Crimp connections
For those of you that make your own cables do you use anything on the wire before you crimp?
Forum Discussion
If insulation on the wire blisters, the wire has overheated. WithWith small wires I wait until the shiny plated terminal blushes and then apply just enough solder to plate the stranding.
Standoffs are mandatory to prevent wire and cable from dangling. For instance on the Kelley II I ordered the shipfitters to make stanchions 18" from the starter motor connection studs. Stainless steel Adel clamps were used w/ 1" capacity.
Bunching of multiple conductors into a harness helps but the harness should not be allowed to flop around. It too needs support. With a plywood and plastic RV dowels of various diameter and length can act as supports. A gob of GOOP can pin wires where a clamp cannot go.
strain relief can be taught an so can soldering. But for a few with limited aptitude soldering is difficult. At my late age I had to teach myself to solder 25AWG wire to 30AWG terminal pins. All 8 pins fit on a plastic HIROSE plug smaller than the toggle of a household light switch. The TIP of a toggle switch not the side!
Until a person does autopsy on a non-functioning hydraulically crimped battery lug with shrink tubing the hex crimped stranding looks impressive. But battery gasses are nasty especially hydrogen. Salt air is also nasty. QUICKCABLE offered a new line of lugs and terminals that were lead coated not tin plated. I don't see them any more.
What I do now is I have soldered everything on important jobs since the sixties. RAYCHEM the originator/inventor/patent holder of heat shrink tubing introduced HIM 3:1 shrink tubing in 1969. Armed with ERSIN MULICORE solder, 55 lbs worth, 13 miles of wire* 320 feet of shrink tubing and and four thousand terminals and lugs I did the Kelley II. It left the outfitting dock in July of 1983 and when I returned in 2010 I asked the new skipper if he knew of any electrical failures. "None except for relays and stuff that belonged to Faruno and Decca". The ORIGINAL battery cable and lugs were intact. I'll invite anyone to try and best a quarter century long lifespan failure free existence of any electrical system on a commercial fishing vessel. Few people would have the tenacity to stick with soldering and heat shrinking to that extreme. It took me 2-years. I proved a point to myself. That year (2010) I returned from Mexico with serious heart problems and was invited to stay and visit with friends.
*Four runs of 16 gauge 36 conductor wire was run 112' from wheel house to engine pods. A 12 ton gear reduction comealong and six people were needed to make the pull. That alone counted for 3/4 miles of wire. Two reduce resistance 1 gauge was required for house 24 volt power and 4 gauge for the 12-volt power and remember on a steel vessel ground had to return though isolation cabling.
Standoffs are mandatory to prevent wire and cable from dangling. For instance on the Kelley II I ordered the shipfitters to make stanchions 18" from the starter motor connection studs. Stainless steel Adel clamps were used w/ 1" capacity.
Bunching of multiple conductors into a harness helps but the harness should not be allowed to flop around. It too needs support. With a plywood and plastic RV dowels of various diameter and length can act as supports. A gob of GOOP can pin wires where a clamp cannot go.
strain relief can be taught an so can soldering. But for a few with limited aptitude soldering is difficult. At my late age I had to teach myself to solder 25AWG wire to 30AWG terminal pins. All 8 pins fit on a plastic HIROSE plug smaller than the toggle of a household light switch. The TIP of a toggle switch not the side!
Until a person does autopsy on a non-functioning hydraulically crimped battery lug with shrink tubing the hex crimped stranding looks impressive. But battery gasses are nasty especially hydrogen. Salt air is also nasty. QUICKCABLE offered a new line of lugs and terminals that were lead coated not tin plated. I don't see them any more.
What I do now is I have soldered everything on important jobs since the sixties. RAYCHEM the originator/inventor/patent holder of heat shrink tubing introduced HIM 3:1 shrink tubing in 1969. Armed with ERSIN MULICORE solder, 55 lbs worth, 13 miles of wire* 320 feet of shrink tubing and and four thousand terminals and lugs I did the Kelley II. It left the outfitting dock in July of 1983 and when I returned in 2010 I asked the new skipper if he knew of any electrical failures. "None except for relays and stuff that belonged to Faruno and Decca". The ORIGINAL battery cable and lugs were intact. I'll invite anyone to try and best a quarter century long lifespan failure free existence of any electrical system on a commercial fishing vessel. Few people would have the tenacity to stick with soldering and heat shrinking to that extreme. It took me 2-years. I proved a point to myself. That year (2010) I returned from Mexico with serious heart problems and was invited to stay and visit with friends.
*Four runs of 16 gauge 36 conductor wire was run 112' from wheel house to engine pods. A 12 ton gear reduction comealong and six people were needed to make the pull. That alone counted for 3/4 miles of wire. Two reduce resistance 1 gauge was required for house 24 volt power and 4 gauge for the 12-volt power and remember on a steel vessel ground had to return though isolation cabling.
