I want to make a pair of jump leads for my son who has called me out a few times with my leads when he has left his lights on at the office, no one else there has any.
The leads I have were made for me using good length light welding cable and two pairs of heavy duty clamps which have helped me and others over the 15 years since they were made for me .
Since I have left the heavy steel construction industry I do not have access to light welding cable so has anyone any suggestions as to what type/size of cable I should look for and where to ask for it.
I have tried looking for a decent set of leads in motor factors but they have always been poor quality.
Mal.
Ps nothing to do with Rolls Royce Silver Spirit but "any make / any model " was not accepted prior to posting!.
sorted - although I was dying to read the post after your choice of make and model !
Edited by Pugugly {P} on 16/11/2007 at 16:35
|
tinyurl.com/2afkuc
£38 for 10 metres=2x15 foot lengths =ideal
i got this googling, personally i would have a trawl in a scrap yard to see if any cable has been weighed in but not yet stripped
ive got some welding cabled jump leads but dont use them anymore as i always use a porta battery pack,much neater situation i think
|
I would have thought that making a set would have cost more than buying a half decent set. Don't forget that the leads don't need to be massively heavy duty for jump starting a 12v car, so don't go overboard on them.
If it was me I would buy a decent and neat set from a motor factors. I had some from Halfords many years ago that are thick enough to do the job and they come in their own tough proper plastic case. Jump leads aren't always the best thing to use these days as with sensitive electronics it is easily to surge the electricity from one car to the other and blow the ECU to bits - if you don't have an understanding of what you are doing. Have you considered one of those jump packs instead, that have been discussed on the forum and are currently a great buy too?
Other than that maybe a lights on warning buzzer would prevent the problem occuring in the first place?
|
|
Have a look on ebay, there are loads of thick heavy duty jump leads that will do the job okay for not a lot of money.
|
|
|
|
2x15 foot lengths =ideal
Pretty poor parking if you cannot get closer than that :-)
Plus cost of clamps and then a custom size zipped bag ? ;-0
Ebay or local factors ?
On Ebay apart from one set at £82.50 !!!! and a few at £36 there are many others including 6m ones for boats at far cheaper prices than £38.
I know what I would choose.
|
ive had my 15 foot leads for 15/20 years now ,the thing is you can run over them and not damage them,they dont go hard in the cold like ready made ones can and if you ever have to park in the road next to a stricken car/van and the batteries are at opposite ends on the inner wings ,or under the back seat then sometimes 15 feet is only just enough ;-)
if you want some cheap clamps but effective ones find out who sells market stall roof clamps as these have heavy duty clamp springs on them OP.
|
|
|
I made several sets (including the 20' version for use when a car is nose in the back of the garage) up using welding cable bought at a car boot sale for £5. The biggest problem was soldering the ends into clips, even using a gas soldering iron and paint on flux was a little problematic. (Clamping fine wires into cheap clips is not easy unless it is soldered together first). What it really needed was a proper solder pot. The cheapest source of clips was to buy very cheap jump leads that are too thin to work and use the clips.
If money is no object look at Frosts web site for clips and cable. I cannot find it on the website, but the paper catalogue used to have it in!
--
pmh (was peter)
|
|
Lets not forget that the OP wants a set of jump leads for his son to keep in the car, just in case. Its all very well talking about 15 foot and 20 foot sets and if you use them fairly often and in tricky places, but these ones are going to be for emergencies only. Practicality should preside over a top notch do anything set.
|
>>>>>Have you considered one of those jump packs instead, that have been discussed on the forum and are currently a great buy too?<<<<
To be honest I have never thought of one of those, don't know much about them, can you link me to the thread where they have been previously discussed. Would £30 buy a decent one?.
|
The thread is in the discussion section at the moment. Here's the link:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?f=2&t=57...1
|
|
|
|
Lets not forget that the OP wants a set of jump leads for his son to keep in the car just in case.
if you get him a booster kit instead he can charge it up at work using the companies lecky, thats if he remembers to plug it in and charge it!! ( my point being remembering to turn the cars lights off in the first place)
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 17/11/2007 at 20:34
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Don't waste time / money , just buy one of the aforementioned starter packs , incorporating a tyre compressor and light as well as a battery boost starter . These can be had from £40 , bought mine 4 years ago and it has been used many times , absolutely vital and always taken on long trips . Get your son a trickle charger for Xmas , about £45 delivered and very useful . Or an AA membership, though I don't like getting them out for something so trivial .
|
|
£19.99 at Maplin at the moment-includes battery,leads,compressor and light and all adaptors.
|
|
Am I alone in never having used jump leads? I just have a decent battery, look after it, and then when it starts to decline I get a new one. What are jump leads for?
|
|
To get someone else started???
|
he is obviously very young jc2
and anyway
batteries on cars dont fade away anymore they tend to die overnight, so he might be eating hunble pie come boxing day with his hated inlaws sat in the back of his steed and going nowhere so they have to stop the night
ps inlaws are ok...................but i cant eat a whole one
|
he is obviously very young jc2
>>>>
That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said.
|
|
|
|
