What to look for in jumper leads?

[Flyingpony]

Visited some shops and oh boy, what a range of different features they have, and prices too.

Wanting one for jumping starting my Series 4wd. Currently it's got an straight 6 petrol but this could always change into a 4/6 cyl petrol/diesel engine down the track.

Figure 200amp is big enough but beyond that, no idea?
Thanks.

[Sadam_Husain]

Work out how much you want to spend and buy accordingly, its the old story of you get what you pay for. Having said that I had a cheap set of $15 jumper leads someone gave me years ago and I had them for about 10 years and they always seemed to do the job

[Windsock]

Make sure the springs in the clips are good and going to hold onto the terminals and I have also had problems with the join between the clips and the wires so make sure the wires are joined to the clips well. Good insulation around the clips is also a good thing if working in dark areas so you don't accidently short out on stuff. But as stated above, you get what you can afford and you get what you pay for these days.

[Pedro]

go to a electrical whole saler, buy 25mm2 welding copper cable and heavy duty alligator clips, 4 crimps to suit and make your own , we have had various sets here that struggled to start a 4 cylinder let alone anything bigger,

strip the end of the cable, put crimp into vice, put a 6mm rod accross the crimp, place cable into crimp and crush with vice, not exactly pretty but effective, had no issues with crimp done like this

once you have the cables made you will be able to jump start damn near anything !!!!

soggy cables will be a thing of the past

pedro

[wjw]

make sure the croc clips are large enoughm that seems to be the biggest problem, ie they won't clamp on the battery terminals properly, if you want the best ones make sure the cables are at least 10mm in diameter. I bought truck jump cables as they are longer too... very handy!

[Swamped]

Yup definitely go with the bigger diameter cable. Drawing quite a bit of current on starting and the thinner cables ie supercheap ones seem to make starting harder. Big grunty gator clips is a given, better life and will fit on any terminal.

[Denby]

go to a electrical whole saler, buy 25mm2 welding copper cable and heavy duty alligator clips, 4 crimps to suit and make your own
pedro

Definately.... and then you can make them any length you need.

My set is 6m long (and I think they are 35mm2) which might seem excessive but sometimes you can only park behind a stranded vehicle and not beside.

[muddyhilux]

yip i carry a 5m set i made up which does the exact same job,smaller than 35mm but yeh,u cant always get a good spot,trees down both sides of vechile also dont help

[dazza85]

I have a short set made from welding cable and would have to agree with the others "big well sprung clamps" having a nice fat cable is no good if the clamps don't make good contact.

As an aside (tread jack)
I recently picked up a length of similer cable and am thinking of running it via an isolator to the rear of the truck with a plug like the AA guys use
This would allow me to jumper from the rear or feed a relocatable winch
Thoughts

[Beer_Cruiser]

I use a 5m piece of 6mm tps twin and earth. strip the red and black back about 75 to 100mm and wrap around battery terminals
Has saved me a few times
And when I need some wire Ive got heaps..

[4WDbits]

If you want to jump start a vehicle with ECU or other computers, get supressor leads. Make sure they're rated about 750 amps or more and you'll be able to jump start most things. If at first it doen't work, leave the leads connected for a minute or 2 and try again.

[Windsock]

I don't have any ECU in my truck and I haven't had anything to do with ECU's or anyother black boxes in vehicles so what does a suppressor do in this instance? Just in case I need to use my standard leads on an ECU equipped truck is there any precaution needed?

[Flyingpony]

Thanks all.

Would it be right to assume that suppressor leads would be required regardless if the vehicle being jump started or is trying to jump start another has got ECU?

[kiwipete]

If you want to jump start a vehicle with ECU or other computers, get supressor leads. Make sure they're rated about 750 amps or more and you'll be able to jump start most things. If at first it doen't work, leave the leads connected for a minute or 2 and try again.

You can simply turn the park lights on, on both vehicles to act as a suppressor if you don't have the proper leads.

[KiwiBacon]

Icon brand are made in NZ and nicely done too. I forget who sells them but it might be repco.
I got the set with a spike supressor in them, I suspect it's just a big capacitor between the lines to slow down the rate of voltage increase in them.

[tweake]

nah they just use a MOV. basically it conducts when the voltage is high shorting it across the terminals. trouble is get a big spike and they blow. then it won't work next time.

one catch i came across with jumper leads is some have nice think cable but most of it is insulation.
also while they may have nice big croc clips the actual electrical connection is often crap.
if your making your own, car audio power cable is easier to coil up but usually costs a whole lot more.