Thread: Best design for battery terminals?

Maybe I just have bad luck, but every kind of battery terminal I've tried so far has failed to stay useable for longer than a year.

The original flat plate clamp with the tapered nut broke off when I dropped an alternator on it. I tried a new one of the same style and the stud stripped before it even got tight on the post.

The lead-free soft metal ones have either deformed so much that they don't even clamp onto the post, or they split at the bolt, or they just break in half.

My last ones were marine terminals, with some really sturdy paint that looks great, but the negative one has been removed maybe 10 times and is already so enlarged that it'll slide right over the post, even though its as tight as I can make it.

What other designs/material are there, that can withstand repeated removals and reinstallations, can withstand being smacked or stuff being dropped on it, looks good, and provides a really good connection.

The battery doesn't have side posts, or threaded holes, else I would have already just bolted the cables to the damn thing and been done a long time ago. I'm not replacing it until it fails, which will be a long, long time with how it's doing so far.

I'm planning on doing some other electrical upgrades, but right now I need a decent connection with the battery.

I'm open to building my own if that's what it'll take...

All the salt and crap got ya down? These work great up here. Friend has some on his '86 full-size Blazer. Holding up real good.

https://www.google.com/search?q=car+...w=1680&bih=941

Alaska doesn't use any salt on any roads, because it gets so cold that ice won't melt anything, just turn it into really slick ice.

I'm kinda wary of having a huge block of brass hanging off just the post... But there doesn't seem to be much else that's better.

Ok, so the marine terminal design is probably the one I'm going to use, just because it's simple and I'll switch over to wingnuts instead of nyloc nuts to hold the cables to the terminals...

I just need to find the best material. Lead, Zinc, Brass, or mild steel?

I used this style on my Bronco....





They clamped nice and tight on the wire and the post; never gave me issues.

Well I went with zinc terminals, and the same marine style that I had before. I'll keep the terminals on those posts, and just use the wingnut to disconnect it when I dig into the electrical system again later. It'll do for now.

But I'm planning on doing some upgrades to the entire system eventually, to include a CS144 alternator, some much heavier battery cables, a proper ground block, with some decent mounting reinforcement and plenty of connection points. Might do a positive connection block as well, still thinking about it.