So I worry a bit more than most of you about shorting out my battery charger. I use old clothes hangers to hang pans in my barrel. The leads are connected at the top and I can easily suspend 2 pans at a time. If I'm doing a lid, I use a common paper clamp to clip on the edge of the lid and run the wire through the loop on the clip then hook it on the handle of the lid. This makes it hang straight so I can get it as close to the positive plate as I want.
The best tool I have is a good amp clamp meter. When I want to adjust to an exact current value, I use the meter and move the pan until I get the desired amounts. I don't like to clean a pan with more than 15 amps or with less than 7 amps. Above 15 amps causes foaming which reduces the efficiency of the cleaning and less than 7 amps won't loosen heavy carbon deposits.