The
other less painful alternative is to coat all connectors with grease, preventing
them from rusting. And if you are set on getting rid of the steel
connectors, buy some brass ones and just replace the
connectors.
Z
Hello list-
I made a "shocking" discovery a few days ago-no, I
wasn't zapped by 12 volts.
I was trying to trace down why my engine
was hard to start, and my batteries
wouldn't charge up, a problem that was
getting worse over the last several
months.
The batteries were good,
the alternator OK, the grounds(earths) good.
I had to switch the
ignition on/off several times to get the starter to
activate. Finally, it
just wouldn't start.
At first, I thought it was the starter. I removed
it, and saw that the 4
gauge battery cable end connector was rusted.
Rusted? But these are always
made of brass, aren't they?
I touched a
magnet to it and the connector was attracted to it.
I removed all the
cables I installed for the dual battery system I installed
4 years ago,
and found every end connector made of steel, and rusty.
I have
installed several dual battery systems for friends and have made up my
own
cables with expensive copper connectors and cable, which is available
everywhere. I didn't know steel connectors were sold. They have been for
some
time, I found out.
I checked my local flaps-and yes, there is
the answer-like almost everything
else for sale there, half of it is from
China. So the source I found for
these cables is China. There may be other
countries of origin also.
Not everything from China is poor quality,
but there is a big piracy market
there and imitation look-alike products
are now in the automotive industry
here.
Ponder if any of
it should make it into the military or space program!
Hope I have
helped someone with rusted cable ends-has anyone made this
discovery
before?
Peas-
Robert
1982 Westfalia
Seattle
The magnitude of this problem could become immense, because
unsuspecting
customers, who have been buying the real thing like me for
years, are buying
this stuff and putting it into your their cars. The
steel ends look lie the
tinned copper ends. I haven't checked to see if
any labeling identifies the
metal used in these cables, so this is why I
thought it was important enough
to advise the list.
You can easily
find out with a magnet if you have the "imitation" connectors,
and if you
have them, you should replace the cables with ones that have
copper ends.
The steel ones will inevitably rust, ruining your vacation or worse. For
me
it was the vacation-I was stranded several times-all power vanished.
then it
would return.
In all my years of vehicle ownership I have
never heard of let alone seen a
steel battery cable end, or any 12 volt
electrical connector. The industry
standard has been copper, brass, as
long as I have been working on vehicles.
Where are these cheap ready
made in various lengths at your local FLAPS
coming from?
Industry
standard now has become a relative term. It depends on who's
standards, or
lack of, we are talking about.