Quality Jump Leads

cormie

I have 5 different sets of jump cables and so far I've marked 2 as bad quality and the one set that keeps me ticking over is a Halfords set (I think this one http://www.halfords.ie/workshop-tools/garage-equipment/jump-leads/halfords-35mm-booster-cables) that I've had for years.

They are ALL branded as "heavy duty" some I got in Lidl/Aldi and others on amazon.

I remember seeing a website that compared a few of them and I think Halfords came out trumps. I'm trying to find it again as I need to get 2 new pairs to replace the ****ty ones and I just want to make sure the Halfords ones were the best.

A poster in another thread said the following:

Jump leads fall into two categories: pretend ones and real ones.

Pretend ones are available from your local motor factor, they'll have exaggerated current carrying capabilities and will be crimped and flimsy, they will be perfectly adequate for occasional use. Typically cost less than E50.

Real jump leads tend to be made to order, genuine current capability, very flexible, with cast clamps and all soldered joints, including clamp jumpers. Last a lifetime if you don't drive over them and cost several hundred Euro a pop. These are what the pro recovery guys tend to have

So if the real ones are a few hundred euro and if the Halfords ones fall into the pretend category at €45, then what are the ****ty ones I have? Toy ones?

The Halfords ones have sorted me out whenever I've used them so I think I'd be happy enough with another 2 pairs of them, but if anyone has any others to recommend, please share. I'm not prepared to spend a few hundred though :eek:

I have a set I got in a service station in the UK 12 years ago, they've successfully started 2.0 diesels with totally flat batteries so their ok by me.

The sh1tty ones you have presumably are 10mm ish?
That's as bad as you can get, €10 ish in Halfords, for starting petrol Escorts/Focus/Corolla/Yaris etc etc

punisher5112

I have 2sets of ring cables and are top quality.

colm_mcm

I bought a set from a "traveling salesman" in a market about 5 years ago. Never let me down. No idea of the make.

CIP4

I have 25mm square actual heavy duty cables from halfords for years and they haven't let me down yet they are great proper strong clamps and a plastic box to keep them in but they weren't cheap can't remember what they cost. Fcuking around with sh!tty 10 or even 16mm square cables is a waste of time and potentially dangerous depending on what your trying to jump.

I came across a neighbour before literally just about to jump his Audi with stripped 8mm square twin and earth (house / mains) cable ie the live and neutral were stripped on each end and they were going to touch them of the battery poles no clamps no nothing. I told them they were crazy and stopped them before they did it. The funny thing is it was my neighbours friend 'who knew about cars' idea :pac:

cormie

I'm not sure of the technicalities, but would the cables have a big part to play in being able to jump a dead transit from an Astra, I mean maybe the cables would be ok for jumping the Astra from the Transit, or for jumping a similarly small car, but I need much heavier quality cables for my use?

All the ones I've bought have been Heavy Duty, I thought I was doing great by getting ones much cheaper than the Halfords set I got for what I thought was the same thing, but it seems there's a definite difference in quality.

foxy farmer

Jump leads are a hit or miss affair in my opinion. Heavy cables with good connections but rusted corroded clamps can be a flop. Getting a good solid connection on modern battery terminals is difficult. In this era a purpose built standardised connection for emergencies should be fitted to vehicles. Jumper cable to suit.
Anderson connections.

Ded_Zebra

We have about 3 sets at the moment. 1 I got from TK Maxx, surprisingly, and the other 2 sets are from Lidl. I find all 3 of those very good and have never failed to start, or set fire to any of them. No smoke even

All would have been around the 30-50 euro range.

elperello

Try in an agricultural machinery place.
They tend to stock really robust jump lead sets at the right price.

CIP4

cormie wrote: »

I'm not sure of the technicalities, but would the cables have a big part to play in being able to jump a dead transit from an Astra, I mean maybe the cables would be ok for jumping the Astra from the Transit, or for jumping a similarly small car, but I need much heavier quality cables for my use?

The thickness of the copper in the cables (measured in mm square ie cross sectional area) have a huge part to play the thicker the cables the more current they can take the lower the resistance in the cable itself. Obviously the clamps are important too you need a decent tight connection to reduce the resistance. Bigger batteries require thicker cables.

colm_mcm

What the cables are made out of would play a part too. The cheap stuff seems to be copper plated aluminium.

