battery terminal question

[QueBert]

So I bought some nice battery terminals that accept 0ga wire (upgrading my big 3) was recommended the ones I got from a few people. They look real nice, but are one solid piece with fittings to put the wire in. With the posts on my battery being completely covered now I'm going to be FUBAR if my battery dies and I need a jump. This is probably going to be an extremely stupid question, but I'll ask because I'm a car noob. Since the terminals are solid metal would clamping the alligators from jumper cables be enough to start my car if the battery was drained? I don't think it'll work, but I figured I'd ask before I ditch these (paid $45 shipped for both) go to get some cheaper ones that leave my posts exposed.

 

[jlee]

As long as the terminals aren't covered with something that is not conductive, it should be fine.

$45 for battery terminals? We replaced one on my roommate's car..I think he paid $3.99 for it..

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: JLee
As long as the terminals aren't covered with something that is not conductive, it should be fine.

$45 for battery terminals? We replaced one on my roommate's car..I think he paid $3.99 for it..

well they are pretty shinny so there's probably some coating that will ruin my chances. Yeah with shipping about $45 for both. They accept 3 0ga wires and need no connectors or crimping.

linky here's the ones I got, the description says they've covered in black chrome, I dunno if that would qualify as non-conductive or not.

 

[brblx]

normal terminals can usually fit a few ring terminals on them. i would've just gone that route. 4ga wire is fine for your ground and power wires, 8ga would've have probably even worked. how much actual rms power are your amps rated for (and remember that even that is not a realistic number unless you're maxxing them out all the time)? this upgrade generally fixes things like light dimming that occur from the factory grounds and alt-battery feed not being sufficient (and also old). if you don't have vdrop problems at your amps, then there's no great reason to do this.

edit- though YES, this is the way to go for minor charging issues, not with a damn worthless cap like most people do. if beefing up the cables doesn't fix the issue, though, you're just left with needing more alt output (or perhaps a bigger or additional battery, but then you'd have to change them manually on occasion).

oh, and yes, the terminal should all be conductive, chrome is not an insulator, it's made of layers of metal. but it looks like it'd he hard to get a big alligator clamp on it.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: brblx
normal terminals can usually fit a few ring terminals on them. i would've just gone that route. 4ga wire is fine for your ground and power wires, 8ga would've have probably even worked. how much actual rms power are your amps rated for (and remember that even that is not a realistic number unless you're maxxing them out all the time)? this upgrade generally fixes things like light dimming that occur from the factory grounds and alt-battery feed not being sufficient (and also old). if you don't have vdrop problems at your amps, then there's no great reason to do this.

edit- though YES, this is the way to go for minor charging issues, not with a damn worthless cap like most people do. if beefing up the cables doesn't fix the issue, though, you're just left with needing more alt output (or perhaps a bigger or additional battery, but then you'd have to change them manually on occasion).

oh, and yes, the terminal should all be conductive, chrome is not an insulator, it's made of layers of metal. but it looks like it'd he hard to get a big alligator clamp on it.

My clips won't clamp on these, I don't think any clamps will, the terminals are shaped oddly and very wide. I think the best I could do would be to hold them on manually if I ever needed a jump, they just need contact with metal right?

Unfortunately I went for style here, and lost functionally. And what didn't hit me until yesterday was the fact they'll be underneath my hood and I'll never see them. But, since I dropped so much $$$ on them, I guess I'll try to work with them.

My amps right now aren't much, but I'm upgrading soon to bigger ones. I didn't do my big 3 with 0 gauge, I went 4. The stock wire is tiny (10 maybe?) and one of the cables has a bit of visible corrosion on it.

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: QueBert
...(paid $45 shipped for both) ...

A fool and his money... 😀

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: TheKub

Originally posted by: QueBert
...(paid $45 shipped for both) ...

A fool and his money... 😀

These are uber nice terminals though, and if I was a fool I would have went with the JL Audio ones which were SIXTY BUCKS each - that's $60 before tax and shipping. Hell I saved a ton of money, so I think I'm a great shopper 😀

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: QueBert
These are uber nice terminals though, and if I was a fool I would have went with the JL Audio ones which were SIXTY BUCKS each - that's $60 before tax and shipping. Hell I saved a ton of money, so I think I'm a great shopper 😀

That was lol worthy.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: TheKub

Originally posted by: QueBert
These are uber nice terminals though, and if I was a fool I would have went with the JL Audio ones which were SIXTY BUCKS each - that's $60 before tax and shipping. Hell I saved a ton of money, so I think I'm a great shopper 😀

That was lol worthy.

$45 > $140 any day of the week, I use female logic when it comes to shopping, yeah I could have gotten some $6 terminals and they would technically work, but I still saved almost $100 over the high end ones 😀