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Just sharing my fustration and experience.
US and European dudes won't have this problem.
The sad facts :
For me loving electrical DC 12V stuff its a nightmare to source for some products, in Indonesia. Good Crocodile Clip is one of them.
AC elecrical good stuff is quite easy to get, because Schneider is big in Indonesia.
Just in case if you guys are buying crocodile clip for constant load 20A or higher to say 40A, make sure it is at least brass if not copper and not steel coated copper like
how often cheap ones are. Its bite must be also unbearable on your pinky finger
I have to seek Element14 help, closest is Singapore branch. Element14 is like Digi-Key or Newark or Jameco or Farnell in USA.
Sometimes I use RS Components Singapore too.
I shop only online nowadays for local source, too lazy to run to physical shop fighting crazy traffic jam. I shop at our equivalent Amazon.com...kinda .
I am building a 100 amps load bank for my alternator test using resistor with heat sink and forced cooling.
I have carbon pile 500A rated but its a 15 seconds load allowance only and its accuracy control is not so good.
I mean setting from 10A to 100A is not precise, 400Amp is easy but 15 seconds only and the freaking heat and smell is scarry.
Thus I need a true 100 amps crocodile clip to do at least 30 minutes safely for my currently design-in-progress load bank.
I have ordered below from Singapore : In a month or so a friend will bring it to me in Jakarta.
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The Happy one :
To those who like scanning their cars, please get a battery maintainer or voltage ( and current ) adjustable power supply and make sure it is a clean DC power and not some high AC noise version.
Minimum for W212 if not programming anything ( me never program any ECU ) a unit capable of constant 20amps is good enough.
Few days ago I found online a decent brass teeth croc clip with very good spring for biting power. Its price is 3x the competitor, so I thought it could actually be brass and not steel/iron.
So I bought two types, both for my Battery Maintainer and Power Supply.
On the right is my current/old Battery Maintainer piece of sh-it croc clip I bought locally many years ago. Its sping is weak and it is steel / iron not even brass body.
The new croc-clip teeth/jaws are not pure copper, it is brass.
Since the new better croc clip has separate teeth, meaning they are not electrically connected at the hinge, I need to solder and crimp both teeth/jaws.
I use 10 AWG silicone wire 200 Celsius , nickle coated strand...nice one this cable.
Both jaws connected via that 10 AWG wire.
I am loading up the Bat-Maintainer with HVAC bower at 4-bar speed.
See, no charge to battery, sometimes +1 amps only. This Bat-Maintainer is actually RC ( remote control crowd ) type power supply. Its voltage adjustment is spninning knob and not so easy to do 0.1 volt increment.
I never use 14V as set voltage, because if I do that my battery will accept lots of charge and I DO NOT want my Battery Maintainer to become a Battery Charger.
I set usually 13.2 volt at my battery maintainer, I can't program its current limits, it is all about voltage difference to battery. The higher the voltage, the more my battery willl
take in as charge current.... that I do not want.
Depending on amp load and wire voltage drop, best is you guys look up at the IC cluster to see the data or use current clamp to see what the BATTERY takes in or give out.
My car with Ignition ON Engine Off usually is 12-13 amps, daylight turned off, door closed.
The new croc-clip is very good at 20ish amps. Way cooler than the piece of sh-it oldie one.
The positive jumper bar is better than the round negative stud, always been, for cooler operational temperature.
Total croc-clip jaws contact surface area is better ( more ) at the positive thick flat jumper bar at F32, thus cooler, also F32 is all copper and not brass.
Negative stud is brass and round, so jaws/teeth contact of croc-clip is a bit lower total bitten surface area, thus warmer even though jaws bite harder at bigger opening.
I just realized too that my negative cable is a solar panel 120C rated wire at 6mm is warmer than the positive, its insulation is thicker too.
Positive is 1.5mm x 4 pcs, still the same 6mm total area, but it is cooler because 4 of them get exposed better to air to get the heat to atmosphere.
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The programable power supply as Battery Maintainer.
This one is much better than my blackie Bat-Maintainer.
The croc clip is different, full length brass frame, both jaws interconnected at the hinge, but I do not like such poor interconnection.
So I soldered extra wire, 2 x 2.0mm to parallel both jaws.
.
AWG 10 or 6mm is the main wire. In my country we use wire size 6mm means 6 mm2 aka millimeter square and not OD of 6mm.
.
All cable lugs are crimped and soldered.
This is the first time I actually use my programmable power supply as battery maintainer. Because I never have a proper croc-clip yet hahahah.
Its best setting including voltage drop of the 10AWG / 6mm wire is below , to NOT CHARGE my battery more than 1 amp while serving the electrical needs of the car.
13.05 Volt is maximum I will use. I limit the unit to no more than 23.5amps, because its maximum is 24 amps.
.
Voltage drop on the wires at 12.5 amps load
First verify power supply is accurate for its display, I know it is accurate.
.
13.00V to 12.84V
160 millivolts or 0.16V drops at the F32 jumper bar and negative stud. At 12.58 amps.
2AM in the morning the ambient temperature would be about 28C, or best 27C
.
The middle of jaw cuve shape does well for negative stud. Thus the temperature rise is less than the other ( 1st ) croc-clip.
Blo-ody he-ll , I only can see the tiny bit green oxidation on the brass negative stud in this photo damn old eyes !!
I do clean the brass stud, but its contact bottom to the male stud only hahahah. I am going to clean it today as in now....
Here is why I do not use more than 13.2V setting for my black Bat-Maintainer.
I can't access anymore the connetor post on the black Bat-Mantainer because I wired 2 silicone 12 AWG wire directly to its output motherboard, this makes everything cooler.
So I can't read its voltmeter accuracy.
