Use of #1 AWG jumper cable run DC from engine bay to coach batteries?

[john61ct]

The crimps I'm talking about are indeed as you say, all the fine tinned strands cold-welded all into one gas-tight solid block with the proper marine terminator.

And as I mentioned regularly pull-tested to military specs.

Anything less gets rejected.

None of the crimpers are "hydraulic", those nearly all are pitiful, do not even come with non-metric dies but

some do weigh a lot, over a yard long, each die costing hundreds new.

All three alternatives for getting ahold of the proper crimpers mentioned above, no need to buy for a once-off project.

And the proper supplies really do not cost much more.

Obviously do as you like. . .

[Bon Voyage]

Cheap wires like those in booster cables will probably be copper coated aluminum (cca for short). Aluminum is a good conductor but I think it was mostly discontinued in residential applications for being more prone to fires. The cca would be better than straight aluminum but of course 100% copper will be the best and most expensive.

I had some cheap booster cables for connecting to my batteries but when I learned it was just cca I got rid of them for some real copper wires. I use 4/0 for my battery cables.

I also have one of those hammer on crimpers and they work nicely, especially if crimping big wire isn’t going to be something you do a lot. Mine was under $20.

[john61ct]

hammer crimpers are a joke

very inconsistent

need to pull-test every crimp instead of just a low % random sampling

[Rwnielsen]

"Soldering is more work and a bit of an art"

'All soldered connections should be first made mechanically sound' Paraphrase NEC

It's Ok to solder them after they are crimped but not to rely solely on the solder for the connection. Heat will destroy it and it will come apart.

[john61ct]

If properly crimped adding solder brings nothing good to the table, only downsides

[bus-bro]

I'd say, hammer crimpers work well in the right hands. It takes a bit of practice though. The first hammer crimp I did I beat it so much the copper wire was a billet of copper extending out beyond the crimp connector. Not good!

[Native]

This is the gear I had for my house power system install. In the lower right are the compound crimpers used for the 2/0 cables.

[ACamper]

I crimped all my wires with a $25. crimper, a hammer, solder and heat shrink wrap. They are solid connections and would be difficult to tear apart. I works just fine for my personal projects and give me great flexibility to run cables any size.
I probably spent $70 on the stuff- crimper, lugs, solder, ect. I would not consider it "professional grade" but I am not doing them 40hrs a week and 50weeks a year.

Quality cable "pure copper" or equivalent cost a more but it is worth it to do a decent job IMO. Cheap cable sucks.

[Iceni John]

My suggestion FWIW is to use only the heaviest cables if you're connecting to the starter motor. I made interconnect cables between my house batteries and the starter to help with starting in cold weather, and I used 4/0 with closed-end tinned lugs. I use a FTZ 94284 crimper that easily makes consistent and strong "gas-tight" connections with minimal effort - it's the poor man's version of the nice Greenlee crimpers that are too expensive for my occasional non-professional use. Forget about those little hydraulic crimpers from HF and elsewhere - I have one that's good only for small (up to 4AWG) cables and lugs; a long-handled manual crimper like my FTZ makes much better crimps. And do NOT solder the lugs! The acid test is whether the lugs heat up at all under full load: mine are still completely cold after cranking my 42MT starter that can draw many hundreds of amps (it's rated at up to 10.5 HP, which is many hundreds of amps at a nominal 12V!).

When dealing with high-current wiring, you need to do it right or not at all. Just because you have someone else make your cables is no guarantee they'll be done right. As with most things in my bus, I prefer to be my own QC inspector!

John