May sound dumb but where is the best place to get replacement Positive & Negative cables for a 99 1500 with the 5.7 Auto 4X4. or should i just make my own like i am doing for my bronco.

 

Negative-you can pick one up at Napa. Positive however, I'm guessing the stealership? I'm looking for one myself...and no, that wasn't a dump question. There are no dump questions around here, so don't be afraid to ask. Also, I'm pretty sure you either have a 5.2 or a 5.9

 

You can make them yourself cheaper than buying them.

Get yourself a new battery terminal end, some 0AWG wire and some wire ends. Then replace the stock cables.

There are 3 positive cables.
1x battery to Power distribution box
1x battery to starter
1x battery to alternator

 

Where do ypu get your ought gauge wires? The nearby welding supply store here only is selling up to 2AWG I believe.

 

2AWG wire will be plenty unless you are running some high powered system or a lot of electronics.

I got mine at a car audio shop.

When I changed out my power and ground cables I noticed an increase in measured volts at the battery. It went from about 13.5v to right at 14v at idle.


EDIT:

Also, you will have better wire if you get car audio wire. The more strands in the wire you can get, the better. Welding cable has fewer larger strands where car audio wire has more smaller strands to make up the same size.

Car Audio Wire:



Welding Wire:

 

Ah yeah. Car audio. Clever. Those guys trying to do megawatt woofers on a 12V system are going to need alot of current and some fatty cables.

Well, I asked about it not for my truck but my camper actually. Was thinking about putting a bigger inverter in there. I'm looking at 1 and 2KW inverters which need some healthy cables to operate efficiently and especially if you want them to be remote from the battery bank at all. Just so happened to jar my brain while reading your post here on the DF.

 

The car audio cables would work for your inverters as well. The more strands the cleaner the power will be transmitted.

Remember, the farther run you have the larger cables you need to carry the power that far with minimal voltage/amp drop over the distance.

 

You are correct as long as I can get the gauge I need. Car audio cables are designed to work in a 12V system and so make the technical side of things almost automatic.

I've not seen a technical argument that convinces me of any real electrical advantages to using stranded wires vs solid core. They sure do alot better reducing the number of mechanical failures if there is any repeated flexing going on in a specific application though.

Correct again. Given wire guage and run length one may calculate an expected cable resistance even if it can't be measured accurately. MCable manufacturers can supply the necessary cable specs. Multiplying cable resistance by load current will tell you what your expected cable voltage drop will be. Engineering a solution is always preferable to winging it in my opinion.

 

Okay, here's one: Skin effect. Despite the fact that the inverter is going to draw a (mostly) DC current, it's going to be a pulsating and perhaps relatively complex current so skin effect does come into play. If the inverter happens to inductively pump the DC supply (as many cheap consumer-grade inverters do) then some (potentially high frequency) AC current will flow in the DC supply, too, so skin effect comes into play for that reason, as well.

Whether or not this matters much in a consumer-grade 1kVA inverter in someone's camper, well... maybe, maybe not. Most RV inverter installations I've seen put the electronics within just a few wire feet of a battery anyway, and AC power quality is considered acceptable if the television works.

 

to the original poster - its unlikely you actually need new wire. you can cut off the old ends and replace them with new terminals. available at any parts store for not much money.

parts stores also have new wires with ends in standard lengths.