The Riden Programable power supply, I can read its voltage at the output posts.
The test : Key is out of the car. Car is slowly sleeping. It will do 8 ish amps and then to 6ish and then slowly to 3ish amps within like 6 minutes or so....and less amps and finally K2 relay OFF when in real deep sleep mode.
While car is slowly sleeping, power consumption is reduced to 5.59 amps, with P-S set at 13.00V,
if I reduce the voltage to 12.90V, the amps will be reduced too, see 1.82 amps it becomes.
Therefore, becareful when using high power P-Supply say one capable of 60-80 amps and setting at 14V, if it is a constant current version, you may cook your battery.
Always use your Instrument Cluster or current clamp when first time using any sort of Bat-Mantainer or Power Supply, study their current/voltage behaviour first.
Thanks for this timely discussion! I am looking for some quality alligator clamps to use a 5 Ah battery booster as a 12V power supply. Wasted my time visiting two big box stores so now will be looking online.
That setup looks like it can handle some other accessories. May I suggest hooking up some fans that will circulate air in your car to keep the humidity down? Perhaps you could fashion some desiccant packs in line with the fan to dehumidify the cabin air. If you had some kind of cartridge, you could swap out a wet desiccant pack for a dry one, then put your wet desiccant pack in a heater to dry it out, and have it ready to swap out when the installed desiccant has absorbed it’s limit. Or somehow fashion a dehumidifier, like you talked about in a previous post, to fight the high tropical humidity.
I thought the online seller 2 crocs-clip been honest stated as brass jaws and it is proven true, so I bought another version stated to be brass too.
Damn it, it turned out to be steel coated with copper
Such coating is bad for its actual electrical resistance because I do not think it is true copper coating, I once got conned too but it was 1/2 this unit price, that was like 4 years ago before Covid-19...LOL.
Background is 45cm by 10cm , 3 units cooling fin for my Load Bank project.
I also have ordered at Element14 Singapore a smaller 50A croc-clip, for keeping when needed.
50A, brass teeth
HHmmmm , I hope this Mueller brand is worth the hassle. Price wise its okey, sold as per 1 pc and not pair.
100A and 50A 2 pcs + 2pcs is only US$52.00
All red color, can't get the red...dugggh.. I will need to do some painting.
That setup looks like it can handle some other accessories. May I suggest hooking up some fans that will circulate air in your car to keep the humidity down? Perhaps you could fashion some desiccant packs in line with the fan to dehumidify the cabin air. If you had some kind of cartridge, you could swap out a wet desiccant pack for a dry one, then put your wet desiccant pack in a heater to dry it out, and have it ready to swap out when the installed desiccant has absorbed it’s limit. Or somehow fashion a dehumidifier, like you talked about in a previous post, to fight the high tropical humidity.
Yes, when I do long use of my power supplies I use standing fan to help cool them. Thank you.
Even though they have cooling fans built-in.
Even when using vacuum pump for HVAC work, I use standing fan
I vacuum up to 12 hours, and get crazy superb dryness you can not ever get from any HVAC wokshop. I can get 200ish micron at opposite side reading, the most honest reading.
2023 archive I was still using yellow jacket 3/8" vacuum rated hose for vacuuming process.
.
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Now I can vacuum faster with the best of the best vacuum hose money can buy. The Tru-Blu https://trutechtools.com/Accutools-A...Evacuation-Kit
I can go lower than 200 micron. The hose truly worth its cost. Again, I must buy it from USA, even the YelllowJacket 3/8" hose and R134A coupler must buy in USA.
Thanks for this timely discussion! I am looking for some quality alligator clamps to use a 5 Ah battery booster as a 12V power supply. Wasted my time visiting two big box stores so now will be looking online.
What happen to its croc-clip ?
Does it have melted teeth ?
ADD:
This is the older model GB70 battery clamp, check with magnet it it is steel or copper or at least brass ?
Its very similar to my last buy yesterday where I got cheated, advertised as brass but is steel coated with supposedly "copper".
I sent it back for refund.
Since single jaw or single sided only get a wire, best you connect both jaws with at least 10 AWG, if not 8 AWG.
Via hinge is not a reliable high current transfer. Pine Hollow Ivan tested this unit 8 years ago and it made some smoke on the croc-clip ...due to the hinge,
no harm done, just not efficient power transfer.
.
Last edited by S-Prihadi; Mar 4, 2025 at 04:53 AM.
Reason: ADD INFO
The current GB70 comes with a proprietary plug design which I’ve snipped off to replace with alligator clips. Edit: I’m speaking of the 15A accessory output, not the boost clamps. I want to run a fuel transfer pump for my camper.
Last edited by need2speed; Mar 4, 2025 at 10:06 AM.
Yeah, if I'm going to lug that thing around it needs to serve more than one purpose! I put in a lengthy order on that jungle site to beat the &^%$# tariffs, hopefully these will be true to their description.
Alligator clips arrived, are total fake just copper plated. Sending back :-( Sadly, there was another return in my recent order but this time a deliberate fraud! An item with a part number that checked out as a 10-pack of hose clamps, priced appropriately. When it arrived I found the 10-pack label attached but the packaged had been opened and only one clamp left. Digging into the feedback I discovered many others said they'd been ripped-off the same way. Also going back...
Thanks for the tip on Mueller, found these at Mouser.ca with 2-day delivery, plus some other stuff that is now stupid expensive on the jungle site. The bad experiences over there, ie, shameless profiteering, are beginning to pile up. At 75A these are overkill for my immediate purpose but I like the larger handles and can always find other uses for quality parts. Black and red were both available ;-)
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
but 15 seconds only and the freaking heat and smell is scarry.
damn old eyes !!
