Battery Cables & Terminal Corrosion

[jh.]

As mentioned in another post I am doing some additions to my electrical system in the D2 and figured to do it all in one fell swoop. Just got a Yellow Top and have some incredibly corroded battery cable terminals.

Is there a good way to chop the current cable and mate them up with a new one, plus new terminals? Or should I be looking at replacing the whole cable? I know butt splices work for smaller projects, but not sure if they would hold up with a battery cable (or if they even exist).

The reason I ask is because it seems like if I replace the terminals, the cables may end up being a few inches short. I haven't tried tugging on them to see if there's play, so maybe it's a moot point. Either way, the current terminals need help badly.

 

[unseenone]

I had similar corrosion on my LR3 cable. While I could have cleaned it up, it seemed to me that some of the corrosion had traveled up the cable. As a result I replaced the cable and cleaned up the old one, and kept it for an emergency spare. Additionally I used some 3M 1601 clear sealer. This seems to have impeded additional corrosion at the negative terminal which is common for this vehicle.

 

[94Discovery]

A picture will help ,but if you say it is corroded better fab a new one from scratch ,and if you want to splice ,i ve seen splices on ground terminal don with proper tooling .for positive best way is to go to a buss bar .

 

[chris snell]

Don't waste your time trying to splice. Making battery cables is easy. The best way to do it is with a professional battery terminal crimper tool but you can do it with a hammer and one of these, too. Most good battery shops (like the kind that sell golf cart and solar batteries) will have a crimper that you can borrow.

Use good cable. Marine-grade cable is made from copper strands that have been individually coated in solder. This cable is much less likely to corrode and will last longer than the stuff you buy at an auto supply store. I recommend Ancor cable; GenuineDealz.com seems to have good prices for it.

Use a good battery that doesn't leak and corrode stuff. Sorry to break it to you now that you just bought your yellow top but Optima batteries are ****. They used to be decent at one time but that was years ago. The best batteries, in my opinion, are made by Odyssey Battery. I use a single Odyssey PC2150 and they've never let me down. The Sears DieHard Platinum used to be a virtual clone of the Odysseys, supposedly made in the same plant, but the quality of these batteries have gone to **** recently and I don't recommend them anymore. Stick with Odyssey.

While you're rebuilding your cables, ditch those SAE terminal posts and switch to a screw terminal post. It's more secure and the cable terminals are easy to crimp. You can also stack up to three terminals on your battery's screw post, which makes it easy and clean to do a fuse box install. The Odyssey battery comes with screw terminals by default but you can adapt them to SAE if you really want to stick with that style.

I did a write-up on battery cable making on D90 Source:

http://www.defendersource.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26830&highlight=redux

Since I wrote that, I've moved away from soldering on terminal ends; I now crimp everything and I think it's probably more secure this way.

 

[jh.]

Sorry to break it to you now that you just bought your yellow top but Optima batteries are ****. They used to be decent at one time but that was years ago. The best batteries, in my opinion, are made by Odyssey Battery.

Thanks for the advice! I almost didn't mention the type of battery because I know how polarizing Optimas are. And I've read many posts pro Odyssey too...but decided to give an Optima a whirl. Plus they are cheaper than the Die Hard Platinum (which I believe is made by Odyssey).

 

[jh.]

What size cable did you use? 4/0?

 

[chris snell]

I used 2 AWG.

 

[expedition4x4]

My father always taught me to put a generous bit of petroleum gel on the terminals to avoid corrosion

 

[jh.]

$4.99/foot at West Marine. 5' of each should be more than enough, right?

 

[sixbennetts]

Yup, petroleum jelly or lithium grease.

 

[Antichrist]

The corrosion can certainly migrate up the cable.
This is the starter cable on my wife's '97 when we bought it.

This is the same cable about 6 inches from the lug

Personally, if it costs more, I don't think the marine cable is needed if the cable lugs are crimped and sealed properly.

Not long ago I cut open some winch cables I'd made & installed under my front bumper (I was changing the wiring setup and the lengths were no longer right).
After over 10 years under the truck in the muck the cable strands were as bright and shiny as brand new cable. They were made with welding cable from the local welding supply.

For the cables I make for people I use the Thomas & Betts closed barrel lugs, they seem to be about the best I've found. Be sure to use adhesive lined heat shrink, not just plain heat shrink.
Thermo-Tec wire insulation is a worthwhile addition for the cable that runs near the exhaust.
I prefer mil-spec battery lugs, but it's really personal preference.

 

[proper4wd]

The biggest contributor to battery terminal corrosion is a poorly vented battery and/or battery compartment. Make sure the battery vent hose is connected (especially on an LR3/4)

 

[454]

...The Sears DieHard Platinum used to be a virtual clone of the Odysseys, supposedly made in the same plant, but the quality of these batteries have gone to **** recently and I don't recommend them anymore. Stick with Odyssey....

Chris, I'm about to replace the battery on the D1 and I was going to get a DieHard Platinum. The one that was in the D2 worked well. What happened to them? Are they still made by Odyssey?

 

[jh.]

The corrosion can certainly migrate up the cable.
This is the starter cable on my wife's '97 when we bought it.

This is the same cable about 6 inches from the lug

Personally, if it costs more, I don't think the marine cable is needed if the cable lugs are crimped and sealed properly.

Not long ago I cut open some winch cables I'd made & installed under my front bumper (I was changing the wiring setup and the lengths were no longer right).
After over 10 years under the truck in the muck the cable strands were as bight and shiny as brand new cable. They were made with welding cable from the local welding supply.

For the cables I make for people I use the Thomas & Betts closed barrel lugs, they seem to be about the best I've found. Be sure to use adhesive lined heat shrink, not just plain heat shrink.
Thermo-Tec wire insulation is a worthwhile addition for the cable that runs near the exhaust.
I prefer mil-spec battery lugs, but it's really personal preference.

Thanks - those pictures looked awfully familiar and then I realized that it was your post on another forum that got me thinking about a total replacement and sparked my question.

 

[Antichrist]

The Sears DieHard Platinum used to be a virtual clone of the Odysseys, supposedly made in the same plant, but the quality of these batteries have gone to **** recently and I don't recommend them anymore.

I'm not sure what the definition of "virtual clone" is, but I know (based on conversation with EnerSys less than a year ago) that they are in fact the exact same batteries, aside from case color and labeling. So I'd also be interested in why you say they've done downhill.