Hook power cable

I need a new pair of crimpers, I was gonna get channel locks but know I’ll have to look for Klein’s lol

 

My brother has those and he used them on my last connections. They worked great.


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Channel Locks are excellent hand tools Patty. Klein is 'the gold standard' for needle nose, key-cuts/strippers, side-cutters and definitely Linesman pliers (I wouldn't buy anything but Klein for linesman) but Channel Locks are mint for slip-joint and where Channel-Locks got their name--Channel Lock pliers (like everyone calls facial tissue Kleenex, regardless of the actual brand)

For crimps, Klein or Channel Locks or Thomas & Betts (T&B) are all equally good, imo.

And fer fack sakes--do not use ScotchLoks!! Jason is bang on! They are shit! Nothing corrodes internally like a ShotchLok. Telcos have battled for decades to remove them from telecom circuits, one by one on a per-circuit basis and in terminal rebuilds.....at one time they were "the only" telco connection (low voltage outdoor)....green and blue in no time. The only thing Scotch-Lok did right is making the connector transparent so you could see just how shitty they are for internal corrosion.

Don't overlook how important a good clean removal of the jacket is, regardless of connection type...if you nick the solid copper/stranded alloy or break strands off, you're impeding the connection. The most common cause of connection failure break, aside from weather/moisture and rodents is a poorly stripped/nicked wire. ie-human error.

Best way is to get a good set of T&B key strippers and use the appropriate gauge notch, and get a good feel for them....ie-practice.

None of this is rocket surgery for making a couple connections every couple years...but it's my job to fix and install this stuff every day making dozens of connections every day, fixing greenhorn's shotty stuff and getting called back if i make a mistake...and of course I do make mistakes.

We deal with dozens of connection types.....ask a low voltage guy which connection type is the biggest pain in the prick-- a resounding: SOLDER!!! every time...guaranteed. Solder is bullshit. And if you are dealing with data--going from stranded to solid (a soldered connection) back to stranded, you get a fuck-ton of errors, whether you notice it or not, the far end device will definitely notice it....if it's capable of correcting those errors, you won't see it in performance, if there's other impairments, a soldered joint will be the straw that broke the camel's back.

For power, do a simple test---take an extension cord that is just meeting the requirement of minimum gauge stranded, cut it, solder it halfway, plug something in that draws a lot of amps...12" chop/mitre saw for example.....run it full tits for a couple mins, now grab and squeeze your soldered joint....hot as fuck ain't it.

Tony, honestly, for a trolling motor I wouldnt solder any of the power. I got some good waterproof allen key screw-down terms from my electrician buddy...they're overkill, but that's a good thing. You don't want any bottle necks on a power circuit for a decent draw like a trolling motor. On the extreme side, you can lose power and possibly harm your batteries, blow your fuse (if it's after the bottle neck)...it's actually worse if your fuse is at the battery, rather than closer to the device (troll motor). On those plus 30 days, cables are already warm.... I'd ditch that solder joint, but quite possibly you'd never notice any trouble at all...it's a 'just in case' kinda thing. If your solder joint is in a spot where it's not constantly visable, if it were to get warm, it's common for the black elec tape to warm up and the glue turns to runny syrup and it will unravel...making a short or ground inevitable. $400-$500 in Batteries go boom boom fizz.

Paranoia will destroy ya...but with connections, do em right the first and last time. I cannot stand being out on the water and something fails, like a livewell, bilge etc from a shotty connection. Waste of fricken fishing time.

Sorry for the long winded shit....caffeine is a wonderful drug

 

So which connectors do you recommend, remembering that I do have man eyes. What size for sonar that it fits properly. And do you use shrink tube? @Mike B.


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I see sooo much of this annually (usually daily) that it was the push that made me buy good tools for this - and good connectors! Livewell pumps die usually to bad connections - Bilge pumps 80% of the time is sunflower seeds or bits of fishing line, then the other 20% bad connections
Advice - keep your connectors high as you can out of water and then throw the guy out of boat that chews seeds
!!!
My personal beef that i see more failure than anything is that POS aluminum ground block on 99% of boats. Throw it out and get a good copper one - I am amazed that some of us rely on this POS for all our $$$ electronics....Run a big ground to it from battery (12-14g), use dielectric, and you're golden for many years.
Like this (see link below) but for smaller gauge wire - imho game changer for those of us that have lots of 12v stuff on board:
http://www.dx.com/p/jtron-zero-line-row-ground-row-copper-grounding-strip-10-terminal-blocks-copper-266145#.Wk0JsSMZO7o

I used to solder stuff, but now just mostly crimp. Guess what - less issues! Use to think it was my poor soldering technique, but now reading MikeB's post i may have been seeing what he mentions.

