How bad did I mess up? Was at Harbor Freight picking up some 6 ton jackstands and saw what I thought was OK deal on jumper cables. Picked up 16 feet 6 gauge "heavy duty steel clamps, cooper jaws, cca wire" Some things I obviously wrongly assume a manufacture can't mess up. After getting them home and looking at them outside of box I thought no way these are 6 gauge. Then I learned the "cca" was the type of wire and not what I was thinking as Cold Cranking Amps. Found out CCA is actually a cheaply coated alum wire. But then again I'm not going to jump a bank golf cart batteries.My other jumper cables that I keep in pick up are about the same weight and only 1/2 as long.Question: Are these OK for normal battery jump stuff to keep in RV or totally junk?

They'll work in a pinch but are far from good. I got burnt with a similar situation, bought 4 ga jumper cables at Northern Tool and in small print on the back of the box says "CCA wire". CCA wire carries about a 1/3 less ampacity.

Don't know about the gauge. But CCA is copper clad aluminum.They will probably work fine for light duty jumping. Will likely get hot if jumping something that needs lots of amps and/or for an extended time.Here is a chart comparing ampacity of copper to CCA.

These will be the last you ever buy:http://www.genuinedealz.com/jumper-cables-booster-cable-set-1-awg-20ft

You are ok. I have some cca jumper cables and have cut them to use for making a converter into a portable charger. I also use a long set for my portable solar panel to controller connection.When cut, you can see their many silky thin strands instead of a few heavy copper strands, so they are very flexible. Each of the zillion thin strands is al with cu on the outside. ISTR you treat the gauge as one less (more) than copper, so the #6 cca is maybe like #7 or #8 cu ? Anyway, better than the usual #10 cu jumper cables.

smkettner wrote:These will be the last you ever buy:http://www.genuinedealz.com/jumper-cables-booster-cable-set-1-awg-20ftat $150 I would hope so. assuming all normal/standard/customary situations, the Harbor freight ones will be fine.bumpy

Battery jumper cables and terminolgy of CCA | Good Sam Community

time2roll
Nomad
Oct 13, 2014
Sometimes it is easier to carry a jump box.
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Oct 13, 2014
BFL13 wrote:

When cut, you can see their many silky thin strands instead of a few heavy copper strands, so they are very flexible. Each of the zillion thin strands is al with cu on the outside.
.

I thought that the electricity was carried on the outer surface, if so what is wrong with copper clad for this purpose. and the surfaces of a zillion strands would be more than that of only a quadraseptillion larger cu strands.
bumpy
Bumpyroad
Explorer
Oct 13, 2014
smkettner wrote:
These will be the last you ever buy:

http://www.genuinedealz.com/jumper-cables-booster-cable-set-1-awg-20ft

at $150 I would hope so. assuming all normal/standard/customary situations, the Harbor freight ones will be fine.
bumpy
BFL13
Explorer II
Oct 13, 2014
You are ok. I have some cca jumper cables and have cut them to use for making a converter into a portable charger. I also use a long set for my portable solar panel to controller connection.

When cut, you can see their many silky thin strands instead of a few heavy copper strands, so they are very flexible. Each of the zillion thin strands is al with cu on the outside.

ISTR you treat the gauge as one less (more) than copper, so the #6 cca is maybe like #7 or #8 cu ? Anyway, better than the usual #10 cu jumper cables.
time2roll
Nomad
Oct 13, 2014
These will be the last you ever buy:

http://www.genuinedealz.com/jumper-cables-booster-cable-set-1-awg-20ft
BB_TX
Nomad
Oct 13, 2014
Don't know about the gauge. But CCA is copper clad aluminum.

They will probably work fine for light duty jumping. Will likely get hot if jumping something that needs lots of amps and/or for an extended time.

Here is a chart comparing ampacity of copper to CCA.
westend
Explorer
Oct 13, 2014
They'll work in a pinch but are far from good. I got burnt with a similar situation, bought 4 ga jumper cables at Northern Tool and in small print on the back of the box says "CCA wire". CCA wire carries about a 1/3 less ampacity.

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