Clarke, I wanted to thank you (again) for continuing to do this series. I know you aren't getting the same number of views as you do with some of the other videos but keep in mind that five, ten, maybe 20 years from now, this series is still relevant and will still (slowly) keep getting views. I certainly appreciate all the time and effort you are putting into this series.
Thanks, And good you did, I'm currently editing the most important video in this series and I should publish next weekend. Watch the rest of the playlist as it's all pre-requisite
With the stranded wires my Dad, an Electrical Engineer with a 1920's Masters Degree, taught us in critical high stress applications to use a lineman's square knot with solder and marine shrink wrap instead of butt splices. There are telegraph and electric transmission wires in service that have been holding up for over 100 years using a lineman's knot. The wire will fail before a lineman's knot will. Before the marine shrink wrap became available he taught us to use rubber tape field hot vulcanizing it to seal everything up especially for submerged connections. Those boys who graduated from MIT in the 20's gave us a lot of things we take for granted today. I still prefer to pin crimp and solder afterwards (belt and suspenders) to using the goops. NoOx is great for screw terminals and similar while dielectric grease great inside multi-connectors and lamp sockets.
Do not use solder if the wires move or vibrate. The wires then break just next to the solder. It becomes worse if you use silicon wire. Also if the wrong flux is used, the wires will corrode much faster. But done like your father did and for things like telegraph-wires it is a very good solution. On board for many things usable but I would not use solder for wires attached to f.i. the engine. I use that vulcanizing tape for coax connectors used outside, great stuff.
@@pa4tim You do have to provide for strain relief in the form of marine heat shrink tubing, rubber hose, vulcanized wrap, etc past the solder to prevent that. Of course you need to be neat and refrain from over soldering to prevent it from wicking too far up the strands along with use the correct non-corrosive flux. To me the crimps with the heat shrink cuffs and heat activated adhesive don't provide enough strain relief past the crimp either and are not really optimal where heavy vibration is present. Old school would be to have a wire clamp with the wire passing through a rubber hose in the clamp to stop vibrations from telegraphing back to the connection. Do it wrong, using solder or not, the wire will be prone to breakage at/near the crimp. Yes I've seen plenty wires fail with and without solder with most failing due to over stripping of the wire combined with a lack of strain relief covering well past the exposed section of stripped wire. Sadly in the here and now they don't teach shop in most public schools any longer where how to use crimps, solder correctly, use a hammer, saw, drill, etc was part of the graded curriculum. If our grandfathers were told the day would come where there would be HOA's that would penalize you for doing something as simple as checking your vehicles motor oil or changing a spark plug in your homes driveway they would have not believed you yet here we are with HOA's and this dummying down of everyone.
@@pa4tim Basically true, there are ways of doing it anyway, the primary is a mechanical wire clamp retraining any movement in the solder interface. On less critical not having solder exit a lug plus strain relief.
Love your videos! I make hundreds of connections with terminal blocks on weather stations that I build and maintain. Instead of ferrules, I tin all stranded wire with lead-free solder and tighten connections very firmly. This always makes for a long-lasting and solid connection. I use the same solder to fill crimped connectors and glue-lined shrink tube to finish them. There is a battery terminal spray that works pretty well for preventing corrosion on ring terminals bolted together. If you want a super long-lasting connection, solder the terminals together before bolting. Heat them to get them apart 30 years later. I consider all non-soldered connections to be short-term temporary. I never use solder with lead anymore. It's toxic and it corrodes easily. Silicone dielectric grease is the greatest stuff ever. I use it for electrical stuff and also for plumbing for thirty years before they started selling it for that purpose. Another favorite goo is copper anti-sieze compound. It's the best for stainless steel nuts and bolts, which commonly gall and weld themselves together when made of the same grade of steel. Some of this stuff I learned from an old buddy who worked as an aircraft mechanic.
Again I learned so much. I thought this would be too basic, but your 3 decades of experience mixed with your technical background and that of some of the commenters taught me things that are very helpful and just plain fun. Thanks Clark. : )
Just finishing tomorrow's video on how the use a multimeter. Hope you have subscribed. Maybe share links around? These technical videos don't get as many views.
Thank you for the series Clark. Been meaning to watch for some time and finally getting around to it while I'm stuck COVID isolating (oh joy 🙄). I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of your smasher tool for larger terminals. I've encountered those connections and they often seem to come lose over time. Now, maybe they weren't done well in the first place but I have had great luck with a small 10 ton hydraulic crimper. It is hand tool sized and works for a variety of wire/lug sizes (12 AWG to 2/0) using interchangeable dies. I've cut these connections apart w/ a hacksaw and it basically forces the tiny strands into a solid copper wire. I've used on our RV battery bank and our boat's bank. I've been very happy w/ the connections and haven't had to redo any of the work. And oh yea, I've done that whole thing you described w/ the loose terminal connections generating like 2200 watts, forgot to tighten a connection on a 600 amp shunt, completely melted the shunt and quite a bit of insulation on the wires attached to it. Great point on the physical connection. Thank you for the series, really appreciate the videos!
