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Long, heavy-duty jumper cables

2.5K views 25 replies 20 participants last post by  PromptCritical  
#1 ·
A few years ago I needed jumper cables, and I decided to buy really long ones made with heavy-gauge cable instead of buying run-of-the-mill jumper cables. You never know what kind of situation you'll have when you need a jump, or when somebody else does. I mean, you might not be able to nose the two vehicles together.

I knew the long cables would come in handy someday, and today was the day. One of my neighbors called me this afternoon because he was sitting in his truck, with a dead battery, on a snowy dead-end road near my house. He wanted a jump. I drove up close to the back of his truck, but I couldn't get close to the front of the truck because the truck was facing away from me, and there was deep snow along the sides of the road. No problem. My 25-foot jumper cables spanned the distance between my battery and his battery with room to spare.

These are the jumper cables I have. They came in a pretty nice plastic storage case.

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#6 ·
Long cables are nice particularly for crew cab trucks. But they add resistance. I’m assuming those say 0 ga and are aluminum- should do well save for big Diesel engines with a totally dead battery. I have a set with 2/0 welding cable, but the clamps require massive strength, and still want to pull off. Used them for starting my saw mill- not the sort of thing you want to carry. I’ll bet those are slightly less resistance than my 4 ga cables that stay in the truck, but are lighter and 5’ longer. There have done almost everything I’ve ever asked them of them.

Can you look where the strands of wire are crimped to the clamps and see it the AL is copper plated? I’d like to buy a set if so.
 
#7 ·
For jump starting trucks and heavy equipment with multiple group 31 batteries i have made my own sets out of old cut up welding leads. 1/0 or 2/0 copper will carry alot of load. Its a must need for any service truck, especially if you deal with dead batteries on a daily basis.
A 50’ welding lead with a nick or cut in the insulation is unuseable by OSHA standards so we take them and make 25’ jumper cables.
 
#9 ·
, and he called to see how things were going.)
MPL, from a different thread, did you jump your vehicle from your tractor? Was it just the battery?

You sound like a good neighbor. I hope you have good neighbors in return.
So, what happened was that I was going to jump the vehicle from my tractor, but I was struggling to get the clamps to stay on the battery terminals, and I ended up paying my mechanic to come to my house and get the Jeep started. I'd been fooling around with the disabled Jeep for five days, and we were expecting another snowstorm, and it was getting late in the day, so when my mechanic called on the day I was trying to jump start from the tractor, I decided I would just ask him to come and deal with the problem. (I'd been in touch with him off and on during the five days, and he called to see how things were going.) He came prepared to load the Jeep onto a flatbed truck, but he didn't have to do that because he was able to get it started with a portable jump starter he brought with him.

I am now the proud owner of a new battery.

I'm sure I could have jumped the Jeep from the tractor if I had persevered with that effort, but I was tired of fooling with the Jeep problem, and also, as I've said, I was bumping up against nightfall and was also bumping up against impending weather.

I made several attempts to start the Jeep with a portable jump starter. Actually, I tried two different portable jump starters, but no joy.

Yes, this particular neighbor and I help each other out fairly often. In fact, last week he fixed a problem I had with a grease gun I'd just bought.
 
#12 ·
I tend to solder at the crimp on the clamps just for extra security because with handling they loosen otherwise.
Secondly , it is a good idea to spend some time charging the dead battery before trying to start it.
if there is other reasons the battery is dead other than lights being left on accidentally you don’t know that there is not a charging system problem, ot the battery it’s self is degrading.
 
#13 ·
Good point..

Alot of folks may be tempted to buy the smaller and shorter cables because they're "advised" or simply cheap.

Electrical draw from one source to another generates out heat. If the cables are thin they will burn through quickly and get very hot quickly.

had that happen before. Make sure they are thick and the heft is part of that.
 
#15 ·
I worked for a short time at a place that made temporary junction boxes for the huge CAT generators for when there was a hurricane or other type disaster. They sold 30' jumper cables with 1/2 inch copper cable with copper clamps. They sold for 175.00 dollars but as an employee I could get them at cost. 50.00 at the time. I procrastinated and forgot to buy them before I quit. Luckily they donated a pair for a benefit auction for a local child with cancer and I ended up getting them at the auction for I recall 60.00.
I bet they are worth more as scrap now than I paid!
I have only had to use them a couple times but they worked very well.
 
#20 ·
For regular non-commercial vehicles, folks should consider a "jump" type battery pack. Easy peasy. Plus most these days have USB outlets.

Cables are kept as a backup to such.
I was reading and was just going to say the same thing. I have a noco 2000amp jump pack. Works great. I have cables for backup. Imagine waiitng for someone to Give you a jump. Could be 5 min or 20. Depending on time of day and location. The other day my wife’s battery died. Would even click the starter. Put the jump pack on and started with no effort.
 
#21 ·
A few years ago I needed jumper cables, and I decided to buy really long ones made with heavy-gauge cable instead of buying run-of-the-mill jumper cables. You never know what kind of situation you'll have when you need a jump, or when somebody else does. I mean, you might not be able to nose the two vehicles together.

I knew the long cables would come in handy someday, and today was the day. One of my neighbors called me this afternoon because he was sitting in his truck, with a dead battery, on a snowy dead-end road near my house. He wanted a jump. I drove up close to the back of his truck, but I couldn't get close to the front of the truck because the truck was facing away from me, and there was deep snow along the sides of the road. No problem. My 25-foot jumper cables spanned the distance between my battery and his battery with room to spare.

These are the jumper cables I have. They came in a pretty nice plastic storage case.

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I had a similar experience about 30 years ago but it didn't turn out so well because we didn't have the heavy gauge cables. My bud's muscle car stopped running for some reason when we were on our way to a concert. We needed a jump to get it restarted but the tow truck driver wouldn't go nose to nose due to safety issues being on the side of a busy freeway. We linked several of the short wimpy cables together to reach but the resistance was too much to turn over the 455 V8 with high compression. We missed the concert. So if you go long, be sure to go bigger gauge.
 
#22 ·
Back in the days I was driving tactical vehicles I managed to come up with a set of slave cables that were 50 feet long with conductors as thick as my thumb. They were intended to jump start helicopters from a support vehicle outside of the arc of the rotor blades. The biggest problem with them was it took three body builders and a small boy to carry them. But when your truck was parked between the trees preventing getting close to it with another truck they were needed.

The voltage drop on them under load was less that 2 volts at 28 volts.
 
#24 ·
0 gauge are nice. I've got a couple pair of 2 gauge, and they were not cheap. the jump box I have is handy but the cables are extremely short and don't always fit all my junk all that easily (especially the quad and when the battery isn't easily accessible and uses remote connections).
 
#26 ·
I helped a buddy a while back and once his car was started and we were disconnecting the cables he commented that the cables didn't even get warm. Since then I have acquired a battery box. I ignored the 5 star review from someone who said "it is beautiful I can't wait to use it." as well as the 1 star review from a dude complaining that it needs to be charged to work. I keep long, heavy gauge cables in all vehicles and the battery box is in the primary long haul vehicle. All have been used at one point in time for others as well as myself. It is very good anti-SHTF equipment.