Skip to main content

Cheap Chinese Clip Leads Made with Fake Wire, Warning for DIY Car Owners

Before using those inexpensive colored clip leads when working on your car, you must do this simple test to see if they are made with fake copper wire.
Bogus Non-Copper Electrical System Clip Leads Warning

Multi-colored wires with alligator clips on each end are among the most indispensable and least expensive tools you should have hanging on the wall in your garage or stored in your toolbox.

Alligator clip leads are useful in cars for various purposes, primarily in diagnostics, repairs, and temporary electrical connections.

Alligator Clip Lead Uses for Your Car

Whether you are a DIY mechanic or someone who is not necessarily mechanically inclined but likes to add the occasional accessory to your car, at some point, you will need at least one pair of alligator clip leads when testing or bypassing a component in your car.

The usefulness of automotive alligator clip leads is that they can be used to make a temporary hands-free connection in an electric circuit on your car, such as:

  1. Whenever using a multimeter with leads a little too short to reach a component comfortably.
  2. To check for continuity in automotive wires that have aged and cracked, leading to either an open circuit, short circuit, or combination of both in which your car's electrical system behaves erratically.
  3. To bypass a possibly bad component (such as a fuse or control module) when tracing current flow.
  4. When connecting a new accessory, you want to ensure that you are making the correct connections without having to solder and desolder repeatedly until you get it right.

I Use Alligator Clip Leads All The Time

As an example, I recently added an electronic distributor to an older vehicle that previously used a special "resistor" wire to drop the system voltage from 12 volts to 6 volts so as not to fry the old-style contact points in the original distributor. A job I was dreading because it meant I needed to go under the dashboard, remove the resistor wire, and replace it with regular automotive copper wire.

Fortunately, however, I soon learned about a special bypass kit for older cars with resistor wires that was available. This kit allowed me to tap into the original resistor wire and bypass the circuit into a relay, which would then increase the voltage from 6 volts in the resistor wire up to the 12 volts needed for the electronic distributor.

Since this was the first time I had used the kit, I used alligator clip leads to test it out before permanently wiring the new accessory. It worked great.

If only all aftermarket electrical and electronic accessories bought online were so dependable―which brings us to the topic of this article.

Related article: Fake Online Parts Get DIY Mechanics in Trouble

While counterfeit automotive parts are a problem for professional and DIY mechanics, a recent video warns viewers that despite their simplicity, even test leads can also be non-dependable, like those commonly sold everywhere with "Made-in-China" printed on the packaging.

Fake Wire Warning

Ideally, test leads will be made entirely of copper because next to silver or gold, copper is the best conductor of electricity with the least amount of resistance.

The crux of the problem is that "fake wire" leads made of materials other than copper may conduct electricity but with increased resistance, resulting in a voltage drop feeding a component under test or being test-fitted to see if it works.

As it turns out, rather than being made of all copper wire, those inexpensive leads you bought at an auto parts store or online might be made of iron or some other ferrous metal that can throw off those multimeter readings during circuit diagnosis and/or impede the needed correct voltage to test a component―especially in modern cars.

Regarding my resistor wire bypass example, if I had used subpar non-copper alligator clip leads, it might not make a difference with a slight voltage drop induced. However, with modern cars, a small voltage deviation can lead to a check engine light warning from the ECU that something is amiss with your car.

Clip Leads Made With Fake Wire

To learn more about this problem, here is an informative and easy-to-follow video in which the host explains what led to his discovery that some of his inexpensive alligator leads were more iron than copper, why this is important, and a quick test to see if your alligator clip leads are not entirely made of copper.

 

For additional tool-related warning articles, be sure to check out these three:

Timothy Boyer is an automotive reporter based in Cincinnati who currently researches and works on restoring older vehicles with engine modifications for improved performance. He also reports on modern cars (including EVs) with a focus on DIY mechanics, buying and using tools, and other related topical automotive repair news. Follow Tim on Twitter at @TimBoyerWritesas well as on Facebook and his automotive blog "Zen and the Art of DIY Car Repair." for daily news and topics related to new and used cars and trucks.

COMING UP NEXT: "The Difference To Maintain A Car On Average Between Some Brands Can Be Thousands Over A 10-Year Time Frame," Warns Consumer Reports.

Image Source: Deposit Photos

Automotive News
Car Questions