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Thread: Cutting and Crimping 2/0 Gauge
03-22-2012, 11:32 AM #21Drew
New ride: 2012 Mojo
Old ride: 2008 OBV
04-02-2012, 12:46 AM #22Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2009
- Denver, NC
Lowe's and Home Depot sell lugs which have a "set screw" in the butt where the large diameter wire goes. operates the same way you use the "set screw" on your audio amplifier when terminating ground or power to the amp. You can find these where the electrical hand tools are, usually on the bottom row well hidden from sight.
04-02-2012, 03:15 PM #23
In literal terms, those who wrote the ABYC documents restrict the use of single-strand, (read romex) wiring due to work-hardening due to flexing. A soldered joint creates a single-strand conductor for the soldered length; this is the primary argument against it. To your point it might very well be out of context and it is only required for ABYC/NMMA member boat builders building new boats. However, if it is that important to them I will usually try to conform. that being said, I solder mine with a heat gun and then shrink them. Not because it is preferrable, but because it is the best connnection I can make with tools available and no more than I do the work, I am not going to go buy a big proper set of swaging crimpers... As an aside, U.S.C.G. doesn't specifically endorse or restrict any termination method; this based on my research since the other day. SO if I were building a new boat, I can be assured when I solder I am only neglecting ABYC guidelines, and not breaking any law....
Last edited by philwsailz; 04-02-2012 at 03:21 PM.
04-02-2012, 05:28 PM #24
Okay...I get it now. We'll be in the dog house with some regulating body no matter how we make the connections!
All kidding aside, I see many examples of non-strain-relieved RCA female connectors and other rather heavy gauge wires that terminate directly into a fixed circuit board via a soldered connection. And because that wire or cable end bears the weight of the wire/cable and the wire/cable is inflexible at the end, I absolutely know that the solder will fracture over time with the shock and vibration in a boat and the connection will eventually go cold. However, with a Western Electric connection that is soldered and heat shrunk in line with a moderate gauge wire and freely strung or securely clamped or supported in a rigid loom this is mechanically very different than something that terminates into a fixed board, barrier strip or chassis.
04-02-2012, 06:11 PM #25
I think a point to keep in mind too is that either one of us in controlled repeatable manner can create a reliable connection, be it crimp, or solder or other, and given the method protect it in an appropriate manner. Given proper crimp tools and I will make a repeatably solid power cable termination that will likely be better than my soldered connection, or at least it will be more repeatable.
Remove us from the equation and place a minimum-wage worker on an assembly line and you can begin to understand the possible "why's" for the language and the way it is written. I have no doubt that some of the language as currently written was put in place to prevent the "expert of the week" from inadvertantly introducing a common problem over multiple boats due to his introduction of some process that he always used at his previous job as a TV repairman....
Put an iron and a roll of lead/tin solder in the hands of 30 people and train them for half a day, and I will bet you still find that 30% of the group cannot execute a proper solder joint by the end of the day. Ironically, one can say the same or similar thing with regards to crimping terminations, especially with the average consumer crimping tools available, but that is another topic, isn;t it?
Finally, with regards to ABYC, most of it is good, and we can argue it, but we can't change it. A consumer does not have to comply while performing updates to his boat, but they are good to have in hand, with some knowledge as to why the boat manufacturers comply; in some instances it can save a life... Consider the automotive starter or alternator accidentally installed on a boat...
04-02-2012, 07:26 PM #26
That is presented so logically how could anybody argue with it.
(Pssst...we may solder and heatshrink)