I respectfully disagree on the solder issue. A bad solder joint is no worse than a bad crimp connection, and a good crimp connection is no better than a good solder joint. The key to either is having the right tools and doing it properly. I also don't buy into environmental issues making a solder joint worse. I work in a piece of equipment that is exposed to a more extreme environment than your car or truck will ever be, it is also a lot more precision and high performance that either. Nearly every wire splice on it is soldered, and connector pins are crimped. Do which ever you feel more comfortable with and don't worry about it.

FWIW I would rather use solder and heat shrink to make a sealed connection than a butt crimp with stiff nylon/plastic insulation, because I'm more worried about elements than vibration. Solder and HS or a heat shrink butt splice, I'd use either. Given the choice I'd use solder sleeves over any of it. Those are just personal preferences though.

I really wish I had some solder sleeves when I was working on the radio wiring over the weekend, but the crimp connectors I had did the job fine and not worried about elements being inside the cab.

You've already got crimpers.for the battery cables offered. FWIW I like these for doing smaller crimp connections.

Pertronix (T3001) Quick Change 6-Piece Ratchet Crimp Tool Kit

I bought that particular set because I was doing spark plug wires at the time and they came with the correct jaws, lower price back then too. Several other sets like them that are more affordable. They make good solid crimps and you can get replacement jaws for almost any type of crimp on connector you can imagine. In fact, I need to get a few more jaw sets myself.

 

@josht , these might be what you are looking for then: HEAT SHRINK, CRIMP & SOLDER SEAL BUTT CONNECTORS

 

See the box on the right. Used the plain style under the dash and the heat shrink under the hood. I'd still rather use solder sleeves in most cases. I found where I stashed these after searching for a few days, I still haven't found my small stash of solder sleeves.

 

As a reminder that the thread title is Battery Cables, there might be some benefit to reviewing a few battery cable terminal connections, as examples of what can happen when they heat up with resistance during high current demand.












Considering how this battery terminal melted and poured over the battery case, insipires thoughts about what the melting temperature of lead is.

As well as the melting temperature of solder.

Solder "moves" at only half of the temperature required for it to wet, wick, and flow, With the heavy copper cables attached, any "movement" of partially melted solder from the elevated temperatures of high current or resistance is likely to be penalized by the weight of the cables, amplified by the vibration of the vehicle bouncing down the road.

Repeated partial melt and recrystallization of solder (thermal cycling) is a study unto itself, so a simpler question comes to mind:

Are there any automobile or truck manufacturers that solder battery terminal connections?

 

Sure, and in order to reach that temperature, you had bigger problems than a solder or crimp connection. More likely too much load for the connection.

As for a manufacturer soldering a battery cable, couldn't tell you. Don't look that close. If the clamp is bad I replace it. I don't recall seeing anyone to solder a battery connection in the last several posts, I certainly wasn't. This thread moved away from just battery connections a while ago, or at least it seems like it did to me. On the subject of solder connections done by the manufacturers, last vehicle harness I tore apart (1998 Explorer 5.0L) had solder joints all over the place in the power distribution and ground systems. Probably other places too, but that was over 5 years ago.

 

Hey guys, I decided to go with 2/0 cable for the main positives and grounds and 6 AWG for the passenger battery to body ,driver battery to body and 2/0 for the ground going from the engine block to the frame/chassis.
I want it to be a little Overkill.
My question is considering that 2/0 cable is somewhere in the neighborhood of 0.625 IN OD. I would think I would need 3/4 IN split loom correct? I found some 3/4 in outside diameter loom on Amazon with .67 inch inside diameter. That might be a good option. I still think I should just go with 3/4 inch ID just to be safe.
Just wanted to get another opinion on the matter!

 

Tristan, wire loom is a great thing to use and I am a big fan of it. I use it on every application I possibly can for wires, air hoses, etc...

I generally keep various sizes of wire loom on hand in black and a few in red. I have a box in the garage full of rolls of wire loom that comes in handy quite often.

As for the size of the wire loom for a specific wire (including coating), you want a snug fit. Not a tight fit, a snug fit. A somewhat loose fit is better than a tight fit though. The loom is there to be a protective barrier between the wire and everything else. Kind of like your skin, in a very simplistic analogy.

The wire should move freely within the loom to allow for ease of abrasion in short radius bends and contact points along the way. Another consideration is fasteners like clamps and zip ties. Keep them loose while routing the wire and loom and snugly secure them once a suitable path has been chosen.

I hope this helps sir.

 

 

This is some information that I never knew.

I've purchased 100' rolls of various sized, USA made split loom tubing from online electrical sellers but I've never seen any of it for sale with the stripes.


The striped stuff looks like it should be high quality. high temp wiring protection.

 

This is a good idea to handle before your wiring causes other issues. The stock wiring is great quality and I would see no reason to change it, except I am also a man who considers the possibility of making something myself, especially if I can achieve better quality or durability than original design.

If you're going to make them yourself you definitely want to compare them at the place you buy the wire to make sure you are getting the right size wire. Also if you have not selected terminals yet, I recommend the ones that are called "mil-spec" battery terminals. They integrate perfectly to this system which has a lot more wires, and you can use regular copper end lugs on all your custom wires. Just make sure you do a tidy job. I wished I had the hydraulic crimpers when I did mine; using a hammer and a chisel is a lot of trouble. And giant heat shrink, I didn't know where to get any so I used electrical tape and wire loom. Good luck.

 

So it turns out the cable I'm buying shows that the OD is just under .6 in so the 5/8's loom being .625 in should fit quite nicely. I thank you for your helpful information that you always seem to have stored away to help everybody in these times.

 

Okay so, now that you mention it, I would like to go with some flame retardant wire looms. Unfortunately I have searched for red flame retardant loom but to no avail. I did see some red loom on Amazon rated for 200 degrees Fahrenheit. I would think for all of the main cables on the front that would be fine wouldn't it?

 

I was always under the impression you want the ground to be similar sized to the power wire. Seems to be a large gap between 2/0 and 6 gauge.

 

You may have misinterpreted what I was saying. I apologize for Miss-wording my previous sentence. I have fixed it now. All main ground cables will be 2/0. The only 6 Gauge will be the replacements for the even smaller ground cables. There are some puny cables that ground the batteries directly to the inner side of the fender. I think they are 8 to 10 gauge factory. I am upping them to 6 Gauge.

 

The main grounds will be. He's saying that he's going to use 2/0 for both the power and main ground. The 6 AWG will replace other ground wires that are smaller or non existent to improve the ground paths throughout the truck.

He's running the main ground circuit of battery-to-battery-to-block in 2/0. The 6 AWG will be used to connect each battery directly to a chassis ground and the block to a chassis ground. That's better than what the truck came with.

At least that's the way I am reading it.