&^%@#*&^% electricity!

[Roger Long]

When I was young, I dreamed of having a boat in which the only piece of electrical wire was the one running from the front to the back of the flashlight. Hand start diesel, kerosene lamps and running lights, etc. Now look at me, radar, 5 GPS devices, laptop computer...

Yesterday, I wish I'd stuck with my youthful dreams. I completely rewired the mast when adding the radar. Portland Yacht Services commented on what a neat and professional job it was. I also ran new wires from the deck step plug down to the bilge. I tested all the lights on the mast with a battery. When I came back for the stepping, the PYS battery was stitting on the sawhorse so this very through and careful rigging shop also tested them. I had previously verified power at the deck connector.

The tide was such that the crane tip ended up exactly level with the masthead and all its delicate stuff so we got rushed and forgot to check the lights after making up the connections. I took the boat back to my marina and rigged her up. I got halfway down the dock headed home feeling great when I realized I should check the lights. Nothing, Nada, mast dead as a telephone pole except for the radar with its solid connection fished through the mast suppport.

Talk about an emotional crash. With all the stuff to be done before the must depart date a week from Thursday http://www.rogerlongboats.com/RVStrider.htm , the result was frantic looking fellow running around the Portland waterfront early in the morning after a sleepless night. I was down at the boat before daylight cutting the wires in the bilge and verifying power to that point and total lack of continuity in any mast circuits.

PYS was great. They fit me right into the busy schedule to pull the mast. While further troubleshooting and checking to be sure I hadn't over looked something that would avoid lifting the mast, the spreader light came on. Then the steaming light briefly. It went out again and remained dead.

We lifted the mast and pulled the connector apart. All mast lights worked on portable battery and there was power to all deck connector segments from a portable battery. All wire connections to the connector halves were solid and everything was clean. The Cole Hersee connector made a nice solid "snap" as it went togethert. Reconnected everything in the bilge and hooked up the connector. All lights worked. No obvious cause found for the problem which made me crazy.

We put everything back together and did one last check. No steaming light. Then followed another hour of frantic rechecking. The rigger had to go take a phone call so I fiddled with the connector a bit. The yard guy holding the mast butt said it was about as clean as he had seen. The prongs are split and I put a screw driver in to spread them out a bit.

We checked some more things and the tried the lights. Everything worked. What the hell?

In the light of dawn, I've figured it out. It is the geometry of the four prong Cole Hersee connector. It has round arrow head shaped split prongs and there is a shoulder inside the female sockets that makes that nice snap and resists the connector being pulled apart with slight tension. When the connector is 20 - 30 years old, the prongs have lost some of their spring, and years of carefully sanding off corrosion have made them slightly smaller, the slightly larger bulb at the tip will feel solid and make the nice snap as it goes together. With some tension, there will be contact. Then you wrap it in stretchy electrical tape and pull it tightly together. The bulbs on the prongs are now pushed past the shoulder in the female parts. Contact is very light and flakey. One or more wires can have their prongs floating around in the sockets without contact and the slightest pull or vibration can change the situation. Brass corrosion has some conductivity so my carefully cleaned connector could actually be worse than a neglected one.

These connectors should be changed at regular intervals. You can also bet that adding a mast base access plate will be number one on my list of projects for next winter.

 

[RAD]

I had the same situation with my ODay and the connectors are at the base of the mast inside at the keel and when I pulled the mast for new lighting and checked with the remote battery all was OK but after every thing back together the steaming light would not work, luckly I was able to swap the fordeck wire with the steaming but your right those connectors need to be changed.

 

[Tim R.]

I have a keel stepped mast and I use a terminal bar inside my headliner with ring connectors for all but my VHF connection. It takes a little longer to connect but they are secure.

Roger, a little dialectric grease may have helped your situation. It certainly will in the future if used regularly to prevent the corrosion on a new connector.

