boat wire

[Chris Patterson]

Aw man, I thought we were talking DC runs here. Yeah, I will always use two, or three conductor shielded on AC's.

Maine, as I don't have one of those high dollar crimpers like you do, I use a standard "electricians" tool, I think T&B, (maybe Klein, I don't remember). Certainly not the dime store crimpers. What's your evaluation of these for your average boater? Realizing of course it doesn't "mash" the whole crimp surface, but I seem to be unable to obtain a wide faced, (preferably ratched type), crimper that doesn't cost as much as the truck.. ??

 

[JohnS]

Just thinking off the top of my head:

Suppose two 12V batteries, wired in parallel with heavy gauge wire, one positioned towards the front of the cabin, and another towards the aft. Then the runs to equipment only have to go to the closest battery, which reduces line drop and allows smaller gauge wire.

What are the cons (other than finding places to put the batteries)?

 

[Maine Sail]

Just thinking off the top of my head:

Suppose two 12V batteries, wired in parallel with heavy gauge wire, one positioned towards the front of the cabin, and another towards the aft. Then the runs to equipment only have to go to the closest battery, which reduces line drop and allows smaller gauge wire.

What are the cons (other than finding places to put the batteries)?

If the positive and negative wires are not taken off opposite ends of a parallel bank you will wind up with an unbalanced bank or an intrabank imbalance.

.

 

[KingAirDriver]

Yeah like 99% of the solder joints I see on boats, SOLDERED POORLY & INCORRECTLY...... If everyone who claimed to know how to solder, actually did know how, perhaps the ABYC standards would be different. Seeing as they are largely EVIDENCE BASED they preclude solder as the sole means of connection because so many people did such a poor job with it that it simply became DANGEROUS.

Owners with dime store crimp tools are not much better but I rarely see factory made crimps fail. Either technique is worth doing CORRECTLY.

I have many well made crimps still working perfectly even after 40+ years of service.... There is good reason the ABYC calls for a mechanical termination FIRST then if you want to add solder you can. With the right tools though it is not necessary and can actually cause more harm than good, as I witness nearly daily.

If you don't like crimps better stop going on escalators, elevators, Disney rides, busses, planes, cars etc. etc.......

I went to take down some of the wood trim in my v berth on my 84 Catalina 27. The cabin lights wiring was crimped so poorly that as soon as I took the screws out of the light, the crimps failed just by gravity alone. The theory that factory crimps are good, doesn't hold for my case.

I have been restoring and flying airplanes for over 25 years, and the crimps that my professional mechanic owns cost over a 1000 bucks! And each terminal can cost over 5 dollars, most are at least a $1 each. So we get good at soldering! LOL With the aircraft crimp terminals, they are actually a double crimp. The first crimp is the electrical connection, the second crimp is the load bearing crimp. The first one pinches, the second one is like a swage.

Generally, for a terminal end, I will get rid of the plastic end, slide on a nice piece of shrink tubing, crimp on the terminal, apply flux, and solder the connection. Than put the shrink tubing on.

For a butt connection, I do the shrink tubing on both sides of the joint, 1 bigger than the other, do a mechanical twist joint, at least 5 turns, flux, solder, small shrink, big shrink. Big shrink tubing is 50% longer than small. This acts like a Chinese finger cuff, adding mechanical strength to the joint.

It really is not hard to solder correctly, and it is far less expensive in the long run.

Just for the record, I am not against crimps when done with quality terminals and quality tools by people who use proper techniques.

What my experience has been is just the opposite of yours. I have not seen a SINGLE crimp joint in any of the sailboats I have owned hold up.