Battery cables

[Pods]

Gentlemen,
I will be replacing my battery cable for my outboard and was wondering if Welding cable can be used instead of regular battery cables. I noticed that the cost difference is great. What are the pros and cons.

Thanks,

Pods

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Battery cables

Gentlemen,
I will be replacing my battery cable for my outboard and was wondering if Welding cable can be used instead of regular battery cables. I noticed that the cost difference is great. What are the pros and cons.

Thanks,

Pods

I'd think that if the wire sizes are equivalent, it would work just fine. Welding cable is resistant to heat, oil, and other stuff, so it ought to work just fine.

I wired from my new battery position in the front of my boat to my trolling motor plug a couple of weeks ago. I checked a couple of things. I needed two #8 stranded wires for this. The marine store had the stuff, the hardware store had the stuff, and I needed 8'. I was shocked at the price. Then, I went by Walgreens and they had an 8' set of #8 stranded copper jumper cables, for less than a quarter of the price at the other two places. Guess what's in my boat?

 

[Pods]

Re: Battery cables

CAT,
A coworker of mine did the same thing by purchasing a set of jumper cables, so far he had no issues. I just wanted to get the opinions from others about using different cables. Like you said, when I checked the cost I dropped my jaw, but hey, with the way things are going its about par....must be made from corn..

Pods

 

[CATransplant]

Re: Battery cables

Well, if something says "Marine" on the label, it's double the price. For some things it makes a difference. For others it does not. Another good example is fuel line. Go to the marine shop and price it by the foot, then go to your discount auto parts place. The auto parts stuff works just fine, and I've had it on my portable tank for over five years.

Same thing with stainless fasteners. Compare prices at the marine shop and your local ACE hardware store. Yikes. It's always worth checking to see if someone other than the marine shop has an item. If there's a farm supply place near you, it may have even lower prices.

OTOH, for i/o engine installations, the stuff under the doghouse does have to be labeled "marine."

Boat$ are expensive, it seems.

 

[fixb52s]

Re: Battery cables

Make sure you tin the exposed ends of the coper cable so they will not corrode.

FYI: Advance Auto has a good selection of battery cables for a decent price.​

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Battery cables

I worked for aan agricultural sprayer OEM. We used welding cable by the mile, using solder lugs of the appropriate guage. We then used mastic tape and wrapped the ends up to the tab. These wires lived in a corrosive environment that makes salt water look like bottled drinking water.

Yes, welding wire will work and is better than anything else I have found to this point. You can even easily get it in red, green, black and blue covers. Use the solder lugs in preference to the crimped lugs.

Check your local welding suppliers.

 

[External Combustion]

Re: Battery cables

I forgot to mention that you can also get tinned welding wire. I have heard that this is required for the "Marine" designation, but have not confirmed it yet. Can anyone quote us the regs?

 

[JCF350]

Re: Battery cables

If it's free use the welding cable. Otherwise your starter draw doesn't really require anything special as far has cabling goes. Replace with a same size cable. Soldered has mentioned above. Getting a little harder to track down now days but I use CRC soft-seal on all exposed electrical connections.

 

[Scaaty]

Re: Battery cables

Go to any autoparts store. Batt cables 1/4 the price as West Marine..same thing

 

[Pods]

Re: Battery cables

Thanks for all the replys.. I will use the Welders cables.

Thanks,

Pods

 

[Nandy]

Re: Battery cables

CAT,
A coworker of mine did the same thing by purchasing a set of jumper cables, so far he had no issues. I just wanted to get the opinions from others about using different cables. Like you said, when I checked the cost I dropped my jaw, but hey, with the way things are going its about par....must be made from corn..

Pods

You made a good choice. Just for general reference, I had used the jumper cables since my first boat about 16 years ago and never had a problem.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Battery cables

This guy on ebay makes up cables. I have bought from him before.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZgenuinedealz

 

[Coors]

Re: Battery cables

I worked for aan agricultural sprayer OEM. We used welding cable by the mile, using solder lugs of the appropriate guage. We then used mastic tape and wrapped the ends up to the tab. These wires lived in a corrosive environment that makes salt water look like bottled drinking water.

Yes, welding wire will work and is better than anything else I have found to this point. You can even easily get it in red, green, black and blue covers. Use the solder lugs in preference to the crimped lugs.

Check your local welding suppliers.

And welding wire has more strands- works great.