Had to order new cables for the charger

[Frank Dimos]

I've been running this charger for about 7 years. Eventually, all the insulation came off the alligator clips from heat and then the cable on the negative went bad at the clip. Now I've had to cut it back to good cable several times. Apparently, once the insulation starts to go, you just fry the wires if you run it too hot. It's 6 gauge wire and I generally run it at 20-30 amps on a charger designed to handle 225 at boost and charge at 40. I ordered new cables (2 gauge) and once I install them, I'm hoping I get another 7 years before it happens again. Anyone else ever have this problem?

[Russell Ware]

I have replaced one of the clamps on my charger. The problem was the braided copper wire. You can only bend it so many times and the individual strands begin to break. It is only a matter of time until the whole thing breaks. As the strands break, the same current is now running through fewer wires. Perhaps that is why your system runs hot.
Other factors that can lead to a system running hot can be incomplete or bad connections, such as the type of connections on your anode and cathode.

[Duke Gilleland]

Frank, what brand of charger do you have? I have found the the larger the piece of c/i being cleaned, the more heat it generates.
Sometimes to the point of causing burns from the clamps. I am using the largest manual charger that Sear made at the time

[Duke Gilleland]

Frank, what brand of charger do you have? I have found the the larger the piece of c/i being cleaned, the more heat it generates.
Sometimes to the point of causing burns from the clamps. I am using the largest manual charger that Sear made at the time.

[Frank Dimos]

It's a Schumacher, 20-40-225. I keep it on 20 amps, but it runs more or less depending on the size of the iron and the distance to the scrap piece. Big Dutch oven bottoms (#9 and larger) for instance, will run at 35 amps because I surround them with a metal bowl. I just installed the new cables last night and ran a no 8 Dutch oven at 25 amps today for about 8 hours--heat was fine and the oven came out clean. To answer the other question, it could well be that some of the wire strands were broken further into the cable where I couldn't detect it. When I cut off the "burnt" strands (there would literally be some that were ash), I always cut back to good wire, then reattached the clips. At any rate, the charger came with 6 gauge wire and I replaced them with 2 gauge. I still need to put in some new strain reliefs, but it's running fine at the moment.

[Russell Ware]

I have a Schumacher, 20-55-150. I just ran a deep #12 camp oven, and it only pulled 10 amps. I had no heat issues using washing soda in solution. Are you using washing soda or lye in your solution?

[Frank Dimos]

Washing soda. I WANT it to pull more amps. It cleans alot faster, but I guess there's a price for the speed. I've got a number 8 wagner in right now and it's pulling 30 amps. I'm monitoring for heat. Since the charger's designed to rapid charge at 40 amps, the charger should be fine. The original set of cables lasted 7 years, and the move to 2 gauge from 6 gauge should reduce the heat and make them last even longer. Probably outlast the charger.

[Frank Dimos]

It ran as high as 35 amps today and I ran it for 10 hours. Cool as a summer breeze. Pot came out great.

[Russell Ware]

Is the iron you clean run through a lye bath first for organic removal or are you putting pans as found right into electrolysis?

[Frank Dimos]

Is the iron you clean run through a lye bath first for organic removal or are you putting pans as found right into electrolysis?

I always do the lye bath first. I just get a nicer result that way.