Battery Stolen and Wires Cut from Buddy 50-replacing wiring?

an_annabell · Post by **an_annabell** » Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:00 pm

Hello all,

My battery was stolen from my Buddy 50 and the cables were cut as shown in the photo.

I have some basic maintenance/mechanic knowledge but am by no means experienced. I already bought a replacement battery but would I also be able to replace the wiring/cables myself? Do you all know of any resources on how to do this?

Thanks a million!

JettaKnight · Post by **JettaKnight** » Wed Jun 17, 2020 5:34 pm

This is why we can't have nice things. It's bad enough to steal, but to cut the wires...

They're probably too short to simply crimp on new lugs, so you'll have to either splice in new wires, or better yet, run new cables.

Use wires that are the same size or larger.

an_annabell · Post by **an_annabell** » Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:01 pm

JettaKnight wrote:This is why we can't have nice things. It's bad enough to steal, but to cut the wires...

They're probably too short to simply crimp on new lugs, so you'll have to either splice in new wires, or better yet, run new cables.

Use wires that are the same size or larger.

Thanks for your reply! Do you happen to know which cables I would need so that I can order them?

DeeDee · Post by **DeeDee** » Thu Jun 18, 2020 11:58 pm

Anyone here with a Buddy 50 willing to help this new guy out? How about posting a picture of your 50 battery compartment? I don't have one, or I'd give you the 2 minutes it would take to post the picture. You don't need to order a harness. You can go to the auto parts store and get the correct gauge wires, but connectors and terminal ends. $5.00 at the most, and you are on your way. I'd add some heat shrink over the connects for extra protection.

buzzvert · Post by **buzzvert** » Fri Jun 19, 2020 3:07 am

My advice would be to find the correct color wire of heavier wire than what you're connecting for each cut lead and attach an appropriate length of wire to each with wire nuts (enough to reach the battery terminal plus about 2 inches). Why wire nuts? Well, aside from their ugliness and bulkiness they're probably going to be the best option for strength of splice than electrical tape. BEST option would be to solder the new wire on and use heatshrink tubing to cover the solder splice.

on the other ends, honestly you could just secure the bare wire to the battery terminal, but you're better off soldering and crimping on ring terminals that have holes just big enough for the new battery screws.

I picked up YTX12-BS at Wal-Mart for around 50 bux- but if you're willing to wait Amazon ships a nice 30 dollar battery that comes pre-charged and loaded with acid (you have to put the battery acid in yourself on the Wal-Mart batteries).

I'll post a picture of the Buddy 50 I'm working on here in a bit, with a crappy battery compartment but I think it's intact.