i need to extend my battery cables to accept reverse terminals, do they make a butt connector sytle wire crimp for this. i was thinking of getting some copper pipe and smashing the to ends together anyone have any ideas or suggestions?

solder and shrink wrap. you might want to look at car stereo amp wire connectors, they have all kinds of switch / fuse / distribution blocks for big wires like that.

Yes, they do make butt connectors for large cable; the boat store(West Marine,etc) will have nice silver plated ones. Shrink tube is separate.

I found some splicing connectors at the local hardware store. It used screws to hold the wires in place, then put heat shrink over the connector for insulation. Have also used copper tube or fittings that just over the wire and then soldered the wire in place. Also, check out the local welding supply place, they also carry connectors for heavy gauge wire.

Check one vote for solder and shrink wrap <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Watch for one of your local electric utility trucks and go talk to the fellows. They should have the connectors and the big crimpers to do the job. Best to have the cables with you so you can talk them into doing it for you right there. There should be self sealing ones that they use underground if you can get them to produce them.

Randy

I tried soldering 6 AWG to make a new (+) cable from the battery to the fuse box, but there was zero chance of that happening. I have a decent craftsman soldering iron and it would not heat even a 6 AWG anywhere near close enough to hot. I ended up going to an electrical supply store and bought ring type crimp connectors. They also have the screw kind that 4crawler was talking about.

Yes, soldering larger cable means using a torch as opposed to an iron.

While I have soldered large gauge cables before I had access to the proper tools below, I was never enamoured with the results..

Expensive proper tools.. Crimpers are around $300.00+ <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> and do a great job as shown on the 1/0 cable below..


A less expensive way to do it is using the devices below.... Marine Supply stores are a good place to get heavy duty electrical parts when you can't buy them direct from commercial supplier (i.e. wholesaler) sources..

ANCOR Heavy Duty Lug Crimper.. I checked a number of places for price.. $55.00 for the crimper shown below is a good price....
http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/ANC/ANC701010.html

BUTT Connectors for 4gauge wire....
http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/ANC/ANC252150.html

wow what a respons i got so far. thank you all for helping me out i think im gonna attack this some time this week!

another question...if i do decide just to run all new wires can i use an audio amp style wire?