Excellent video. The different grease and methods to stop/hold off corrosion were very helpful for me. Thank you! I used your links to get set up for my BM2 install.
Another great video! I've been showing my son each of these videos. He is headed off to college to be an engineer. He loves the way that you describe things. Please keep these going!!!
A neat trick I just heard about: after wrapping a connection with vinyl tape, you can swab it with pvc pipe cement and it will fuse together and become totally waterproof, especially if the wire has pvc insulation. Thanks for this great series, I’m learning so much!
Clark, thanks - another great lesson in the series - gave me the knowledge and power to change out the terminals for my bilge pumps - before they fail and I have an emergency!!
I watched a guy replace an old defunct 220V well pump. The four wires coming out of the new pump were 10 gauge stranded un-tinned copper wire and were factory sealed where they exited the pump motor. He stripped off about 3” of the pvc wire insulation from all of the wires and did some kind of in-line flying linemen’s splices that weren’t any thicker than the diameter of the insulated wires. I was unable to pull them apart. He wrapped each connection in two layers of pvc electrical tape and coated them with a thin layer of regular pvc pipe cement. He then bundled the four supply lines together and taped over that with one layer of pvc tape and some more pvc cement. The pump was immediately submerged and lowered down the 150’ deep well as fast as he could attach the sections of pipe. I asked how long that the electrical connection would remain water proof. He replied “Well, I drilled this well 20 years ago and I just replaced the original pump, so at least that long.” Mind Blown…
High quality tape. Only done by old ways now when someone screws up the supplies list. The splicing is analogous to rope splicing. Skill defendant, why nobody wants to rely on these methods now. Most pumps are installed with mechanical non-insulated barrel crimps with glue shrink over, tape over is just for chafing.
A great set of details, techniques, and tools/potions to use that would be difficult to discover on one's own. Once again thanks for sharing your experience. Priceless!
Clark, this is very good information but there were no closeups of the terminals. I know what you are talking about but there's probably folks out there that don't. Overall very good information especially the part about not using solder on large connectors. Yes I've done the same thing but won't ever do it again. Keep the good stuff coming.
Always learning something new. Ferrules, what handy little idea. The Victron solar controllers use the screw down terminals and ferrules would be an ideal solution. Thanks
Solid information for solid connections. Thank you! One little detail from my experience is that soldering a wire creates a hard spot that will break at the solder joint after several bends. Crimped connections without the solder do not fail as quickly.
Look into Cool-Amp a silver plating powder used to plate copper with silver. I have been using this since the early '70s make sure my copper connections are low resistance. The cost has gone up quite a bit.
Great video introduction. I dissuade others from soldering not for it being bad just the skill required. The marine code is not against it just can not be the sole means of attachment. Make it mechanical first. I commonly find marine shrink terminals not mechanically secure also.
@@Clarks-Adventure Trust like a 2 year old with an unwrapped chocolate bar. That would possibly work on an led indicator diode and resistor, so they aren’t useless. I tested a few when I first saw them, failed reliability. They resulted in a cold soldered joint. Really not that hard to crimp a naked ferrule and shrink over.
Great stuff. Honestly did not know about conductive grease, or about the 4-square crimp connection for terminal blocks. Most solar charge controllers use these screw-in crush type connections, and they always seemed a little sketchy to me, the vibration issue makes perfect sense. Thanks!!
I felt really connected to this video. All joking aside, great tutorial. The only thing different for me is my hydraulic crimper for the larger ends, but as you said, not for everyone.
I tried silicone to seal bus bars for underground sensors and it caused more corrosion than it prevented. The curing byproduct of many types of silicone is acetic acid. Use only silicone specifically made for electronics.
I don't like soldered leads. I say always go with a good mechanical connection. Think about when corrosion sets in years later. You push some real amps and make heat. It could melt your solder and then you might have a charged wire getting into mischief. Maybe solder afterwards if you like suspenders with your belt.
@@Clarks-Adventure have an hydraulic crimped for my 00 cables silver solder is much higher temperature than lead, but silver is a much better conductor thus gets rid of the resistance of the connection. I am an EE also programmed machine code for 37 years, worked for the DOD, then DARPA , learned to silver solder young boy from my father. I would think with your knowledge you would have learned the skill. Never too late too learn and it is very addictive when you see it’s result’s especially in low voltage circuits. Good reason why it is used in high fidelity circuits. Seen what you have, you only need the silver solder, the heat touch you used too hear shrink has a special tip with a catalytic converter can attain the higher temperature needed, that your electric iron cannot get to. You will need a heat sink that attaches to prevent harm too other components in the process. Yup it takes practice kind of a lost art. Like welding with jumper cables in a pinch using a coat hanger and CD as an eye shield, surprised what you come up with in the middle of nowhere and have too weld two pieces of metal. Now I carry a cheap small harbor freight stick welder just for that reason. I too felt I learned more from Teaching at Universities, the students in asking pull on you too explain in ways that they can understand, note I used the BBs in the straw, pushing them through with pinched fingers as too a magnetic field pushes the electrons through the wire. Again kudos too your series. Do you run 110 or 220 on your boat? It’s another long term argument, but with your cruising experience be just curious.. Fair Winds.. If you Ever Sail up too Long Island or visit my wife and Myself Love too take you both out for dinner.. Our Starlight is out In GreenPort she is a Beneteau Oceanis 350 1989 I have an 8D and 4D and starter battery, all AGM’s have been looking into the prospect of replacing the 8D with Lithium, I think I would have too agree that your solution of total amps is the right way too go. I also agree that the companies just want too sell batteries.
