battery terminals pulled off

cytoxin · #1 06-14-2007, 06:47 PM

Well I tested my terminals tonight. Needless to say three of them failed with flying colors. I was amazed at how little force it took to pull them off the others however lifted a 40 pound weight with no problem. vans has a bulletin on this http://www.vansaircraft.com/pdf/batterycables.pdf you may want to give these a 40lb tug...they slipped right out. I guess at 5-10 lbs.
seems the insulation was in the terminal causing improper clamping of the wire. they'll send new ones i just wish i had checked before i wanted to use them. the ones i checked earlier were the good ones i spose.

added: vans said the crimper jaw was cracked and not building the required pressure for a good crimp. the new cables picked up a 5 gallon bucket of puple stuff no problem.

gmcjetpilot · #2 06-15-2007, 05:35 PM

Yea PULL test all your electrical connections. This is a big one and did not know about Vans bulletin, must be for the FWF kit/parts. Thanks

mike newall · #3 07-15-2007, 09:58 AM

Slightly related -

We need to make up some cables in 8 awg wire and crimp on the terminals. What are guys using for a crimper because I can't find anything on the market to do 8 awg with insulated terminals - uninsulated, yes, but the ones with the plastic insulation, no.

frankh · #4 07-15-2007, 10:29 AM

Electrical contractors have a crimper that goes up to 2AWG and you can get the crimps from the supply houses (maybe even Home depot).

Local welding store will sell welding cable by the foot which to be honest I think is just fine fo al the big fat cables.

Frank 7a

az_gila · #5 07-15-2007, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike newall

Slightly related -

We need to make up some cables in 8 awg wire and crimp on the terminals. What are guys using for a crimper because I can't find anything on the market to do 8 awg with insulated terminals - uninsulated, yes, but the ones with the plastic insulation, no.

Mike,

Use uninsulated terminals and cover with one or two layers of good heat shrink tubing. Probably more effective (supports the wire more positively) and looks neater....

gil in Tucson

hngrflyr · #6 07-15-2007, 11:12 AM

I had a ground cable from the engine to ground fail. It caused to lot of grief untill I figured out what was really happening. It looked to be intact inside the heat shrink. It was not. Sometimes it would carry current, sometimes not. I finally figured out that the cable had to be open at times. A firm jerk on it revealed that it was.