Starter motor wire

[dan77714]

Hi guys, I was hoping for some advice regarding the cable for a starter motor. I am currently working on a custom car and was wondering, would it be safe to use some jump leads which are 16mm^2 and supposedly rated at 300amps to run from the battery to the starter motor if I cut off the ends and crimp some ring terminals on them. The cable length I would be running is about 1 metre(probably less) from the battery to the starter motor.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tigercubrider]

Possibly but hard to say unseen

But you can buy ready made and crimped cables for not much on eBay or generic car parts suppliers

 

[Astra99]

Before a definitive answer may be given, we need to know what engine the custom car is using. If you can let us know the donor vehicle all well and good. Normally, however, for a petrol engine up to about 2.0 litres, 16mm² would be adequate, but for larger petrol and diesels, 25mm² or even 35mm² (for large engines) may be required. I would also be inclined to crimp and then solder the ends on, especially at the starter motor.

 

[dan77714]

Hi, thanks for your response.

The engine is actually a 600cc bike engine, its for a kart type vehicle. Here is a link to the jump leads. http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/c...and-breakdown/jump-leads/?549777351&0&cc5_192

If I were to purchase some cable, what gauge would you recommend? I was thinking 2AWG just from some general googling of cable ratings but i'm not sure. 2AWG seems a little more difficult to get a hold of so i'm wondering if maybe its rated higher than I would actually need (which isn't a bad thing of course). What would you recommend?

 

[Burnerman]

For that size of engine, the jump leads will be just fine.....use crimped ends, similar to the original.
John

 

[magicmushroom666]

Look into welding cable suppliers, I've made up some 0AWG cables before from the stuff, and was able to buy it by the M very cheaply. The suppliers are lilkely to have crimp terminals etc that will suit.

 

[Belle427]

300 Amps for those cables is being a bit optimistic. A good quality 16 mm cable is rated around 110 Amps.
Welding cables as suggested are widely available on ebay, crimping the ends correctly is usually the hardest part for the diyer as good tools are not cheap.
Any idea of the starter rating in Watts?
If you know this figure divide it by the Voltage to get your current in Amps.
ie 300 Watts / 12 Volts = 25 Amps.

 

[DaveHerns]

What size wire did it have when fitted to the bike ? And, out of interest, what kind of custom car is this ? Any chance of some photos?

 

[dan77714]

Thanks very much for the responses I am not sure of the exact stock wire size i'll have to look into that. The car is a racecar for the FSAE competition. We're still in the manufacturing stage at the mo so I don't have any pics but will probably post some soon once we've completed all the assembly.