 

[Nereussailor]

Let me guess......... it's the 11207, 6 pin connector with the rubber boots? Mine's doing the same thing. Thanks for the tip. I've gone through the same process and couldn't figure it out. It's the first thing I'll replace when I start on the boat next week. Thanks for the tip.

Dave

 

[sailingdog]

That's why I prefer straight pins and sockets, that use the socket to keep the connection tight...via an external screw collar...

 

[Nereussailor]

any Idea on where to find the 6 pin connector? I've checked this site, WM, Defender, Grainger, McMaster-Carr, Seattle Marine, JC Whitney and a couple of other sites. No luck at any of them.

 

[druid]

I avoid connectors like the plague. When I first got my Catalina 36, it was obvious there was a charging problem: BIG batteries installed, bigger alternator (done wrong - the pulleys didn't line up!), etc. (it was a charter boat). So I dug around a little...

I found the charging current went through a small (about #16) wire, through a connector, 10ft of wire, another connector, to the ammeter on the engine panel at the stern of the cockpit. Then back through the connectors to the engine compartment and connected to the starter terminal. I was getting maybe 5A charging. I looked at the connectors: there was one terminal that was so corroded the current had to jump a 1/8" gap! I bypassed ALL that crap, ran #2 cable directly from the alternator (through a 50A ammeter on the electric panel, terminated correctly) to the battery switch, and VOILA! 40 Amps!

Why, oh WHY do mfrs like Catalina build a $200K boat and try to save $20 by running inadequate wiring??

druid

 

[BobM]

Dielectric grease is now high on my shopping list. My steaming light was working intermittently last year too. Roger, you are hitting squarely on why I don't want to drop my mast this year to replace my kinked backstay. When I drop it there are a dozen things I should do to the mast and then it will be mid-July...just like last season...and with my luck I will re-step the mast and the damn lights won't work. Then with all the raising and lowering that will result I'll end up scratching up the new paint job I will have hopefully applied. Sigh.

 

[Maine Sail]

Dielectric grease is now high on my shopping list. My steaming light was working intermittently last year too. .

Be very careful with Dielectric grease. It never comes off and prevents future labeling of wires or even retermination and heat shrinking because nothing will stick to it..

 

[Morgan30]

I have a keel stepped mast and I use a terminal bar inside my headliner with ring connectors for all but my VHF connection. It takes a little longer to connect but they are secure.

Roger, a little dialectric grease may have helped your situation. It certainly will in the future if used regularly to prevent the corrosion on a new connector.

Spot on. I like the terminal block idea. Gonna do that.
But our best friend is the dialetric silicone grease. I would bet with even the 30 year old connection, it would have worked the first time with that dialetric grease.

 

[Rick D]

Well, swell. Duh. I have used it for years on bulb bases and external connections... improperly. Boy, do I feel stupid!

 

[Tim R.]

if used regularly to prevent the corrosion on a new connector.

I thought I said it clearly. Connector, not conductor.

 

[catsailor]

No, you're not stupid. What dielectric grease does do is reduce eletrolysis...

Well, swell. Duh. I have used it for years on bulb bases and external connections... improperly. Boy, do I feel stupid!

by blocking the flow of those electrons from most of the surface.

In certain high-power application in substations dielectrics are a concern; the power loading per uint area is so high that any restriction causes heating, heating burns the grease, and they are worse off. For that there are conductive greases, and you can find them on the web. We use the stuff ONLY in our substation.

In certain low-pressure electronics applications, dielectric grease can be a problem - computer board contacts, cell phone interfaces, usb jacks - but there are damn few places on a boat that are that delicate, and they should be obvious.

The rest of the time - lighting circuits and bulbs - it is corrosion that gets you every time, not grease resistance.

A good product, known to all electricians, is Al-NoOx by Ideal, available at Home Depot. While it is specifically intended for aluminum wiring, I think you will find it helpful. It is effectively dielectric, but is loaded with aluminum particles to help protect contacts against oxidation.

