New Battery Cable Fail.

[GRTV8]

I decided to tidy up the battery box a few months back and in doing so replaced the short earth cable for a nice shiny new one. The original was fine , just not shiny.
Update is driving home in the P6b yesterday all my dash gauges went haywire and started misreading. Tacho - 10k+, 3/4 fuel -now full , ammeter -very neg, temp - getting up towards the red. Oil pressure - normal. Got home on a prayer and thought I'd sort it tomorrow.
Tomorrow came and nothing in the spark dept.. Not even an interior light when trying to start.
Tested the battery -flat.
Charger out and removed the negative terminal for a recharge.
Earth cable fell to bits. It had lost interest in being a friend with benefits. I reinserted the cable into the clamp and tried reclamping with jaws. The muck metal crushed into pieces.
Bloody chinee new shyte.
Old cable reinstated. Waiting for a recharged battery and hopefully back to normal.

 

[Stuck-in-1972]

That's disappointing - odd that it lasted a couple of months before showing symptoms though. Any sign the cable overheated?

Good you made it home anyway. Happy Motoring - Munro.

 

[GRTV8]

That's disappointing - odd that it lasted a couple of months before showing symptoms though. Any sign the cable overheated?

Good you made it home anyway. Happy Motoring - Munro.

possibly because it only gets used as a club car and has done very little milage in that time.

 

[sdibbers]

There’s a lot of cables made with copper plated aluminium. Have seen a few of them fail in short order. Also seen one cable where they had crimped a terminal over the insulation!

 

[Cyclisme24]

There are people who will make a cable up with proper spec bits and pieces plus the right sized cable (the science is more complex than is obvious)

 

[colnerov]

See if you can some Copper braid it handles current better. Or get some Mig welder earth lead from a welding supplier, they will have it on a reel so you can get as much or little as you want and they may even crimp terminals on it.