No better way than to crimp. No need for soldering as flux itself can add to corrosion. Screw terminals with tinned copper wire can get squeezed apart by the screwing action on the tin, which acts as a lubricant. Simply select the cable and suitable crimp terminal for the job in hand. Top Tip: obtain a suitable crimping tool with the interchangeable "crimp heads". You'll need two tools, one for up to 6mm2 wire. And another, much bigger, for 6mm2 to 50mm2 cable. The latter may be nearly two feet long and require a fair old bit of squeezing together. If doing a lot then suggest you buy a hydraulic unit. And lastly but by no means least a few rolls of self amalgamating rubber type tape.. As in wrap the crimped terminal entirely in tape except the contact surfaces, job done. Self amalgamating tape ideal for wrapping pipe joints which refuse to be nipped up too. Hope that adds to your methodology.
Nice explained. The grey things with the orange levers are called Wago clips, I use them to make temporary connections while repairing industrial and maritime PCBs that need connections to other stuff like powersupply, sensors , switches, potentiometers etc so I can measure things and find the bad components. I only use spade connectors for "permanent" connections . If they need to be waterproof I use shrink tubing (the version with glue). I do not like the bullet connectors, they come loose to easy. To separate (good quality) blades you need a lot of force compared to bullets. But maybe I have used the wrong brand. About the crimp-tool, be careful, there are also versions made for bare connectors/terminals. So without the coloured plastic around the crimp part. They look the same but are not usable for the red/blue/yellow versions. I have a simple but very good quality stripper/crimper for 40 years or so, and it still works fine, but I like the fancy ones more because I am lazy. I work with lots of different wires in metric and AWG sizes. The auto-stripper is more easy because I do not need to know the wire size but they do not last long. I also have two fancy strippers that each can strip 6 sizes , one for metric and one for non-metric wires. Those are my favourite strippers (found them used on a ham-fest about 15 years ago, needed some work but they work great).
Tiny wire is easily soldered. There are also small spring connectors, screw terminals, crimp connectors. I don't really know what size wires you are referring to.
Hi Clark: Miss you already. Do you have a link to where I can buy a 'small ' tool to crimp the new battery terminals for the incoming Lithium battery for s/v Atabey ? Cheers !
I'd not recommend soldering for a few reasons . Soldering it brittle is the big one . Also can you do a video on wire color code . On boats it is way better to use Yellow for DC negative as Black can be confused with AC 120 volt hot wire.
Keeping boating costs down is important, and given that is the focus of your videos, normally I find some value in your channel.. While I do balance cost vs. reliability, I tend to favor reliability.. Let's face it, sometimes while sailing, we are far away from help so reliability is of paramount importance.. However the misses and I watched your latest video about terminals, and you can ask the misses how crazy you made me, and how I was talking to the TV over the methods you suggested.. Sadly we have one of those flat screen TV's which can't handle throwing my shoe at it as the old CRT type of TV could.. In the video you showed using several techniques which are either contrary to ABYC standards, or really should not be used.. Also given your suggested use of non-heat shrink terminals invites corrosion.. You forget, as a wire warms up, moisture is drawn up into the wire via capillary action, and will corrode the wire far up into the insulation.. This is why heat shrink type of terminals absolutely should always be used in bilges or any place where moisture or water is present.. I just watched a video this morning with a sailor having a non-functioning electronic head.. Turns out, the power lead to the toilets pump had totally corroded through.. And you guessed it, a non-heat shrink terminal was used.. You did talk about heat shrink tubing, but really never impressed how important it is, especially with uninsulated cables (such as the battery cable you put together).. While I am not an ABYC certified technician, I do believe up to 2" of the stuff is required on uninsulated terminal.. Yes, saving money is very important.. But you have a responsibility to make sure the methods you suggest are not just short cuts to save a dime or two, but actually maintains reliability, if not improves it.. You may want to review Jeff Cotte's channel (Pacific Yacht Systems), Nate's channel (Explorist Life), for how real useful advise is given.. There are others, but these two come to mind.. At the very minimum, you should preface your video with a disclaimer that you are not a ABYC certified technician, and the advice you are giving may not follow their guidelines.. Now you may think "Hey, it's worked for me for over 20 years I've been sailing".. But then that does remind me of the tale of the guy who jumped off a 10 story building.. As he passed the 5th floor on his way down, someone asked, "How's it going".. He replied "Pretty good so far".. flk P.S. We watch RUclips on our smart TV.. Because of this there isn't anyway to leave comments.. However this was important enough to me to go the extra mile to find the video on my computer and leave my thoughts.. This isn't just another "hate" comment, but rather one which is very important to me.. flk k
Love Jeff and he is still learning as well like all good professionals. ACBY gospel is restricted to 2 countries and is continuously updated. It is for manufacturers, not the same as marine working industry including Coast Guard Inspected Vessels. I repair ACBY certified installed errors. Some of the passed manufactured North American production work is just garbage. My vessel some connections shrink many not depending on where they are. If the end of the wire isn’t sealed glue or not isn’t relevant to salt intrusion.