 

[sailaway78]

Connectors

I despise any type of splice, or connection in any electrical circuit. While sometimes necessary, I will go to great lengths to avoid them. With a deck stepped mast, you basically have no choice in this. Recently when I had the mast down, for paint and a re wire, I thought about this long and hard. With a keel stepped mast, the boat had connectors at the mast base. Keel is flat, and always has some water in it, except when I get real ambitious and dry it out, but still when it rains hard with wind, still get some. So, I ran continious wire, from mast head to the panel, no connectors, no junctions, no splices. Probably at some point in time, this will lead to extra work. But till then, I know there are no connections anywhere in the system to give a problem.

 

[Dan Johnson]

On my last boat...

I rewired the mast lighting and used a four-pin plug and socket for the connection to the anchor, steaming, and deck light. Before stepping the mast I did a meter check of the wiring and found that there was a short. After taking the in-mast plug apart for the third time, what I finally discovered was that using proper sized wiring caused the screw heads that squeeze the wire tight in each pin to stick out ever-so-much that they were shorting out on the metal cap the plug assembly went into.

Trip to the local RV dealer solved the problem with a five wire plug and socket set as used on hitches/trailers. No electrical problems after five years passed and I sold the boat.

Conclusion: those small multi-wire plug/sockets sold by the name marine mfgrs are meant for small wiring (16 AWG and smaller), not the more robust 12 AWG needed to power a 50 watt halogen deck light halfway up a mast. Have found that trailer hitch wiring assemblies are better suited being intended to live in a wet environment under a bumper, and available up to a seven wire combo (as used with electric brake set-ups) having a large center lug to carry the negative side in multiple use situations.

 

[catsailor]

I did the same thing for my mast wiring on the Stiletto 15 years ago!

I rewired the mast lighting and used a four-pin plug and socket for the connection to the anchor, steaming, and deck light. Before stepping the mast I did a meter check of the wiring and found that there was a short. After taking the in-mast plug apart for the third time, what I finally discovered was that using proper sized wiring caused the screw heads that squeeze the wire tight in each pin to stick out ever-so-much that they were shorting out on the metal cap the plug assembly went into.

Trip to the local RV dealer solved the problem with a five wire plug and socket set as used on hitches/trailers. No electrical problems after five years passed and I sold the boat.

Conclusion: those small multi-wire plug/sockets sold by the name marine mfgrs are meant for small wiring (16 AWG and smaller), not the more robust 12 AWG needed to power a 50 watt halogen deck light halfway up a mast. Have found that trailer hitch wiring assemblies are better suited being intended to live in a wet environment under a bumper, and available up to a seven wire combo (as used with electric brake set-ups) having a large center lug to carry the negative side in multiple use situations.

I greased it up good and have been happy ever since. The original pins, as you noted, were far too fussy. The mast base is a real salt spray area, since the connectors are actually under the bridge deck of the catamaran. Go figure.

 

[jibes138]

military aerospace connectors

get out of the chandleries and get a high quality military aerospace conn

ector. Here is an example. My guess is you could pick up some scrap units from an aerospace repair depot that would be wonderful for use on a boat. Probably get it for free to keep it out of the waste stream.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Used to have...

an inside source at the old AMP company (now Tyco) for goodies like that but no longer--now I have to be more resourceful and feel wallet pain!

 

[Chuckbear]

get out of the chandleries and get a high quality military aerospace conn

ector. Here is an example. My guess is you could pick up some scrap units from an aerospace repair depot that would be wonderful for use on a boat. Probably get it for free to keep it out of the waste stream.

Dave, Where might we find these aerospace repair depots? Chuck

 

[tommays]

You can get most any connector online at places like ALLIED or MOUSER at good prices on one piece

And stuff does just wear OUT all inboard sterndrive boats (mercuiser ect) use the best 10 pin plug you could think off compleat with a SS hose clamp to keep it sealed and it is still the first place to check for flakey electric problems