Why Nissan use rubbish battery terminal clamps

[zippy656]

Bloody Nissan battery terminals, one failed last night...


AA came and sorted it. Pain in the ass

 

[macabethiel]

Battery Terminals

Not sure where yours failed but it is an issue on all vehicles as they get older due to the fact that the battery post is invariably made of lead and the rest of your wiring is not lead so you get galvanic corrosion due to the clamping together of any two dis-similar metals.

Basically the further apart the two metals are on the Periodic Table the greater the tendency for Galvanic corrosion to be aggressive. Add to that vibration from the engine and it is a difficult fix.

Many but not all vehicles use a lead boss or clamp to attach to the battery post so the wiring loom where it attaches to the clamp is going to be a point of corrosion. Hence the need for regular cleaning and greasing to slow down the process. Some vehicles use electro- plated steel terminal clamps to try to minimise the problem.

I guess there is no way to design out the problem as the wiring is usually going to be copper or steel.

 

[zippy656]

Got new one in tool box so will fit next week

 

[Lazy-Ferret]

Not sure where yours failed but it is an issue on all vehicles as they get older due to the fact that the battery post is invariably made of lead and the rest of your wiring is not lead so you get galvanic corrosion due to the clamping together of any two dis-similar metals.

Basically the further apart the two metals are on the Periodic Table the greater the tendency for Galvanic corrosion to be aggressive. Add to that vibration from the engine and it is a difficult fix.

Many but not all vehicles use a lead boss or clamp to attach to the battery post so the wiring loom where it attaches to the clamp is going to be a point of corrosion. Hence the need for regular cleaning and greasing to slow down the process. Some vehicles use electro- plated steel terminal clamps to try to minimise the problem.

I guess there is no way to design out the problem as the wiring is usually going to be copper or steel.

Interesting, when I used to do radio controlled boats it was discovered soldered wires failed quicker than crimped, but no ones seemed to know why... I presume for the same reason.

Sent from my SM-T705 using Tapatalk

 

[macabethiel]

Interesting, when I used to do radio controlled boats it was discovered soldered wires failed quicker than crimped, but no ones seemed to know why... I presume for the same reason.

Sent from my SM-T705 using Tapatalk

I still tend to solder connections rather than crimp them but you are right crimping is probably more reliable. Other snag with soldering is the flux as it can be corrosive especially if you use the wrong type.

I soldered the ends of some outdoor speaker cables last to stop the strands bunching in the connector and by mistake used some flux I had in a jar for plumbing work.

When I checked them a few weeks ago the cable had rotted out ! Had to re-make all the connections without solder and had to cut off a good inch up the cable as the flux had run up the wires and corroded them.