Can anyone tell me what happened to this jumper cable?

[mechtheist]

I thought this might be a good place to find someone that could tell me what happened. I have this, what I thought was a good quality, jumper cable, the cable has aluminum wiring. I left it outside sitting under an oak tree for a long time and recently noticed something was wrong with it, there were rips in the insulation, some fairly large and looking at it closely, I could see the cable and it was 'eroding' away, actually turning to powder, see pics. I have no idea what would do that but just now came across this cool youtube short where the narrator puts a key made out of pure gallium in a masterlock padlock and about an hour later, the lock has softened to where he can crumble it with his hands. Gallium's melting point is so low it will melt in your hands as was demonstrated in the video. I'm far more curious and fascinated by this than POed at losing the jumper cables. Anyone have any ideas what happened here? I definitely don't have any pure gallium keys or anything else as far as I know and acorns aren't gallium either. The ripped insulation is puzzling, it wasn't like that before, nothing I did to cause that. Did the eroding wiring do that like freezing water? I'm stumped. I appreciate any thoughts on this, I'm really curious.

 

[eKretz]

Aluminum corrodes like that when left in the weather. Freeze/thaw cycles with wet cable can do a real number on it. Water can wick down the cable inside the insulation pretty easily. Could have been accelerated by tannic acid from oak leaves too.

 

[reggie_obe]

Rodent damage on the insulation?

 

[jbacc]

^^^^^^^^^^ My vote is rodent damage to the insulation which opened the door for the cable to corrode.

 

[Phil in Montana]

Not much of a loss, and saved you some ugly burns had you used them, buy copper...Phil

 

[gustafson]

That's why you keep stuff inside......Looks like the black is not as damaged as black blocks the UV better than lighter colors

 

[Joe Gwinn]

^^^^^^^^^^ My vote is rodent damage to the insulation which opened the door for the cable to corrode.

That's my guess as well, plus the bit about tannic acid from the Oak leaves being in that water.

 

[wood2steel]

Definitely Squirrels!
Chewed the fuel line off the dump truck years ago.

 

[Bill D]

I thought aluminum was okay in acids but caustic solutions dissolve it?

 

[mechtheist]

Not much of a loss, and saved you some ugly burns had you used them, buy copper...Phil

I thought I was, it wasn't stated anywhere and I didn't think to check, I know better now. They use that CCA crap, copper clad aluminum, why do that? There's practical reasons for that but I'm betting a lot of the time it's to get people think it's copper.

 

[mechtheist]

Aluminum corrodes like that when left in the weather. Freeze/thaw cycles with wet cable can do a real number on it. Water can wick down the cable inside the insulation pretty easily. Could have been accelerated by tannic acid from oak leaves too.

Didn't realize that. There's an awful lot of aluminum stuff that sits out in the weather year round though, like lawn chairs to name one, they seem to do all rightr. The wicking thing makes a lot of sense, along with the oak leaves and rodents also.

 

[mechtheist]

A lot of great responses, thanks everyone.

Oh yeah, another aluminum item that sits in the weather all the time is the neutral wire in the typical triplex cable that goes to most houses. I had no idea it was subject to corrosion like that, tannin from the oak leaves seems like a likely culprit, along with wicking causing the acidic water to soak the wires probably continuously.

 

[wood2steel]

We've had entrance power cables replaced on several dozen Remodel projects over the years from squirrels chewing into the insulation to get to the aluminum core. Apparently they have a mineral deficiency that causes the intrest in aluminum . Nothing but a Tree Rat!!

 

[Garwood]

A few years ago I bought some super nice cables made in USA from black and red 2/0 welding cable with super nice ends. I cut up one set for my old melt-a-battery special Snap-On charger and keep the other in my truck. They were about $150/set back then Iirc.

I was just trying to find the company I ordered them from to link here, but nothing is coming up. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Maybe they went out of business?

 

[eKretz]

I thought aluminum was okay in acids but caustic solutions dissolve it?

Tannic acid is special apparently. It is able to break up the oxide layer. So accelerates corrosion on aluminum pretty good.

 

[GregSY]

Well...you had cheap-ass cables to start with then you let them sit outside.

Aluminum as a conductor is unforgivable; it offers nothing over copper other than lower cost.

To top it off, aluminum expands twice as much as copper when heated and it contracts twice as poorly as copper. That means over time, a 'tight' joint will become a loose one as the aluminum works its way out.

 

[magneticanomaly]

I learned about this from a nice-looking semi-trailer light umbilical. Copper-plated aluminum,. Light weight of Al, appearance and connectibility of copper, what could go wrong?
Galvanic corrosion is what: the Cu forms a battery with the Al and the AL goes away.

If you want good jumper cables at a fair price, you have to buy welding cable and clamps separately and make them up.

You do not need enormously heavy cable, either. I use #2 gauge.The load cycle on jumper cables is too short for much trouble from heat, and most of the resistance/voltage drop is in the crappy connection between the clamp and the battery post.

 

[ratbldr427]

You can buy 400-600 amp hd clamps from most auto parts suppliers(used to anyway) and as mentioned buy welding cable to make your own. Not cheap but a lifetime purchase.
When I was in the auto parts bus I used to sell them like that to repair shops. The only draw back was, not ever wearing out ,but growing legs at an alarming rate.

 

[John Allan]

I was just trying to find the company I ordered them from to link here, but nothing is coming up. Anyone know what I'm talking about? Maybe they went out of business?

Got a nice HD copper set from Belden, but that was at least 40 years ago.
John

 

[Rollerman]

Not much of a loss, and saved you some ugly burns had you used them, buy copper...Phil

The UV in sunlight will breakdown plastic insulation. Stress in the insulation is why
The insulation splits along the lines of the conductors.
I make my booster cables cables from welding cable, copper, rubber insulation.
These cables once jump started a diesel locomotive, they did smoke, plastic would have burned.
In cold weather when you need them the most, plastic insulation is as rigid as steel,
Store bought booster cables generally are made with a light copper wire, lots of filler
to bulk out the wire, plastic insulation and copper plated steel clamps. Totally worthless.