rekab69 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 hi all, I need to buy some new jump leads, there are some 800amp ones on ebay. Or can anyone recomend a good quality set for fair money.... I have 2x diesels to worry about.. Cheers Dave.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 I've got an X-Jump set from X-eng. very nice quality . If you don't know, they are the type with an Andersen connector, so you just plug the leads in when you need them, Saves getting into the battery box on a defender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sirocco Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 hi all, I need to buy some new jump leads, there are some 800amp ones on ebay. Or can anyone recomend a good quality set for fair money.... I have 2x diesels to worry about.. Cheers Dave.. what size are the cables? I had some 'HD truck' ones off a bloke at work for £10. they are 35mm square. lopped one end off and crimped on a large anderson connecter. All done for £20 I think 25 or 35mm will be best, the smaller ones tend to burn out (16mm for example!) G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 you might find it cheaper to just buy the lengths of cable (search "welding cable" on ebay and look for 35mm stuff) and the clips and make the leads up yourself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M&S Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 Got mine for £4.99 from In Stores (or Pound Stretcher I think they might be now). Long enough for two Discos to jump start each other, and have had loads of use including charging the TD5 battery from a 300TDi whislt we had a long cuppa, and linking my leisure battery to my starter battery to get me home when the alternator failed. Why pay more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axlechorus Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 I got a set of heavy duty marine style ones down in Falmouth, cost me about £15 and they have been superb and come in a carry bag that though a little tight on space putting them in does keep them arranged nicely ready to spring into action. They are long enough for all the jobs I have had to do including jump starting an L322 from my Disco. Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbs Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 I have some leads that should be on a Dennis fire engine as battery cables and are 10 feet long, they have heavy duty crocodile clip's at one end and an 175 Amp Anderson plug at the other-this then allows me to either use my truck to jump another vehicle(or vice-versa) as I have a Anderson plug attached to my seat box/Battery-via leads attached to the battery, or as I have also made up another set of shorter leads that uses a Anderson plug and a [pair of crocodile clips so that I can join them together and lend them to my immediate friends so they can jump start they're own vehicles The leads were from an old mate and the croc clips' are from the local farmers wholesalers, the Anderson plug's you can definitely get from e-bay to make you're own up These have lasted me about 9 years now-well worth the half hour to make them up Welders cables are a great idea just make sure that the cable is 35mm Sq as if they're not thick enough they'll just melt-which somewhat defeats the object HTH John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickwilliams Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 25mm sq copper is perfectly adequate for jump leads of any normal length (say, 3m or so). Bigger cross section is better if you can get it for nowt, but it's not necessary if cash is at risk! Most of the resistance will be in the connection between the battery terminal and the crocodile clip anyway. It's more important to use decent quality croc clips with a strong spring and (especially) well crimped lugs on the end of the cables than it is to go for bigger wire. Welding cable is nice for flexibility, but standard tri-rated cable is just as good from an electrical point of view and a lot cheaper if you have to buy it for real. Beware that many pre-packaged jump lead sets look like they have good thick cables but in fact just have thick insulation with a weedy little thread of copper up the middle! Nick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aragorn Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 When i was looking for some 25mm recently (to wire in a pair of amps in the A4), the welding stuff was the cheapest i could find, cost me £15 for 5 meters delivered, so £3 a meter. My jump leads are about 5m long, and the extra length really is useful, less faffing around trying to get the cars really close together etc. They came from a recovery van and needed a couple of new ends, but otherwise are nice thick 25mm leads. I would never trust prepackaged jump leads, especially ebay bargain ones, because as nick says, they're usually tiddle thin wire with about 5mm wall insulation round it. Few years ago i had to jump start a merc sprinter at a mates house, he came out with a set of standard "heavy duty" bargain-spec jumpleads, clipped them on and tried to start the van. Engine would barely turn and after a few goes the cables were noticably warm. Luckily he had another set of "heavy duty" bargain jumpleads in the garage, and after squeezing both of them onto the battery terminals the Merc fired right up. As such i'd always recommend making your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtydiesel Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I've got these they really are spot on, proper "crocodile" clips with a braided bridge in them, never fail to make a good conection. cost about £45ish i think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rekab69 Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 Wow! Thamks for all your replies all good info here. I'll be making my own set... Cheers Dave.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Young Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 I made up a set with welder cable and an Anderson plug for a Formula Ford awhile back. The far greater flexibility of the welding cable made them a lot easier to deal with. Jeff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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