What gauge cable to TT battery?

ezrydrs wrote:

RoyB wrote:
I replaced all of my Battery wiring with 4AWG cable... Around $50 for 25-foot spool... Then I can do lots of different battery mods and not worry about the cable size...

Now I wish I had used 2AWG size. Always changing things...

Got my wire from AMAZON and the wire brand is ANCOR MARINE wire
Also got all of my correct size Ring Terminals using the ANCOR BRAND.

Cut most of wiring proper lengths and used a hand power crimping tool and adhesive heat shrink ends to dress thing up...





heat shrink tubing application like this...

Google Images

Doing this all over again building up my new Battery box for the trailer tongue area to house my new batteries I will be bringing to life this season... Everything uses the ring terminals so it can all dress up real neat...

If you don't want to build your cables you can purchase all of these 4AWG and 2AWG size cables you need from AMAZON cut to the different lengths and all will have the heat shrink ends etc... Cut to length - ready to install... AMAZON delivers in two days using AMAZON PRIME...

Roy Ken

where do you find that crimper?

You can get this crimper on Amazon or Harbor Freight for around $50.

I have a MIC-120 that's 12ton. Came from eBay
I see no need to have any cable tinned when it is completely sealed in lined heat shrink. Welding cable doesn't come that way anywho

Disclaimer on behalf of Roy: His crimper didn't do those lousy dimple crimps he shows

I would skip the crimper. its best to solder the connection and then use heat shrink. a crimp will loosen over time, creating a poor connection and over heat. soldering is a solid connection and will not fail!

That simply cannot be a flat statement, there are billions of them all over the world including aircraft. How many of them do you see falling from the sky? Crimps fail if they are not done properly.

SCVJeff wrote:
That simply cannot be a flat statement, there are billions of them all over the world including aircraft. How many of them do you see falling from the sky? Crimps fail if they are not done properly.

Yes they can. I've had to replace many over the years from various types. One of which was my 30A RV connector. When I replaced it I opened it up and 2 of the 3 crimps were loose resulting in overheated and melted housings/coverings. I'm talking about high load devices. And a battery terminal connection is a high load connection.

Properly done crimps are gas-tight and provide more consistent and reliable connections than soldered ones. They're also less subject to failure when used in environments subject to vibration.

As NASA says:

NASA wrote:
Crimping is an efficient and highly reliable method to assemble and terminate conductors, and typically provides a stronger, more reliable termination method than that achieved by soldering.

I'd trust some guy getting minimum wage to properly install a crimp long before I'd trust them to do a proper job of soldering.

mike-s wrote:
Properly done crimps are gas-tight and provide more consistent and reliable connections than soldered ones. They're also less subject to failure when used in environments subject to vibration.

As NASA says:

NASA wrote:
Crimping is an efficient and highly reliable method to assemble and terminate conductors, and typically provides a stronger, more reliable termination method than that achieved by soldering.

I'd trust some guy getting minimum wage to properly install a crimp long before I'd trust them to do a proper job of soldering.

Your also talking about a company that gives the job to the lowest bidder!

And I`m not talking about putting a vehicle into to space, I`m talking about a battery connection on an RV. Crimping is faster than soldering, so that is another reason they do it.
I wouldn't trust a guy making minimum wage to do anything. They couldn't even get the speaker polarity right on my trailer. But that doesn`t matter, we are talking about doing it so it works right and lasts forever. I`ve never seen a solder connection fail in the automotive/RV world! I have seen many crimp connections that have, both by hand and machine.

Yep, putting terminal on RV wires. The closest other application would be putting terminals on automotive wires. Guess what? Crimped, not soldered.

It's not clear why you think the guy who couldn't match polarity would have done better with solder.

scrubjaysnest wrote:
Could be anywhere from 10 AWG to 2 AWG.

Ditto.

Most I have seen are 10 AWG

plasticmaster wrote:
What gauge cable is typically connected to the 12V battery on a travel trailer? I need to get a couple of terminal connectors to hook up a battery disconnect and want to make sure I get the right size. Thanks.

Insulated wire normally has the size and type designation printed on it but you may or may not find it (depending on exposure to elements and length of wire). It's probably the same size throughout the TT and you might be able to find it on the pos. wire behind the converter/panel.

The longer the length of a section of wire, the heavier the gauge needs to be so it depends. If talking a battery disconnect then it would see the max. amount of current the TT could draw. I would say it is at least #6 AWG.

You could just disconnect the positive from battery to mini-breaker in A-frame or negative wire to the frame ground and take it to either an RV or battery shop and they can give you the correct wire size and also crimp the ring terminals for you and make up a new length(s) as needed.

Ring terminals are only as good as the crimp job done by the crimper operator. I had the pos. wire from battery to mini-breaker fall clear out of the ring terminal at the breaker when I touched it while upgrading the wiring in the A-frame.