Whenever she comes up for the weekend, the weather goes completely to hell. She was due this weekend and I considered breaking out the heavy parka.
But then she canceled. 
55o F. in the shade. And there is shade, because the sky is almost completely clear for the first time in a week. Hardly any breeze. If every day were like this it’d take landmines to keep the tourists away. Glorious.
And I even found what I needed in town to finish the battery installation.
Nobody had any cables in black for some reason, but that’s a minor procedural manner. In every other way I made every improvement I’d wanted including some ring terminals where for years it’s been wire twisted around a post and hope it doesn’t squeeze out when you cinch it down. All I need now is to coat the battery posts against corrosion and replace the insulation before the return of the cold weather. The new batteries are off life support and Ian’s system is already recharged.
Might be daft comment here but you do use petroleum jelly (vasaline) to coat them as grease on the terminals acts as an insulator where as pj conducts electricity. Hence why they used it on resus machines in hospital!
Same problem w/ finding black cable here. I wrap the end of the negative cable with some black tape so I don’t make a mistake which is which at 0 dark thirty
Yup, Ro, I bought a little thingie of petroleum jelly just for that. Don’t really know what else it’s used for, so it strikes me as strange you need to buy it in drug stores.
JiR, that’s a good idea. I considered spray paint but gave it up as too much hassle. I’ll go back with some electrical tape.
“Don’t really know what else it’s used for, so it strikes me as strange you need to buy it in drug stores.”
Lip balm, skin moisturizer, seals dirt out of scrapes and burns, recreational lube, light grease for hardware applications, candles, fire starters…
(Ro, petroleum jelly is not conductive worth a damn, which is why you apply to battery posts after the cables are bolted down. The conductive gel for EEG and EKG pickups is not vaseline, but a special conductive substance: example.)
What the heck is up trying to find battery cables anymore?
I went into an AUTO PARTS store to get some battery cable makings a while back,
All THEY had was black cable, no solder pellets, no crimp on cable ends for the battery clamps and the only pre made ones were all also black and six feet long!
I needed one for the old Ford positive cable that goes from the battery to the solenoid, about a foot long, if that.
You could buy any chrome piece of crap cover of any kind ever made for a Chevy small block but no real parts.
I gave them an earful before I left, too.
Auto parts store my ass.
I was at my local Ace store today just as the freezing rain hit.
Some have a much larger selection than others.
If that one is new, it may take a while for them to sort out what really sells in your area.
I wouldn’t hesitate to ask them to carry something for me if I knew I would be buying it more than once. I have had them special order things for me before too.
Bear, put two cables into vasaline with a gap of 1/16 th of an inch and pass 60 to 200 amps at 12v through it(thats the draw on most starter motors) then try it with grease. You’ll soon see the difference. The grease will liquefy and impede the current, vasaline liqufies and conducts the current. Then when cold the vasline solidifies. With battery posts even though it will penetrate all the voids when under heavy load it will not impede the flow. Hence why it was used extensively by the RN.
Regards
Oliver Dell
Royal Naval engineer 1966-1999.
Dude, if you have voids for the air barrier (petroleum jelly, No-Ox, etc) to penetrate, you’re making your battery connections wrong. I suppose that’s why you’re getting resistance high enough to generate enough heat to melt your grease/vaseline.
Regards
Carl Bussjaeger
Comm Tech (including battery plant maintenance) 1980-present