The tinned copper wire thing.

[oldboot]

I must have about half a dozen ratchet crimp tools, as each one is only good for one type of connector. Jaycar sell a crappy one that you can change the heads on, so you can have one tool that does many jobs..

Exactly.....and every new connector system has a new tool........I keep thinkin' should I or shouldn't I get another one.....I don't have "snap seal" yet

Oh and don't mention the matching stripper.

One good thing though you can get a pretty decent insulated lug crimper for abot 50 bucks these days........ mine cost me over $100 and that was wholesale.....but the will calibrate mine......that was over 15 years ago... and it makes me very happy.

oh oh......got a go crimp some lugs.

cheers

[peterbo3]

Everybody is talking about the correct way to crimp & what tools to use but there are no photos. Here are a few.

The basics. Tinned wire, heat shrink glue-lined crimp terminals (in bulk packs) & crimping tools. Crimpers are ratchet (the best) & pressure only. The terminals are coded red, blue & yellow for use on small, medium & large diameter wire.

I use printed heat shrink in different colours to identify each wire.

Ratchet crimper ready to go. Each die is coloured to correspond with the colour of the terminal.

This crimper is designed for battery terminal lugs & has a rotating die to cater for different size lugs. It produces a hexagonal crimp which is very strong & has great conductivity.

Smaller version showing the rotating die system & a selection of completed cable with adhesive lined heatshrink tubing.The lugs I used were not totally closed so I sealed them with some green liquid tape. The heatshrink tube colour identifies the polarity. Red is (+), black is (-).

[foxx510]

Where do you buy your supplies Peter?

[peterbo3]

Try:
AME Products
222 Leitchs Rd
Brendale 4500
PH 1300 883263

They sell wire, terminals & heatshrink but you have to purchase by the reel or pack. Cheaper anyway. Plus you need to know exactly what you want.

[oldboot]

Nice shiny new battery lug crimper....... there'd be a couple of hundred bucks there.

cheers

[fRuItCaKe]

Oooh... yeah..

That's what I used for my battery connections.

Borrowed them though....couldn't justify buying a set though.

[oldboot]

Yeh I want one too...... but I cant justify it.

cheers

[FNQCairns]

Yeah gimme gimme the lug crimper!!

[littlejim]

It is easy to tell Oldboot hasn't owned his boat long enough for the non-tinned wire to go black under the insulation like all the wires in mine did.

[oldboot]

Littlejim, have you read the whole thread or have you "fallen in the water".

I've seen plenty of wire go black without any provication from salt water.

cheers

[littlejim]

OB,

you picked it in one. I've been away for ages and just read the first and last posts. In my old boat the black wire about a foot back from the instruments was enough for me. (I couldn't get solder to stick.)
I replaced the old main wire up to the front with the tinned stuff and replaced any smaller wiring that I found was black, put a tick alongside that, and waited for all the other problems that salt water brings.

[BrewGuru]

OLD BOOT

The quality of the insulation ......AGREE
The correct sizing of the wire.....AGREE
Quality of terminations...............AGREE
Correct fusing.............................AGREE
Mechanical protection ................AGREE
Strain Relief................................AGREE

so if we are going to insure all these points are covered, lets use tinned copper wire and the whole job is covered.......agree?

[oldboot]

My point exactly Brew', but there are plenty out there who are religeous about tinned copper wire but fail in the most basic workmanship matters.

Hence the raising this topic in a provocative way.

cheers

[tunaticer]

Well to give this thread a kick start, has anyone come across Gr316 stainless steel blade fuses?
It would be a very commons sense thing to produce these for salt air environments.

[scottar]

Well to give this thread a kick start, has anyone come across Gr316 stainless steel blade fuses?
It would be a very commons sense thing to produce these for salt air environments.

No real need Jack as unless your fuse holder was made of something similar it would be a waste of time. I have seen stainless braided coax cable but never seen stainless power cable. On the tinned subject - I agree with oldboot. Tinned is better for sure but kept dry normal copper has an acceptable service life. I rewired my 4.5 tinny the weekend I bought it with untinned automotive figure 8. Not best practice by a long shot but as an apprentice who had just financed the boat it was all I could afford at the time (tinned copper was well and truly more expensive at the time). That wiring was still servicable 20 years later. Yes, in some areas there was surface tarnishing - in areas like nav lights where the wiring outlasted the fittings but certainly not sufficent to warrant replacement.

These days would I do the same - not at all. Tinned cable is now pretty cheap and while it will still fail, it will buy some time but the number one rule for me is keep it dry. It will see salt air exposure but that will not kill wiring anywhere near as quickly as actual liquid salt water.