Hey Clark, very good video. I have a question. I was replacing some terminals a while back and saw there were several different kinds of metals they can be made of. When I replaced them the first time the machine had no power when it was hooked up. Come to find out I had the wrong type of metal terminals. I think I put zinc ones on it. Do you have any information on what types of metals to use? The batteries I was working with were lead top post style. Thank you!
I have studied electronics all my life. One of my professors once told me that electricity is made of smoke. He explained that once smoke gets out of the wire, your appliance no longer works.... 😃
If i, or another fan would like to travel to your location and have a good time, would you like that? And how can we find you and let you know were close?
We have already met some patrons. We had a lovely dinner in Indianapolis with a couple who we met on Patreon. I don't think we will be putting current locations here on RUclips directly but we will make meetup opportunities available on Patreon.
@@Clarks-Adventure supercool, thanks!! My dream is to sail as well, not just weekends, but as a home. But i'm afraid of so many things, because its something i know little about, i can sail, and do all the maintenance, but still, it would mean no more income, and a home that if something happens it costs a pretty penny.
Regarding the "waterproof" adhesive-lined connectors and heat shrink: It's almost impossible to really make something waterproof 100% of the time - so if just a tiny bit of water gets in, it will then stay there - making the problem worse. It's far easier to "encapsulate" something to keep water out than it is to try to make a watertight seal.
There is a school of thought that says soldering already crimped connectors is a bad idea in vehicle applications. We know that we need to use stranded wire because vibration will cause early failure in solid wire. When you solder a connection you would want the solder to wick up the strands under the insulation. Otherwise why do it? You're trying to seal the exposed strands right? What you end up with is basically a solid wire. You have just created an early vibration failure point, with arguably no real advantage.
I don't think your connection should get hot enough to melt solder. If it does, there is probably a problem. If using in a high temp item, there is high temp solder, upwards of 600F.
Yes one problem gets you an even larger problem. I regularly recast lead battery terminals from getting hot enough they melt off. We use 2 12v batteries to weld, 15-120watt is most soldering irons.
@@helomech1973 It has nothing to do with ‘to much power’ rather high resistance at any mechanical contact. Union halls used to do labs on such things to get it into the tradespersons heads. My terminals don’t melt, I repair a lot of different systems so see it across marine, land, road and specialty equipment. The basic make mechanical fastened then solder. There is a reason.
@@braithmiller Too high resistance is a problem, which is exactly what I said. If you have high resistance, you have a problem. Solder should not melt in a normal functioning system. Not saying not to do a mechanical connection. Simply stating facts, if it is getting that hot, you have issues in your system. Been working on helicopters, cars, boats, farm equipment my entire life. You should not have cables getting that hot. If it does, need to look into why.
Crimpace- made in USA just collected my first in marine salvage store. Why this isn’t still made?! Fun how much people argue the gospel they learned as if it is the only correct way. Weird people like the history of how all this has ever been done. Love pre-war trade books. Btw - I comment with two accounts guess
Hi Clark, I have a question if I may: Ryan from the RUclips channel "Ryan & Sophie Sailing" (ruclips.net/video/b4DAy_JSgFE/видео.html) on his tech-talk video (36'23'') showed a terminal burned, he said it is because a "bad crimp". My question is whether is possible to identify a bad crimp (if it look good visually)? Perhaps, will the wire resistance be different between a wire with a good terminal and good crimp and another wire with a bad terminal or bad crimp? Thanks!
That's part of the tip I promise at the beginning of all this. How to find a voltage drop on a live circuit. Probably get to that video once we get back to Temptress next month. I've laid all the ground work for it.
Please do more closeups when showing tools and connectors, and other small items. To you, closeup, these things may be clear; from a meter or more away, it's not. All your demonstrations in this video were USELESS.
Clarke, I wanted to thank you (again) for continuing to do this series. I know you aren't getting the same number of views as you do with some of the other videos but keep in mind that five, ten, maybe 20 years from now, this series is still relevant and will still (slowly) keep getting views. I certainly appreciate all the time and effort you are putting into this series.
Problem is RUclips won't promote old videos.
This will die mostly unwatched unless viewers promote it.
@@Clarks-Adventure ill do my best to point my friends and other internet groups to this series.
