VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 4 ga. wire on battery?

Brillman Company of Va. (1-888-274-5562) has the background knowledge and cables/ends that are needed. I bought both cables from him in 2004 for my 38 at the Hershey Fall Meet. Excellent quality. The positive cable is cloth covered and is a 1/0 cable which he said was build spec. I spoke to John Brillman, the owner, today and he's a wealth of knowledge...been in the business for years....he's at Hershey every fall... Billu38

Steve....You don't want to connect two dissimilar and incompatible metals together (in your case aluminum & copper) you are asking for trouble if you do this ..{that's why there was allot of houses that burned down back in the 1960's.
If you want to make a DUMB move like that you should separate those two metals by adding a product called penetrox..this is used in home remodeling when aluminum and copper has to be joined together in a "no other choice situation"....Ed

A little bit more information please.

1.The stock cable(1938)has a copper lug to the starter and an Aluminum connector to the battery. Also the Chevyofthe 40s has the same setup.

2. My new replacement cable is Aluminum on both ends. All the cables I saw at places like NAPA are like this.

Are you saying there is a problem with #2 ?


Or..maybe I'm lost about understanding you...grin


I remember the trouble with Aluminum wiring on homes in the 60s-70s. I was told the aluminum wire would loosen from the connectors or lugs over time because of the electrical load and cause a fire.

Haven't seen any aluminum battery cable clamp terminals, most were lead or babbit and some were copper.

The electric companies around here use aluminum cables underground burial in conduit to connect service to buildings they are 2 gauges larger than the copper they used to use, they use the conduit since most farmers plow up any ground that they want to.there is a dielectric that they coat the bare ends with when they terminate them in a disconnect. There isn't a problem unless you try to splice copper wire to aluminun. I have aluminum into the main breaker box, then all copper inside the house, 15 years without any problems on the 200 amp service.

The outer surface of each strand of wire is the actual conductor. Therefore the more strands there is the more current a cable can carry. A single strand battery cable would be about 1" thick copper to have the same surface area of size 0 multistrand.
Tony

You could be right. It's the color of Aluminum, but it may be something else. It is not copper.

Seve...1....I have never seen a battery cable with a Aluminum battery connector.
2....I have said nothing about #2 (although I think it's too small for 6 volt).

My 38, in my opinion, has the original factory positive cable.
The negative cable has been replaced somewhere along the line.
The positive cable is a #1 I believe. It has a copper connector on the starter end and a lead or zinc connector on the battery side the cable itself is stranded copper.
The connecting bolt on the starter is copper that's why I told you to not connect a alum.connector to it. Aluminum and copper or brass are NOT compatible.......ED

Got it. I guess the battery end of the cable is not Aluminum. It's hard to believe they make anything out of lead, but it could be some mix of metals. It's the color of Aluminum. Thanks

DUUUH! The battery terminals and most of the inside of a car battery is made out of LEAD so why shouldn't the battery clamp terminals be made of LEAD?.....
It will be if you don't start licking the battery terminals!

Where have you been spending your time? At the EPA?

Can't we have a discussion without the sarcasm? The webmaster and some mods make a point of chiding those non-mods who use it. Are the mods immune to the 'rules'? Just asking.....

Where have I been? There's a huge difference in lead that is "SEALED" and lead that is exposed. How many products can you think of that you can buy that has exposed lead? They've been trying to get rid of lead for decades.
You're thinking about the 1950-60s when body shops repaired cars with lead (leadsled). You can't even get solder with very much lead content. Everything is low lead or no lead. Lead is toxic . You don't have to eat it or lick it. Google "lead exposure". Welcome to 2012...

Maybe I'd better put this in another forum section...hehehe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead

Ok fellas it seems this has drifted far enough from the original topic. Let's get back on track, please.

37Blue
Forum Moderator

Maybe you need to get out in the real world!
Lead is not being made a big hazardous material in the shop and under the hood of the car. It should never come in contact with tap water that is potable, or be used in interior paint, or for food containers or transport.

Hey Mr Moderator 37! Did I read the title of this topic wrong? Is it not about battery Cables? OK , that is what I thought.

This topic is now LOCKED

37Blue
Forum Moderator