 

All this electronical jibber jabber hurts my mind im the type of guy that could shock myself on a peice of wire on a spool

 

Shrink is good to give the connection some mechanical strength (keeps it from kinking back and forth weakening the joint), but if you think it will keep water out you're mistaken. Heat shrink and tape will just hold the water in longer than open air, which accelerates corrosion. Ox-Gard will prevent corrosion. Water and moisture will get at any connection, if it does not have pic gel (used in underground telco cables) or something like Ox-Gard on it.

Chris, when soldering is necessary, only bad solder is a cold solder, where the piece(s), wire in the case of wire to wire, are/is cold when the solder is applied and the solder doesnt totally bond. The flux that's embedded in the solder "floats" on the outside...so if the solder is just resting on the colder piece, they'll be a layer of less/non conducive flux between the solder and the piece. Think of it like dripping a drop of hot grease into cold water...balls up and floats...boil the water, they become 'one'

Just a bit of info on the subject of water getting everywhere-- underground telco cables from the office to manholes, have air pressure forced in...cuz it's not IF water will get into minute holes and cracks, it's WHEN.....the air pressure bubbles air out, so (too much) water won't get in.

 

Great info Mike... i only disagree with one point in relation to a safety standpoint.
The fuse needs to always be at the supply (battery) end. something cuts the cable, and grounds it out, there's nothing to protect the circuit and that makes for smoke and fire.

little story - at the Dealership we had a real backyard monkey type tech (i called him hero sandwich)... brand new Crestliner tiller model he was rigging, installed a screw for something and drilled it through the floor into the aluminum frame and into the positive cable to the engine... lots and lots of smoke (boat side - not engine) and some new wiring harnesses/battery later and it was back to being new.

Main battery cables to engine is one thing (they fuse/breaker at the engine to be close to the ECU and important things over there), but on a trolling motor up front, it needs to have the protection from the "what if's". boats that come pre-rigged from factory have breakers installed at the battery end of the positive cable for trolling motors that came as a package - at least the ones i worked on did.

 

See @ribbie , no spitz in da boat!

 

Whoa....lots of good info here. I've always soldered connections, even though I hated doing it. Going to ditch the soldering gun now...

Thanks guys!!

 

That's a very good point. Even tho we're mainly concerned about protecting the device, there's the possibility of the leg going open before the fuse. If a guy was really paranoid, he could put a breaker at the battery (positive of course) and one as close as logically possible to the device/motor...but who would do that....that's way too much overkill imo

 

@Little Spoon - If you own an older boat, it's definitely in your best interest to familiarize yourself with the basics of wiring.

 

Solder has a place still....but imo only as a last resort....like if you absolutely had to have the most slender connection in an automotive situation that has no room for a crimp of any kind.....pretty rare tho

 

I hate soldering, and I'm terrible at it to boot (shaky hands!). I've been meaning to get a good crimper for awhile...I should probably get on that now.

 

The wealth of information this place provides.............

So I kinda work as a mechanic, I’m not papered or fuck all, just a farm kid handy with wrenches and whatnot, and far from an expert......... For the winter I’m working for a gravel company that shall remain nameless, but I deal with a ton of electrical now... something that was pretty much non existent on the drills, and my wiring was mostly marine related... Hence the need for better crimpers...

I 100% agree with chris about the aluminium block, we tried those for ground blocks on drill shacks, they sucked.... I just cut copper flat bar, drilled and tapped it to accept 1/4” bolts and used aluminium Allan screw connectors (probably same as what mike was referring to), zero issues after switching to the copper...

 

No corrosion issues? Copper and aluminum...

 

None actually, and more importantly no oxidizing and no breakage... these connections were to ground the drill shacks and pump shacks, basically a chunk of wire and a plate, a failsafe for lightning etc, not live wiring...

 

Last boat I had I completely re-wired and used a Blue Sea Systems fuse block that had an integrated negative bus on it. Both the bus and the fuse clips were tin plated copper.

They're not cheap, but if you're re-wiring an old boat they make for a really clean setup!

 

Precisely what Ox-Gard is intended for-- dis-similar metals and keeping the joints cool.

 

Blue Sea systems is the gold standard in marine equipment....pure quality.