Thanks Mike
I just found out about you a few days ago. You popped up in my algorithm. I subscribed.
Thanks,
And good you did, I'm currently editing the most important video in this series and I should publish next weekend. Watch the rest of the playlist as it's all pre-requisite
With the stranded wires my Dad, an Electrical Engineer with a 1920's Masters Degree, taught us in critical high stress applications to use a lineman's square knot with solder and marine shrink wrap instead of butt splices. There are telegraph and electric transmission wires in service that have been holding up for over 100 years using a lineman's knot. The wire will fail before a lineman's knot will. Before the marine shrink wrap became available he taught us to use rubber tape field hot vulcanizing it to seal everything up especially for submerged connections. Those boys who graduated from MIT in the 20's gave us a lot of things we take for granted today.
I still prefer to pin crimp and solder afterwards (belt and suspenders) to using the goops. NoOx is great for screw terminals and similar while dielectric grease great inside multi-connectors and lamp sockets.
ruclips.net/video/O-ymw7d_nYo/видео.html Thats what he is talking about.
Do not use solder if the wires move or vibrate. The wires then break just next to the solder. It becomes worse if you use silicon wire. Also if the wrong flux is used, the wires will corrode much faster. But done like your father did and for things like telegraph-wires it is a very good solution. On board for many things usable but I would not use solder for wires attached to f.i. the engine. I use that vulcanizing tape for coax connectors used outside, great stuff.
@@pa4tim You do have to provide for strain relief in the form of marine heat shrink tubing, rubber hose, vulcanized wrap, etc past the solder to prevent that. Of course you need to be neat and refrain from over soldering to prevent it from wicking too far up the strands along with use the correct non-corrosive flux. To me the crimps with the heat shrink cuffs and heat activated adhesive don't provide enough strain relief past the crimp either and are not really optimal where heavy vibration is present. Old school would be to have a wire clamp with the wire passing through a rubber hose in the clamp to stop vibrations from telegraphing back to the connection. Do it wrong, using solder or not, the wire will be prone to breakage at/near the crimp. Yes I've seen plenty wires fail with and without solder with most failing due to over stripping of the wire combined with a lack of strain relief covering well past the exposed section of stripped wire. Sadly in the here and now they don't teach shop in most public schools any longer where how to use crimps, solder correctly, use a hammer, saw, drill, etc was part of the graded curriculum. If our grandfathers were told the day would come where there would be HOA's that would penalize you for doing something as simple as checking your vehicles motor oil or changing a spark plug in your homes driveway they would have not believed you yet here we are with HOA's and this dummying down of everyone.
@@pa4tim Basically true, there are ways of doing it anyway, the primary is a mechanical wire clamp retraining any movement in the solder interface. On less critical not having solder exit a lug plus strain relief.
Love your videos! I make hundreds of connections with terminal blocks on weather stations that I build and maintain. Instead of ferrules, I tin all stranded wire with lead-free solder and tighten connections very firmly. This always makes for a long-lasting and solid connection. I use the same solder to fill crimped connectors and glue-lined shrink tube to finish them. There is a battery terminal spray that works pretty well for preventing corrosion on ring terminals bolted together. If you want a super long-lasting connection, solder the terminals together before bolting. Heat them to get them apart 30 years later. I consider all non-soldered connections to be short-term temporary. I never use solder with lead anymore. It's toxic and it corrodes easily. Silicone dielectric grease is the greatest stuff ever. I use it for electrical stuff and also for plumbing for thirty years before they started selling it for that purpose. Another favorite goo is copper anti-sieze compound. It's the best for stainless steel nuts and bolts, which commonly gall and weld themselves together when made of the same grade of steel. Some of this stuff I learned from an old buddy who worked as an aircraft mechanic.
Again I learned so much. I thought this would be too basic, but your 3 decades of experience mixed with your technical background and that of some of the commenters taught me things that are very helpful and just plain fun. Thanks Clark. : )
You are very welcome. Please pass the playlist around.
Thanks Emily and Clarke! Really appreciate this series
“That brings an end to terminals…” That was a good one, sir.
Really good explanation on soldering vs crimping. Never thought about the heat loosening the solder connection. Great point.
Thanks Allen
I'm wiring a McGregor 24 foot Venture that was gutted of wiring. These wiring videos are a life saver. Thank You so much,
Just finishing tomorrow's video on how the use a multimeter.
Hope you have subscribed. Maybe share links around?
These technical videos don't get as many views.
I was just thinking of you two yesterday. Appreciate ya'll.
Thanks
Thank you for the series Clark. Been meaning to watch for some time and finally getting around to it while I'm stuck COVID isolating (oh joy 🙄). I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of your smasher tool for larger terminals. I've encountered those connections and they often seem to come lose over time. Now, maybe they weren't done well in the first place but I have had great luck with a small 10 ton hydraulic crimper. It is hand tool sized and works for a variety of wire/lug sizes (12 AWG to 2/0) using interchangeable dies. I've cut these connections apart w/ a hacksaw and it basically forces the tiny strands into a solid copper wire. I've used on our RV battery bank and our boat's bank. I've been very happy w/ the connections and haven't had to redo any of the work. And oh yea, I've done that whole thing you described w/ the loose terminal connections generating like 2200 watts, forgot to tighten a connection on a 600 amp shunt, completely melted the shunt and quite a bit of insulation on the wires attached to it. Great point on the physical connection. Thank you for the series, really appreciate the videos!
