Can you safely repair jumper cables?

[97prizm]

Hi all,

Recently I tried jump starting a coworkers vehicle and noticed that I wasn't getting spark nor did it seem like it pulled power from my vehicle. Another set worked. Has anyone repaired a set of jumper cables? These are fairly heavy duty so I'm surprised they've failed. Is there a way to tell what or where the issue lies? Thanks.

 

[JohnnyG]

Do you have an ohm meter?

 

[rijndael]

An volt/ohm meter is a less than ideal tool to use for testing wiring that carries a heavy load, unless you're looking for a voltage drop (on a loaded circuit).

All it takes is a strand or two and you have continuity, but that doesn't mean it'll carry a 75A load.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Hi all,

Recently I tried jump starting a coworkers vehicle and noticed that I wasn't getting spark nor did it seem like it pulled power from my vehicle. Another set worked. Has anyone repaired a set of jumper cables? These are fairly heavy duty so I'm surprised they've failed. Is there a way to tell what or where the issue lies? Thanks.

Forget the ohm meter we are way beyond that given the wire gage and amperage load in jump starting

Look at the way the cable is terminated in the clamps and correct any breaks or bad crimps you find. You may wish to cut back the wire a couple inches to get bright copper. Next go over the cable jacket insulator and look for burns or exposed wire and correct that.

Maybe you didn't get a good GND on your last connection when jumping. That should always be to the engine block as the battery (-) is tied there.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Rusty clamps?

 

[Cujet]

Sure a quality set can be repaired! Good quality wire is worth keeping!

 

[97prizm]

Rusty clamps?

The clamps are clean as a whistle. I sprayed then scrubbed them. It acts like theres a break in the cable somewhere. I tried to jump start my cavalier that sat for a while. After 10 minutes nothing. My jump pack made it fire right up. I don't see any damage to the cable nor clamps. It's weird.

 

[97prizm]

Sure a quality set can be repaired! Good quality wire is worth keeping!

That's what I figured. I don't really want to cut the outer jacket off to look for damage inside as how would I re-cover the jumper cable?

 

[97prizm]

Sure a quality set can be repaired! Good quality wire is worth keeping!

That's what I figured. I don't really want to cut the outer jacket off to figure out where the damage might be.

Do you have an ohm meter?

Yes. What's a good way to test?

 

[Chris142]

Usually the cable can be cut out of the clamp and recrimped on the other side.

 

[Rmay635703]

Usually the cable can be cut out of the clamp and recrimped on the other side.

Lots of times the cable to clamp fails, if the cable itself is flawless anyway.

Jumper cables many times aren’t all that high quality for the last 30 years they usually are just a 12 guage cable with lots of rubber, my fathers were 2 guage and weighed a ton for the old diesel, they don’t make them like that anymore in the big box stores

 

[Hall]

Other than the clamp ends, I don't know how they'd fail. Technically, yeah, the wire could be broken somewhere in the length but they should never just break out of the blue, nor will you find a break.

 

[nomas]

Just try the Ohm meter . If it shows to be a completely open circuit then you may be able to find the bad spot .

 

[supton]

You can probably repair them. Even if they are crimped, you can likely uncrimp and clean up, recrimp, or otherwise rebuild.

BUT

if you have a jump pack I'm not sure why you'd bother. Ok, worth having around "just in case" the jump pack goes bad or dead, but with a jump pack all the hand wringing about breaking a good running car etc go away. Less space in the trunk, and I want to say, those jump packs work better as they can push more amps during cranking.

 

[eljefino]

If you coiled them up too tight or weirdly you can put a kink in the cable that makes a thin spot thanks to metal fatigue.

If you got a FLIR camera and ran a load like, IDK, a few high beam lights off a battery you might see a hot spot that would be the weak spot. If it's in the middle, throw them out. If it's six inches from an end, it could be feasible to re-crimp the alligator clip beyond the break.

 

[Donald]

Get a 4 wire ohmmeter.

Cut off the clamps and attach new heavy duty clamps.

 

[Donald]

But few using jumper cables.

You are safer handing the non working owner a jump pack and say "I will watch from here".

No damage to your car. And no one suing you for damage you did to their car while jumping.

 

[Chris142]

Lots of times the cable to clamp fails, if the cable itself is flawless anyway.

Jumper cables many times aren’t all that high quality for the last 30 years they usually are just a 12 guage cable with lots of rubber, my fathers were 2 guage and weighed a ton for the old diesel, they don’t make them like that anymore in the big box stores

Ya you can still buy HD ones but not at normal stores. The local truck parts place sells a set that weigh about 40 lbs.

 

[wsar10]

I have made or repaired several sets. I have often thought about selling them within my JEEP community or beyond. Just not sure how to make it worth while in a reasonable time frame.

The wire used depends on what its for as you can go anywhere from 4AWG welding cable up to 0AWG OFC power wire. Beyond that its just the same as soldering on ring terminals. Only you're soldering the inside of a battery clamp. I would toss the entire length of old wire and jump on eBay and buy some OFC power wire of decent quality in a 12' length, this will give you roughly 5.5ft long cables that work well if the clamps are decent. I have even built sets with meters built in and cutoff switches.

BTW:
This is the type of soldering that you do with MAP gas and pellets! Again, the pellets are so easy to find now days... You would be searching for "battery terminal solder pellets, with flux".

Good luck, have fun!

 

[Rmay635703]

Ya you can still buy HD ones but not at normal stores. The local truck parts place sells a set that weigh about 40 lbs.

99% of the jumper cables won’t really ever achieve the 75amp rating, with 10/12 gage wire after the clamping losses you are lucky to get 35 amps, at 9 volts you might push 50 amps.

Most of these cables are glorified charging cables where you can wait 10 minutes and recharge the battery.

My fathers big set you could attach the l16 diesel pusher and jump start off the truck in a few minutes, regular jump cables you would just get a clicking noise