Battery Cable Crimpers

RJsfishin wrote:
I got into what I thought would be "simple" battery maintainence yesterday, only to find a hidden corroded mess ! Most all the crimped lugs are a solid mass of corrosion up inside the lugs, and all covered up w/ wire loom taped at the ends.
I'll need to replace the 2 parallel connecting cables, not a problem.
But 2 of the 3 main cables need the lugs replaced also, always a problem, w/o a genuine battery cable crimpers. So I am going to invest in a good crimper of some kind.
Anyone here done this ?? And can you recommend any piticular one that won't break the bank. I'm seeing mechanical, and hydraulic units that come in 8, 10, 16 ton units, such as this one,....
http://www.ebay.com/itm/10-Ton-Hydraulic-Wire-Battery-Cable-Lug-Terminal-Crimper-Crimping-Tool-9-Dies-/380780092529?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58a8431c71
It looks like I'm working w/ 1 to 1/0 sizes. Any ideas from experience ?

I bought a "Quickcrimp" crimping tool for my project being that I heard 'crimping' was the way to go. People also mentioned that for boating it's now a Coast Guard spec for battery cabling.

Well after trying a crimp on a 4/0 cable (welding wire) with a 4/0 lug I could pull the lug right off the cabling with my hand. I then set the crimper to 3/0 and crimped the 4/0 lug again. This time the lug stayed tight but the whole thing looked like a real mess.

Here's a few pic's

I ended up soldering all my connections. The solder connections as far as I'm concerned are superior to crimped connections as long as they are done correctly.

You can read though a few pages of my build thread here BoonHauler Battery Bank Wiring discussing my encounters.