Excellent video. The different grease and methods to stop/hold off corrosion were very helpful for me. Thank you! I used your links to get set up for my BM2 install.
Thanks
Great job Clark. These videos are going to help make boating more accessible to many.
Thanks. Please share the playlist with your friends.
Another great video! I've been showing my son each of these videos. He is headed off to college to be an engineer. He loves the way that you describe things. Please keep these going!!!
Thanks Thero
Another fantastic electrical video! Thank you for sharing the knowledge with us simple folks!
Thanks, nice of you to say Cody
A neat trick I just heard about: after wrapping a connection with vinyl tape, you can swab it with pvc pipe cement and it will fuse together and become totally waterproof, especially if the wire has pvc insulation. Thanks for this great series, I’m learning so much!
I'll try that sometime
Usually cracks off. If I see this mess it is a required cut out. The cements are brittle. It isn’t liquid electrical tape.
Clark, thanks - another great lesson in the series - gave me the knowledge and power to change out the terminals for my bilge pumps - before they fail and I have an emergency!!
Thanks again Clark. Again you enlighten us all. We trust the road trip is going well! Fair Winds
Thanks Craig. Just getting started for real. Visiting family again. Emily's side this time.
I watched a guy replace an old defunct 220V well pump. The four wires coming out of the new pump were 10 gauge stranded un-tinned copper wire and were factory sealed where they exited the pump motor. He stripped off about 3” of the pvc wire insulation from all of the wires and did some kind of in-line flying linemen’s splices that weren’t any thicker than the diameter of the insulated wires. I was unable to pull them apart. He wrapped each connection in two layers of pvc electrical tape and coated them with a thin layer of regular pvc pipe cement. He then bundled the four supply lines together and taped over that with one layer of pvc tape and some more pvc cement. The pump was immediately submerged and lowered down the 150’ deep well as fast as he could attach the sections of pipe. I asked how long that the electrical connection would remain water proof. He replied “Well, I drilled this well 20 years ago and I just replaced the original pump, so at least that long.”
Mind Blown…
High quality tape. Only done by old ways now when someone screws up the supplies list. The splicing is analogous to rope splicing. Skill defendant, why nobody wants to rely on these methods now. Most pumps are installed with mechanical non-insulated barrel crimps with glue shrink over, tape over is just for chafing.
I had a ferrel crimper on the boat I just bought. Now I actually know what its for. Thank you.
A great set of details, techniques, and tools/potions to use that would be difficult to discover on one's own. Once again thanks for sharing your experience. Priceless!
Thanks Steve
All this is Gold. Thanks Clarke
Your technical videos are always useful and entertaining, cheers
Thank you
Loving this electrical series!
Clark, this is very good information but there were no closeups of the terminals. I know what you are talking about but there's probably folks out there that don't. Overall very good information especially the part about not using solder on large connectors. Yes I've done the same thing but won't ever do it again. Keep the good stuff coming.
Thanks for more material on this topic ! So far it's been fantastic !
Always learning something new. Ferrules, what handy little idea. The Victron solar controllers use the screw down terminals and ferrules would be an ideal solution. Thanks
I'm actually so happy I bought that $30 ferrule kit. No more loosening screw terminals and no worry of a wire strand causing a short.
@@Clarks-Adventure thats been my concern too. Now thanks to you I have the solution.
Well, always more tricks to learn. This time, using heat shrink to mark things and ferrules.
I would love to see a video on hooking up Solar panels in addition .
OK
ruclips.net/video/XDLK5CuGQPo/видео.html
Really great recoding. It’s so useful to have the benefit of your practical experience. Thanks again. This is a very interesting series.
Thanks John
Solid information for solid connections. Thank you! One little detail from my experience is that soldering a wire creates a hard spot that will break at the solder joint after several bends. Crimped connections without the solder do not fail as quickly.
I agree. And I seldom solder. Laziness!
When I do it's only for the huge wire where it's just not breaking in my application.
That is the industry line. Hand build bikes and some others will disagree.
Look into Cool-Amp a silver plating powder used to plate copper with silver. I have been using this since the early '70s make sure my copper connections are low resistance. The cost has gone up quite a bit.
Excellent! you terminated that correctly and completly
Great video introduction. I dissuade others from soldering not for it being bad just the skill required. The marine code is not against it just can not be the sole means of attachment. Make it mechanical first. I commonly find marine shrink terminals not mechanically secure also.
What's your experience with those shrink/solder connectors you melt together with a heat gun?
