How to choose a wire for lighting?

Running a car engine comes with the starter and the battery. Every driver knows that the battery sometimes fails unexpectedly, especially during the cold season. And in such cases, be useful to wire for lighting, they do not take up much space and easily placed in the trunk. Experienced drivers will always carry them with you because they know that on the wire will surely be of much use.

However, the wires could be used safely, it is necessary to know their options and features. In this article, we'll show you how to select wires for lighting.

Purpose starter cable

Starting wires for lighting can only be used to start the car engine under the hood, which is a dead battery, that is, its charge is no longer sufficient for a successful start. Use them for other purposes is strictly prohibited, as this may lead to unexpected consequences. The principle of operation here is very simple: with the help of wires connect the two batteries-car-donor (charged) and sat down (on your machine). After which the donor receives current to the battery, and the engine starts.

What are the wires for lighting choose?

It is very important to know, because if you take low-quality wire, they can not cope with high currents. At best, the wire just oplavitsya and millet will not be able to start the engine. In the worst-it can cause a fire or short circuit in the onboard power supply.

To the cable is reliable and suitable for use with a particular brand of car, it is necessary to take into account when choosing a couple of very important technical parameter:

The cross section and the thickness of the wire strands

The main element that conducts current in either the jump leads are wires that are hidden under the thick insulation. The best option is the copper strands. Copper-very good material, which not only is relatively not expensive, but the low rate of resistance. That is, a wire will not delay the current, respectively, and the voltage drop when it will pass almost minimal, too.

To determine the cross-section of wires for lighting, you just have to take the cross-sectional area of each strand and multiply by the number of them. For example, if the insulation is 300 lived each 0.3 mm in diameter, the total cross section of the wire is equal to: 300x0,3x0,3x3,14: 4=21.2 mm 2;

When buying wire manufacturers usually specify this option on the cable or its packaging, so no complex calculations do not have to make the driver.

Remember that quality jump leads should have cross-sectional area of 12 mm2 ;, if this parameter is greater than 16 mm2 ;, it will be the best option. Such a wire can easily cope with a large current transmission power with minimal losses. And the driver can start the engine.

Also, if the choice is to take into account the fact that different machines need to use a cable with different parameters. For example, the wire 6 mm2 and a current of 200 A is not suitable for use with engines of crossovers and SUVs. For such machines is better to buy a wire having a cross section of 12 mm2 and above.

Starting current

This parameter determines how many amperes is able to withstand the wire, it must specified by the manufacturer. For most modern cars it is considered the minimum rate at the level of 200 A. However, often this is not enough, so experts recommend buying leads with a maximum current of not less than 400 A, and preferably even higher.

Please note that the current, which will be able to withstand a particular wire, determined by the diameter of cores and their quantity, and hence the cross-sectional area. And if the manufacturer has indicated the current 400-600 amperes, and the number of wires or small they are very thin, it is likely that you will not get this performance. It is also necessary to pay attention to when choosing if you want good wires for lighting.

Length

On sale you can find lighting a wire length of 2 to 5 m. It would seem natural that we must take the longest variant. But if we recall the basic laws of physics curriculum, it turns out that, the longer the wire, the conductive, the greater will be the resistance and voltage losses would also increase. This has a negative impact on overall performance.

But it is also important to take into account the fact that the car is not always the donor will be able to drive right up to the car with the dead battery, so it's worth to have a certain margin of length of the wire. Experts believe the optimum cable length from 3 to 4 m. It will be quite enough. But if you plan to restore the house the battery with the special charger device. then there is enough wire length of 2.5 m.

The clamps of "crocodiles"

One of the key elements of any jump leads are special serrated grippers (they often interconnected drivers called "crocodile"). They cling to the battery terminals, strictly observing the polarity.

For the reliable and safe operation "crocodiles" should be of high quality, including the need to consider the following features:

Material-here it is better to use wire, crocodiles which are made entirely of copper, or have a combined structure: the bulk of the steel, and the teeth-copper.
wire connection to the "crocodiles"-here it is necessary to look at the way in which the manufacturer has connected the metal clip to the cable. Best of all, if it is soldered. Such wires are durable and resistant to tearing.
Uhvatistost-everything is clear clip should sit securely, that is, the seizure should be dense and tenacious, the terminals are not jumped during start-up tests. The rule is simple: the greater the contact area, the contact reliability.
Insulation-it is important that the handle had a reliable isolation, the presence of special rubber seals will reduce the degree of heat and help prevent the formation of sparks when applying high load.

If you purchase the jump leads to poor quality "crocodile", then it can not just say to the poor performance of their work, but also even lead to serious trouble. For example, in a short circuit.

insulation

This is one of the most important indicators of quality. But here we must be careful, because not always a thick layer of rubber-a super quality. Since under him may be very subtle veins. Nevertheless, the insulation should be strong and reliably protect the cable from damage. Another very important that the insulation material is resistant to frost, it does not crack and crumble. It is best to use wire with frost insulation and can withstand temperatures down to -40 °C, and it does not lose its elasticity.

What are the signs to recognize low-quality products?

The question is, what wires for lighting and how the best of them to choose, many car owners are interested, especially as winter approaches. Everyone wants to be prepared for possible eventualities. In order not to be disappointed after buying, pay attention to when choosing the jump leads to the following points:

it is best to take the model, the maximum current which has a value not less than 400 A;
See that section was not less than 12 mm2 of course, if the figure will be 16 mm2 and above, it is even better;
"crocodiles" must have copper teeth securely connected with a wire, as well as provide a strong grip on the vehicle's battery terminals;
insulation is necessary to choose a reliable and hardy, so the wire will last a long time and be able to perform well in all weather conditions;
do not chase very long wires for optimal performance is enough cable length is 4 m;
is not always thick wire-it is good not to look at the overall thickness, since it can only be a rubber, but also the thickness of the veins, and the cross section;
to buy the jump leads recommend only in specialty stores from trusted manufacturers, so less chance of getting poor quality goods, which can not cope with the engine start-up at the crucial moment.

In our online store 130.com.ua you can buy wires for lighting battery in Kiev, Kharkov and Odessa all types at a good price. Delivery is carried out throughout Ukraine.

Buy wires for lighting battery