Today I made a set of jumper cables for both myself and my girlfriend. Wasted the entire friggin day and I felt great doing it. I attached some pictures.
Have you ever noticed that you just can't buy good quality jumper cables anymore? Most cars are around 13-15 feet long, and if you car is stuck in a parking space, you need a cable long enough to reach it from behind. Most have crappy* clamps, and all have really small gauge cables that aren't very flexible.
Sooo, as you know, Dr. Bob doesn't do anything small. I bought some heavy duty epoxy coated 500 amp clamps online with big springs in the handles to provide strain relief, solid copper jaws, and closure springs so powerful it takes two hands to open them to full extension. Then the wire fairy happened to drop 65 feet of the finest stranded 2 gauge wire I've ever seen in my lap. Each strand was individually tinned, then wound into small bundles which were then wound into one large bundle. It's flexible like a wet noodle with a thick rubbery chemical resistant jacket.
I crimped every copper terminal using a 6 ton hydraulic press we have here at work and covered each one with heat shrink tubing to keep water from wicking up inside the wire. I also added 2" of red heat shrink tubing every foot to hold the two massive conductors together in a nice bundle. The complete 16 foot assembly weighs twelve pounds.
*Edited for language by DrW
*Edited for language by DrW
"*Edited for language by DrW"
Whoops
i use 2 ga wire for my car stereo, nothing but the best! def some good jumpers......
Heh, in snow country that'd do nicely in the trunk as rearwheel traction ballast!
Hey, wait a second, why do I get the feeling the wire fairy dropped the wire first, then you got the big idea to make this? Eh?
dan k -grumble - grumble - where's that bleedin' wire fairy when I need it!??!?
My hats off to you Dr. Bob, youre a geek.
d
Holy crap, I thought the cables were cool! Does that mean I'm a geek too?
dan k
I think the fact that we are all reading, and commenting on, a thread about homemade jumper cables makes us all geeks.
Great cables, drbob.
You must have one of those west coast relationships where you're open about jumping others, because with 2 sets of these, you won't ever get to jump one another. Wire and copper is nice; wireless and silver terminals can be kind of presumptive if she's not into jumper bling. It is the cables that bind. Did a little bot tell me there could be beeps in your future? Relax - all you have to do now is teach her to drive.
Very astute.
Dude, put that crackpipe down.
I ran out of macs to hack. It's builds up without an outlet.
Dr. Bob, it is my greatest pleasure to introduce you to the pun, the absurd, the metaphor, and the obtuse sexist observation. Humor, this is Dr. Bob.
I'm no stranger to humor. That post was messed up.
Let me see if I get this... it was so over the top that you simply can't even recognize it as what it is. (sigh) Call it an homage. To your credit, I bet no one here even hardly believes you are familiar with "crack speak" or whatever it is that spews from the keyboards of those who post who are also holding a crack pipe. So before you decree your spurious judgments from on high, take a good hard look at yourself and these cables. You could cut the cost in gas of carrying this beauty around in half with this, but if having the biggest cables around makes you feel more secure, I know that no one will think you less of a man. Make no mistake, these are jests, and I keep trying, but I don't think there's anymore air in here...
... when do you start taking orders? Makes a great Christmas gift!
I suggest you not address an admin in this manner.
Unfortunately, it appears I was right. And just in time for the holidays.
Perhaps not everyone is impressed by a bit of wire with connectors on each end...
The question is, did you read his replies with humor? I did and found it an amusing exchange, until it seems you went a tad further than most would. Dr. Bobs reply to your initial post was a phrase that I would have used myself, in a very direct attempt at humor. I think his second reply makes that clear.
Saying something was messed up doesn't mean it wasn't funny. It can mean that it was both funny and "out there".
"Hyperbolishous" was my target, but I think perhaps my personal boycott of emoticons has suggested malice when, of course, there is none. You see... an emoticon killed my brother...
you should never use one car to jump start another. you could very easily fry one, if not both, engine management computers / other electronics. You should invest in one of those rechargeable jumper packs, available from your local auto parts / accessories shop. Sorry to burst your bubble tho.