@@Clarks-Adventure Trust like a 2 year old with an unwrapped chocolate bar. That would possibly work on an led indicator diode and resistor, so they aren’t useless. I tested a few when I first saw them, failed reliability. They resulted in a cold soldered joint. Really not that hard to crimp a naked ferrule and shrink over.
I suspected as much. Haven't tried one myself. Now don't have to. Thanks for an opinion I trust.
@@Clarks-Adventure O though please do for video destruction explanation purpose. A few $1 sample packs shall do.
Great stuff. Honestly did not know about conductive grease, or about the 4-square crimp connection for terminal blocks. Most solar charge controllers use these screw-in crush type connections, and they always seemed a little sketchy to me, the vibration issue makes perfect sense. Thanks!!
"That brings an end to terminals"..... yeah ok. These have been fun, thanks.
My one pun.
And I live with the queen of puns
Very helpful! Thank you!
Excellent presentation! I used the dielectric grease in aircraft- your conductive grease does make sense in areas. Thank you!
Thanks. Yep when you don't have different contactors ganged up it's probably best.
What a great video - keep up the good work - loving your presentation and detail - just great - thanks
Thanks Darren
Great video. Will look at your amazon store for the crimp tools.
Glad you liked it Dave
I felt really connected to this video.
All joking aside, great tutorial. The only thing different for me is my hydraulic crimper for the larger ends, but as you said, not for everyone.
Great advice thanks!
Thanks for the ‘various greases’ tip⚡️⚡️ 👊😊
You're welcome
I tried silicone to seal bus bars for underground sensors and it caused more corrosion than it prevented. The curing byproduct of many types of silicone is acetic acid. Use only silicone specifically made for electronics.
Good point
Very well done, again.
Nice work Clarke. When does the book come out that supports this series 😉
I wish people read books nowadays.
Who makes your favorite crimper tool? Great job. Never'd seen a hammer crimping tool.
They are either already or will be by tomorrow in my Amazon "store". See the link in the description of the video.
I silver soldered my battery leads, then heat shrink tube. Like the grease, they make a spray for when your done..
I don't like soldered leads. I say always go with a good mechanical connection.
Think about when corrosion sets in years later. You push some real amps and make heat. It could melt your solder and then you might have a charged wire getting into mischief.
Maybe solder afterwards if you like suspenders with your belt.
@@Clarks-Adventure have an hydraulic crimped for my 00 cables silver solder is much higher temperature than lead, but silver is a much better conductor thus gets rid of the resistance of the connection. I am an EE also programmed machine code for 37 years, worked for the DOD, then DARPA , learned to silver solder young boy from my father. I would think with your knowledge you would have learned the skill. Never too late too learn and it is very addictive when you see it’s result’s especially in low voltage circuits. Good reason why it is used in high fidelity circuits. Seen what you have, you only need the silver solder, the heat touch you used too hear shrink has a special tip with a catalytic converter can attain the higher temperature needed, that your electric iron cannot get to. You will need a heat sink that attaches to prevent harm too other components in the process. Yup it takes practice kind of a lost art. Like welding with jumper cables in a pinch using a coat hanger and CD as an eye shield, surprised what you come up with in the middle of nowhere and have too weld two pieces of metal. Now I carry a cheap small harbor freight stick welder just for that reason. I too felt I learned more from Teaching at Universities, the students in asking pull on you too explain in ways that they can understand, note I used the BBs in the straw, pushing them through with pinched fingers as too a magnetic field pushes the electrons through the wire. Again kudos too your series. Do you run 110 or 220 on your boat? It’s another long term argument, but with your cruising experience be just curious.. Fair Winds.. If you Ever Sail up too Long Island or visit my wife and Myself Love too take you both out for dinner.. Our Starlight is out In GreenPort she is a Beneteau Oceanis 350 1989 I have an 8D and 4D and starter battery, all AGM’s have been looking into the prospect of replacing the 8D with Lithium, I think I would have too agree that your solution of total amps is the right way too go. I also agree that the companies just want too sell batteries.
Another great video. Thanks!
Thanks David
Thanks Clark, really informative and educational!
You're welcome Mariko
No better way than to crimp.
No need for soldering as flux itself can add to corrosion.
Screw terminals with tinned copper wire can get squeezed apart by the screwing action on the tin, which acts as a lubricant.
Simply select the cable and suitable crimp terminal for the job in hand.
Top Tip: obtain a suitable crimping tool with the interchangeable "crimp heads".
You'll need two tools, one for up to 6mm2 wire. And another, much bigger, for 6mm2 to 50mm2 cable.
The latter may be nearly two feet long and require a fair old bit of squeezing together.
If doing a lot then suggest you buy a hydraulic unit.
And lastly but by no means least a few rolls of self amalgamating rubber type tape..
As in wrap the crimped terminal entirely in tape except the contact surfaces, job done.
Self amalgamating tape ideal for wrapping pipe joints which refuse to be nipped up too.
Hope that adds to your methodology.
