On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 10:54:31 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 06:07:51 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Apr 2015 23:04:22 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
Ayup. They're meant to charge the battery, -not- start the car.
Trying to crank over a vehicle with one would likely blow one or
both
fuses for the lighters.

The one I have, likely from Radio Shack, is 16 AWG and 4' long, so
it's more of a lab bench jumper. They sold a series of power supplies
with lighter sockets for outlets. I don't know what they meant it to
deliver power to, but it works well to charge my tractor battery
through the dash outlet I added for the flasher. Cats prowl the place
I store it so I don't like to leave the hood raised and charger wires
clamped on the battery.

The jumper box on the tow truck I used to run (which ended my
automotive career) had a molded bakelite shell with welding style
connectors inside. They always made a really solid connection.
http://www.surplustowparts.com/produ...sa-usa20-4.htm
Something like that.

Hell..why not simply buy a proper self wiping power plug?

http://www.grainger.com/category/bat...ecatalog/N-8hx

The 50 ampers are small enough for this application. Found everywhere
on battery powered forklifts so are well known and have zero problems
over long periods of time.

shakes head
Those are -precisely- the persnickety connectors I was dissing.

--
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails,
admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 08:27:13 -0500, Frnak McKenney
wrote:

On 11 Apr 2015 03:23:51 GMT, DoN. Nichols wrote:
On 2015-04-10, Frnak McKenney wrote:

[ ... ]

Has anyone here used -- or even seen -- a pair of "cigarette lighter"
plugs wired together and sold as a "jumper cable"? The concept certainly
has appeal -- battery-to-battery jumper cables are heavy, bulky, and
stiff -- but how would it handle the (say) 100A "cranking current" needed
to get an automobile with a dead battery started? Ian's "8-10A", which is
an order of magnitude lower, seems like a good working figure for that
kind of connection, and with that limitation even a superconducting cable
wouldn't be enough.

Or have I missed something?

I think that the intended application is to plug it into both
car's outlets and leave the supply car idling for some time. This can
get sufficient charge into the "dead" battery -- and likely current
limited by the fairly small gauge wire used. (I'll bet the wires get
noticeably warm in use. :-)

If the dead battery is sufficiently dead, this won't work, of
course.

Okay. Thanks, DoN. And Larry. And Lloyd. And anyone else i missed. grin

Using it to recharge the battery makes a lot more sense. I think I saw
the two plugs and the cable, noticed that it was advertised for starting
a car with a dead battery, and mentally filed it under "You've GOT to be
kidding!" As you all point out, limited to 10A it (probably) won't smoke,
and in 10-20 minutes would pump enough electrons into a discharged-but-
still-good battery to let someone attempt to start a car with it.

Right.


Hm. Let's see... add overcurrent protection, voltage measurement, a
Coulomb counter, and an LED/LCD display, and the gadget could tell you
when the recipient battery was ready to "take its shot". Not a
guarantee, of course, since I assume different vehicles require more or
less amperage to get started, but a hint at least of when _not_ to try.
And the package would still weigh a heck of a lot less than regular 12'
100A jumper cables (even the aluminum ones).

Interesting...

And I'll sell you the kit for only $1,200. For only $5,000 extra,
I'll throw in a money-back guarantee for the entire $1,200...


Toss in a pair of lighter-plug-to-pair-of-battery-clips adapters for
those cases where one or the other party (or both) lacks a "cigarette
lighter" socket and it's a really useful gadget. I think I owe some
company an apology for my nasty thoughts. grin

That's in the HF kit
http://www.harborfreight.com/solar-p...kit-68684.html
I just had to -rewire- it before actual use. sigh

P.S: The nasty thoughts come up because the companies try to sucker
all of us with those ideas, even when we _know_ better.


Thanks again for the enlightenment.

Jewelcome.

--
It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails,
admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.
-- Franklin D. Roosevelt

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 22:03:36 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 10:54:31 -0700, Gunner Asch
wrote:

On Sat, 11 Apr 2015 06:07:51 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Fri, 10 Apr 2015 23:04:22 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
Ayup. They're meant to charge the battery, -not- start the car.
Trying to crank over a vehicle with one would likely blow one or
both
fuses for the lighters.

The one I have, likely from Radio Shack, is 16 AWG and 4' long, so
it's more of a lab bench jumper. They sold a series of power supplies
with lighter sockets for outlets. I don't know what they meant it to
deliver power to, but it works well to charge my tractor battery
through the dash outlet I added for the flasher. Cats prowl the place
I store it so I don't like to leave the hood raised and charger wires
clamped on the battery.

The jumper box on the tow truck I used to run (which ended my
automotive career) had a molded bakelite shell with welding style
connectors inside. They always made a really solid connection.
http://www.surplustowparts.com/produ...sa-usa20-4.htm
Something like that.

Hell..why not simply buy a proper self wiping power plug?

http://www.grainger.com/category/bat...ecatalog/N-8hx

The 50 ampers are small enough for this application. Found everywhere
on battery powered forklifts so are well known and have zero problems
over long periods of time.

shakes head
Those are -precisely- the persnickety connectors I was dissing.

