Homemade Battery Cables

[zach103]

Well i need some of those battery cables to go to the switch. well actually only one i think.. but their like 30 bucks.. so i have a some good size heat shrink tubes and the connections. and 40 ft of 14 guage wire. so could i just strip a couple feet of that wire. twist them all together and heat shrink them all and put the connections on.. would that work?

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

Sure that will work for like an emergency situataion, when you say battery cable I think 4ga, and doubling 14 wire won't even come close, you would have to double it maybe 20 times. You could use your shrink tube over copper tubing too and it will work.

 

[bear_69cuda]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

Or you can order from Greg's Marine Wiring... Just received my order today. Three days from date I placed order. Fast service, high quality, and great prices. See pics on page 5 of my project thread. Everything crimped and heat shrink applied...

http://gregsmarinewiresupply.com/

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

$30 is cheaper than a new boat...

 

[jhebert]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

The circular area in kcmills of AWG-14 wire is 4.11.
The circular area kcmills of AWG-4 wire is 41.7.

You will have to use 41.7/4.11 or 10.1 strands of 14-AWG to create a conductor with the same amount of copper as in a single strand 4-AWG. Rounding up to 11 would be prudent.

Since you have only 40-feet of AWG-14, you will have to cut it into 11-pieces of equal length or 3-feet 6-inches. In order to twist 11 strands of AWG-14 together, you will probably need to have at least three inches of wire at each end, so you'll end up with a cable that is about three feet long.

If you only need to make a cable that is three feet long, your plan is sound, although it requires a lot of labor.

I have difficulty believing that a AWG-4 battery cable that is only three feet long would cost $30. You should factor in the cost of 40-feet of AWG-14 cable, and the time and effort to bind 11 strands of it into a battery cable, before proceeding.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

You could by some very nice, and very long jumper cables, cut the clamps off, reterminate the cables and there you go. Two for the price of one.

 

[Reboot11133]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

Running several 14 guage wires in parallel is dangerous! Electricity follows the path of least resistance. If one of your wires is even slightly shorter than the rest or has a more solid connection your current will flow in that wire. That makes for a good fire starter. The suggestion of buying a set of jumper cables and chopping it up is sound.

 

[blainer75]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

I just finished adding a second battery to my boat, and i needed 5 extra battery cables, i bought 24ft of 4guage cable and 10 ends plus heat shrink for less than $50. Then i just soldered the sizes i needed. You should be able to get a cable for way less than $30.

 

[rusirius]

Re: Homemade Battery Cables

Running several 14 guage wires in parallel is dangerous! Electricity follows the path of least resistance. If one of your wires is even slightly shorter than the rest or has a more solid connection your current will flow in that wire. That makes for a good fire starter. The suggestion of buying a set of jumper cables and chopping it up is sound.

As an electrical engineer I'll have to respectfully disagree... While it's true that electricity follows the path of least resistance, it does not flow ONLY on that path... In other words, while minute differences in resistance will no doubt exist, it will have a very nominal effect on the overall flow. Think of it like this... If you have a bucket with lots of holes all over from the bottom to 4 inches up the side, if you fill that bucket with water the water won't flow from a single hole that happens to be the "easiest" or "largest"... It'll still flow from ALL the holes...

As for the OP... Remember that DC is a "Flow" of electrons, not a pull-push like AC... That's why DC wiring must be needs a much lower resistance (and therefore larger diameter) as compared with AC... That's why you need such a large diameter wire to carry the current required...

While you COULD bond the 14awg together to make a cable (and a safe one at that) it really wouldn't be worth it...

Take the advice of others and just buy it...