terminal ring for battery

Don S

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Bondo

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Re: terminal ring for battery

I want to change my positive and negative battery cable ends to a terminal ring. I have looked at heavy duty lugs that need to be soldered or you need a really expensive crimp tool. The cables are 4 AWG and I found these at HD. Would these work or just a waste of my time?

Ring Terminal Vinyl 4 AWG Stud 3/8 In. 3/Clam-CPGI-8-52266-4-3 at The Home Depot

Ayuh,.... While I've got the crimper for the job,...

Before I did, I've found a little creativity, a hammer, 'n chisel will also do the job...

For battery lugs, I tin the fittin', crimp, then solder...
 

Don S

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saumon

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Re: terminal ring for battery

For a couple of crimps, the hammer-type can do the job but if you plan to do more (a boat rewiring, with dual batteries, switch, etc), a crimping tool is the way to go Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool At $50 or so, that's the best investment I've made. You should also use tinned copper lugs, not simply copper ones, if you want to avoid heavy oxydation that can lead to overheating, starter problems, etc. Marine Battery Cable Lugs - iboats Crimped then heat shrink is the way to go!
 

Moody Blue

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Re: terminal ring for battery

If you go the hammer and chisel approach, make three "crimps". Make two on one side, one at each end of the crimp barrel, and a third crimp on the opposite side of the terminal, midway between the two crimps on the other side. This will create a solid staggered crimp that the cable can't pull out of.
 

Bayou Dave

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Re: terminal ring for battery

At the moment I only have 2 crimps to do, just the positive and negative battery cables. To save $38 I will go for the hammer and chisel one and then heat shrink them.

I will take saumon's advice and go with the tinned copper lugs. Only needing 2 of them I will get 4..... need some room for screwing up one or 2 of them.
 

Bayou Dave

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Re: terminal ring for battery

I investigated the crimper further and decided to forget about the hammer and chisel on. The hydraulic crimper comes with a number of dies so it can be a lot more useful than only for the 2 lugs I currently need to crimp. Thanks for the suggestions.
 

TerryMSU

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Re: terminal ring for battery

Don:

Not sure why you say they should not be used on large cables. These are design for #4 stranded wire and a 3/8" stud. I have used these with no issue. I like the ones that you found in I-Boats, and they will also work. In both cases, I would strongly recommend solder. Eventually a crimp may oxidize and then get hot. This is true even if you use the right crimper.

I used to work for a circuit breaker manufacturer and for aircraft testing we were required to use crimp terminals and not to solder them. They would eventually get hot. The ones we used for high current testing (hundreds of amps, short time) testing were very similar to the i-boats parts. BTW, the actual aircraft terminals were all crimped, not soldered. Not sure why they did not fail, but suspect that the issue was that we were continually screwing and unscrewing the test terminals, and the aircraft ones were a one time, permanent connection.

TerryMSU

No, those are not cable lugs used on large cables. You must get the lugs for the proper size cable, then they need to be crimped and if you like soldered. ABYC and USCG rules note that solder only connections should not be used.

Tinned Copper Battery Cable Terminals - iboats

QUICK CABLE Crimper Tool, Mallet Activated, 8 to 4/0ga - Battery Accessories - 5LMC4|4266-828 - Grainger Industrial Supply
 

saumon

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Re: terminal ring for battery

If that matter, as you seems to be inclined to buy a crimper, the one I got seems to have more dies than the Harbor Freight one, for the same price. They range from 4 mm[SUP]2[/SUP] to 70 mm[SUP]2[/SUP] (i.e. 12 to 2/0 AWG) Hydraulic Crimping Tool Kit 8 Ton Electric Wire Crimper | eBay

Hope this help.

Edit: forget it, it's the same number of dies, my error!
 

bruceb58

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Re: terminal ring for battery

I would normally say just get new cables made.

Or get a tool like this:
Hydraulic Wire Crimping Tool

Make sure you use shrink sleeve afterwards to seal off the crimp to moisture.
 

Bayou Dave

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Re: terminal ring for battery

Using a heat shrink sleeve seems to be the only way to really keep out moisture and are easy enough to use. IF you remember to put them on before crimping. One time I forgot to put one on and never made that mistake again.
 

RogersJetboat454

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Re: terminal ring for battery

You aren't putting the ring ends on to use the wing nut terminals on a battery, right?
 

saumon

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Re: terminal ring for battery

The wing nuts are convenient because they are fast to remove but that's their only benefit. They had the bad habit of loosing by themselves with vibration, thus causing a lot of problems that may be hard to trace. The standard marine procedure is to use nylon lock nut.
 

Bayou Dave

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Re: terminal ring for battery

The wing nuts are convenient because they are fast to remove but that's their only benefit. They had the bad habit of loosing by themselves with vibration, thus causing a lot of problems that may be hard to trace. The standard marine procedure is to use nylon lock nut.


A wing nut loosening makes sense. I could get a brass or SS nylon insert wing nut. That would solve the loosening problem and still be removed easily.
 

Bondo

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Re: terminal ring for battery

A wing nut loosening makes sense. I could get a brass or SS nylon insert wing nut. That would solve the loosening problem and still be removed easily.

Ayuh,... Or better yet, use a SSteel nut, 'n a Wrench to tighten it....
 
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