Ive had very good luck with them over the years

Gunner

"At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child,
miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied,
demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless.
Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats."
PJ O'Rourke

"Martin Eastburn" wrote in message
...
Those are good plugs, but if you add half a dozen to carry the
current,
that is a code violation in many places.

Martin

On 4/11/2015 6:24 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Martin Eastburn" wrote in message
...
Look at welding cable plug/sockets.

Lots of power - easy to attach and mount.
Just a smaller hole and plug and harder to find in the dark.

It was also invented before welding machines.

Auto stuff was designed to last in TIME.
Martin


If you want maximum performance you can specify military circular
connectors. We did for the electric car's battery cables.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Mi...specifications

-jsw

One large pin carried the full current. I needed a 100W iron to solder
it.

-jsw

On 9/04/2015 6:08 PM, robobass wrote:
When the family makes a road trip I bring along a 12v 4 amp cooler. The ciggie plug melted long ago and I wired up one of those 3/16" cannon shaped connectors used for low voltage home stuff like laptops, external HDs etc. It also gets very hot and is starting to melt. What's a good off-the-shelf solution which doesn't take up much room? The whole ciggie plug thing is the dumbest convention ever, I must say. I can't believe it's still extant.



I have one of these in the back of my 4x4 and a couple installed in my
boat for accessories . I also have anderson plugs uder the tray of my
4x4 to run a heavy duty air compressor.

http://www.hellamarine.com/en/produc...d-sockets.html

Larry Jaques wrote:

My buddy Glenn showed me that you could remove the soldering tip from
a Weller 150W gun and induction-heat the terminal to solder the wire
in. It worked extremely well for the 4ga armored wire he gave me to
use with the towing-receiver-mounted winch. http://tinyurl.com/nejufw9


If you just used the two posts with no tip, you were doing resistance
soldering. Inductance heating requires a loop to couple the power into
the load. Like Diathermy machines.

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:59:34 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Larry Jaques wrote:

My buddy Glenn showed me that you could remove the soldering tip from
a Weller 150W gun and induction-heat the terminal to solder the wire
in. It worked extremely well for the 4ga armored wire he gave me to
use with the towing-receiver-mounted winch. http://tinyurl.com/nejufw9


If you just used the two posts with no tip, you were doing resistance
soldering. Inductance heating requires a loop to couple the power into
the load. Like Diathermy machines.

Absolutely correct. Resistance soldering is how I make up radio
PL-259 male plugs

Gunner Asch wrote:

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:59:34 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
? wrote:

?
?Larry Jaques wrote:
??
?? My buddy Glenn showed me that you could remove the soldering tip from
?? a Weller 150W gun and induction-heat the terminal to solder the wire
?? in. It worked extremely well for the 4ga armored wire he gave me to
?? use with the towing-receiver-mounted winch. http://tinyurl.com/nejufw9
?
?
? If you just used the two posts with no tip, you were doing resistance
?soldering. Inductance heating requires a loop to couple the power into
?the load. Like Diathermy machines.

Absolutely correct. Resistance soldering is how I make up radio
PL-259 male plugs


I use a 175 watt Weller soldering iron for PL-259 plugs. I pre-tin
the braid, then use a small tubing cutter to trim the excess. I then
drill the chrome plating out of the four holes in the shell, then
solder them together. As always, the threaded ring goes on first since
you can't unsolder my method without burning the insulation.

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 19:59:36 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Gunner Asch wrote:

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:59:34 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
? wrote:

?
?Larry Jaques wrote:
??
?? My buddy Glenn showed me that you could remove the soldering tip from
?? a Weller 150W gun and induction-heat the terminal to solder the wire
?? in. It worked extremely well for the 4ga armored wire he gave me to
?? use with the towing-receiver-mounted winch. http://tinyurl.com/nejufw9
?
?
? If you just used the two posts with no tip, you were doing resistance
?soldering. Inductance heating requires a loop to couple the power into
?the load. Like Diathermy machines.

Absolutely correct. Resistance soldering is how I make up radio
PL-259 male plugs


I use a 175 watt Weller soldering iron for PL-259 plugs. I pre-tin
the braid, then use a small tubing cutter to trim the excess. I then
drill the chrome plating out of the four holes in the shell, then
solder them together. As always, the threaded ring goes on first since
you can't unsolder my method without burning the insulation.

Good indeed! Takes too long for my sort of work though.
Ill hit the shell with a thin bit in a Dremel tool and then solder it
up. Yours is very professional.

Gunner

On Tue, 09 Jun 2015 16:59:34 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Larry Jaques wrote:

My buddy Glenn showed me that you could remove the soldering tip from
a Weller 150W gun and induction-heat the terminal to solder the wire
in. It worked extremely well for the 4ga armored wire he gave me to
use with the towing-receiver-mounted winch. http://tinyurl.com/nejufw9


If you just used the two posts with no tip, you were doing resistance
soldering. Inductance heating requires a loop to couple the power into
the load. Like Diathermy machines.

I bow to your deeper knowledge, MikeySan. I thought the magnetic
field was doing the work, but see that it was the connection of the
two posts which completed the circuit for resistance soldering. In
any case, it sure as hell beat the time of the soldering tip! 'Twas
quick and very efficient.

--
Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles,
it takes away today's peace. --Lifehack