CIP4

colm_mcm wrote: »

What the cables are made out of would play a part too.

You'd like to think they are all copper but the very cheap ones might not be as you said the material would greatly effect the resistance any decent set would be copper though.

cormie

Thanks folks. I might be best just sticking to the Halfords ones so? Unless there's a specific brand and specific model to go after, I wouldn't want to be just walking into any oul agricultural machinery place or shop given the variance that can be going on underneath the wires.

I mean there's very very little difference in the cables I have to hold and look at, but obviously is in performance.

Another curious thing, I have one of them trickle chargers and I set it up to my spare battery I was trying to jump a van from, but it kept knocking off for some reason. Anyway, it doesn't seem to want to charge for me now with the trickle charger, could I have damaged the battery and is there any way to get the trickle charger to recognise it to charge it up again?

9935452

CIP4 wrote: »

I came across a neighbour before literally just about to jump his Audi with stripped 8mm square twin and earth (house / mains) cable ie the live and neutral were stripped on each end and they were going to touch them of the battery poles no clamps no nothing. I told them they were crazy and stopped them before they did it. The funny thing is it was my neighbours friend 'who knew about cars' idea :pac:

i wouldnt recomment it but it would work for a different reason. If he left the wires connected with the car that he is getting the jump from for say 15 minutes. The other car actually charges his battery and he will start himself with no jump.

Like how do the stupid jump leads with the cigarette lighter connections work?

One day at home a tractor got airlocked, the boys flattened the battery, luckily enough i had a set of jump leads which turned out to be crap. Used then to charge the other tractors battery so he started himself in the end

biko

I have a set of Aldi/Lidl leads that have been with me many years and never a bother.

cormie

It actually turns out the ones I already have are the 25mm halfords ones here: http://www.halfords.ie/workshop-tools/garage-equipment/jump-leads/halfords-25mm-booster-cables

So the 35mm ones should be better, as well as being a meter longer which is nice

randy hickey

Cormie, buy 6m of welding cable and two pairs of crocodile clamps and you're sorted for life.

http://www.walshengineering.com/shop/Welding/Welding+Accessories/Welding+Cable/50mm+SQ+Hi-Flex+Welding+Cable.html

The clamps I used were sourced in a motor factors years ago, but are something like these:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2-x-HEAVY-DUTY-CROCODILE-BATTERY-JUMP-LEAD-CLAMPS-CLIPS-150mm-/171846926165?hash=item2802dfff55


Mine have charged everything from a micra up to an eight wheel tipper, and never failed once in nearly twenty years.

cormie

Thanks a lot randy, I see there's 70mm on the same site too, but the 70mm says it's only capable up to 400amp while the 50mm says 322, but a lot of the jump leads I've seen advertise themselves as 800a?

I might just stick with the non DIY halfords 35mm option considering the 3.5m 25mm are actually the pair that have never let me down so the 4.5m 35mm pair should hopefully be even better.

Wouldn't be too confident putting something like this together.:o

dieselbug

randy hickey wrote: »

Cormie, buy 6m of welding cable and two pairs of crocodile clamps and you're sorted for life.

http://www.walshengineering.com/shop/Welding/Welding+Accessories/Welding+Cable/50mm+SQ+Hi-Flex+Welding+Cable.html

The clamps I used were sourced in a motor factors years ago, but are something like these:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2-x-HEAVY-DUTY-CROCODILE-BATTERY-JUMP-LEAD-CLAMPS-CLIPS-150mm-/171846926165?hash=item2802dfff55


Mine have charged everything from a micra up to an eight wheel tipper, and never failed once in nearly twenty years.

+1 on that. I made a set just like that about 25 years ago and still have them although not used much now.

Good quality welding cable (finer the wire strands the better current carrying capacity) good clamps and make sure the clamp to cable connections are really good.

cormie

Sounds good but I just wouldn't be confident with my abilities to put all that together

I'll be driving by halfords today so will probably bite the bullet and get the 35mm ones

I think they should do me considering the 25mm halfords ones have done me so well.

By the way, I checked the "bad" cables, and one of them, maybe both actually, are 25mm too, it must be just an inferior copper being used or bad clamp heads or something not allowing it to conduct as well?