti dip on them or use heavy duct tape on them to seal them up and you could not get anything cheaper that heavy.

I wouldnot go any smaller then 4 guage stay away rom those elcheapo 8 guage and smaller ones!!!!! If you own anything made by GM havine the side post gripping ends is always good too!Unless you are a moron stay away from the ones that protect from reverse polarization. You could buy the needed monster diodes yourself and modify them to prevent reversed polarity. I do it to all my CB radios to protect them from idiots wireing them up backwards!

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: brianl703
I'll have to ask the guy I know who has a contract with AAA how often he replaces alternators on his trucks.



What he told me is that the only time they've had to replace an alternator is if the jumper cables are connected backwards. Otherwise, they have had no problems.

 

[George7941]

Originally Posted By: severach

Are you sure it wasn't two transistors and a linear IC that resembled the circuit of this Internation Rectifier IVR101 Voltage Regulator. Go look at the equivalent circuit for an Linear Regulator. If they could do it in 3 parts they would, but they can't. It is unlikely that early electronic regulators used 3 transistors because the design would probably have been less reliable than the mechanical regulators which were working fine so there was no need to press a poor design onto the market.

Everybody disagrees with JimPghPa on the donor alternator burning out but he was right on the three transistor regulator. The photo above is of a page from a service manual for a 1986 GMC truck.

 

[swalve]

I'm talking out of my caboose here, but wouldn't the capacitance of the long jumper cables (as well as of the two batteries...) smooth out the transients that potentially cause the burnt out diode issue?

 

[swalve]

Also, if JimPghPa is right, wouldn't that be a reason to use jumpers of smaller wire, so the resistance of the smaller wire prevents too much of a draw on the donor alternator?

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: swalve
I'm talking out of my caboose here, but wouldn't the capacitance of the long jumper cables (as well as of the two batteries...) smooth out the transients that potentially cause the burnt out diode issue?


I think inductance would be the major factor there, and I'm not sure how much of one it is.

 

[George7941]

Capacitance and inductance of jumper cables are negligible. If the jumper cables are a mile long then capacitance begins to enter the picture.

 

[mechtech2]

Get big, and get copper, not aluminum.

OK, I said it.

But the reality is that most any jumper set will do for the rare occasion you need one..