Thread: new battery, no juice

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Sorry, but hot cables means you are CONDUCTING amps. It means LOW resistance.

The cables ( OR ANY WIRE ) will heat because they are carrying an amp load greater than its own resistance will allow.

Now, if you mean the cables have high resistance, then you have something. You see, the volts drop across the load, and the load is supposed to have all the resistance. So, if the load is the starter, then that is where the volts drop. However, if the load is the cable due to bad connection, or degraded conductors, then the volts drop on the cable ( and turn to heat ). Energy is never lost, it is merely converted to another form. Oh, and it takes energy to convert energy. Kind of a law of diminishing returns.

High resistance = low amps, and not hot cables.

Put a voltage meter on it and see what is happening. If the battery does not have 12V to begin with, then therin lies your problem. If the battery is dropping past ( I'd say 10 ) during crank, then it has a weak charge, else a bad cell. OR your starter is pulling too much current. You can also put the meter across the cable itself. If the cable is dropping more than about a half volt, then you have either excessive resistance in the cable, else excessive amp load.