Nice explained. The grey things with the orange levers are called Wago clips, I use them to make temporary connections while repairing industrial and maritime PCBs that need connections to other stuff like powersupply, sensors , switches, potentiometers etc so I can measure things and find the bad components. I only use spade connectors for "permanent" connections . If they need to be waterproof I use shrink tubing (the version with glue). I do not like the bullet connectors, they come loose to easy. To separate (good quality) blades you need a lot of force compared to bullets. But maybe I have used the wrong brand.
About the crimp-tool, be careful, there are also versions made for bare connectors/terminals. So without the coloured plastic around the crimp part. They look the same but are not usable for the red/blue/yellow versions.
I have a simple but very good quality stripper/crimper for 40 years or so, and it still works fine, but I like the fancy ones more because I am lazy. I work with lots of different wires in metric and AWG sizes. The auto-stripper is more easy because I do not need to know the wire size but they do not last long. I also have two fancy strippers that each can strip 6 sizes , one for metric and one for non-metric wires. Those are my favourite strippers (found them used on a ham-fest about 15 years ago, needed some work but they work great).
Mine aren't real wagos. They are Chinese knock offs.
Great presentation.
Thanks Skip
excellent !
Thanks Jeff
How do you make connections with the tiny LED and GPS wires?
Tiny wire is easily soldered.
There are also small spring connectors, screw terminals, crimp connectors.
I don't really know what size wires you are referring to.
What is a good way of joining 10 AWG 3-COND? Individual butt connectors, or something else?
Depends on the application but butt connectors work.
Hi Clark: Miss you already. Do you have a link to where I can buy a 'small ' tool to crimp the new battery terminals for the incoming Lithium battery for s/v Atabey ? Cheers !
There is an Amazon store list in the description of our videos.
That device won't will be in the list tomorrow at the latest.
I'd not recommend soldering for a few reasons . Soldering it brittle is the big one . Also can you do a video on wire color code . On boats it is way better to use Yellow for DC negative as Black can be confused with AC 120 volt hot wire.
I must say I use what I have. Often I can only find red and black.
Great job 👍
Thanks Rajesh
Clarke: 23:26 "friction tape, I use it for weird things, but that's another story"
Me: "Errrrrmmm"
First Mate: "Tell me more"
Has to do with boat rigging. For example under seazing on ratlines
Do you have a source of Bronze Bolts in your amazon or other links?
I've never been let down by Jamestown Distributors. But Google what you need. There are lots of people selling, can't speak for their quality though.
If you are just clamping wire terminals you don't need the best bronze
@@Clarks-Adventure Thank you. Going there now!
Keeping boating costs down is important, and given that is the focus of your videos, normally I find some value in your channel.. While I do balance cost vs. reliability, I tend to favor reliability.. Let's face it, sometimes while sailing, we are far away from help so reliability is of paramount importance..
However the misses and I watched your latest video about terminals, and you can ask the misses how crazy you made me, and how I was talking to the TV over the methods you suggested.. Sadly we have one of those flat screen TV's which can't handle throwing my shoe at it as the old CRT type of TV could..
In the video you showed using several techniques which are either contrary to ABYC standards, or really should not be used.. Also given your suggested use of non-heat shrink terminals invites corrosion.. You forget, as a wire warms up, moisture is drawn up into the wire via capillary action, and will corrode the wire far up into the insulation.. This is why heat shrink type of terminals absolutely should always be used in bilges or any place where moisture or water is present.. I just watched a video this morning with a sailor having a non-functioning electronic head.. Turns out, the power lead to the toilets pump had totally corroded through.. And you guessed it, a non-heat shrink terminal was used..
You did talk about heat shrink tubing, but really never impressed how important it is, especially with uninsulated cables (such as the battery cable you put together).. While I am not an ABYC certified technician, I do believe up to 2" of the stuff is required on uninsulated terminal..
Yes, saving money is very important.. But you have a responsibility to make sure the methods you suggest are not just short cuts to save a dime or two, but actually maintains reliability, if not improves it..
You may want to review Jeff Cotte's channel (Pacific Yacht Systems), Nate's channel (Explorist Life), for how real useful advise is given.. There are others, but these two come to mind.. At the very minimum, you should preface your video with a disclaimer that you are not a ABYC certified technician, and the advice you are giving may not follow their guidelines..
Now you may think "Hey, it's worked for me for over 20 years I've been sailing".. But then that does remind me of the tale of the guy who jumped off a 10 story building.. As he passed the 5th floor on his way down, someone asked, "How's it going".. He replied "Pretty good so far"..
flk
P.S. We watch RUclips on our smart TV.. Because of this there isn't anyway to leave comments.. However this was important enough to me to go the extra mile to find the video on my computer and leave my thoughts.. This isn't just another "hate" comment, but rather one which is very important to me..
flk k
Love Jeff and he is still learning as well like all good professionals. ACBY gospel is restricted to 2 countries and is continuously updated. It is for manufacturers, not the same as marine working industry including Coast Guard Inspected Vessels. I repair ACBY certified installed errors. Some of the passed manufactured North American production work is just garbage.
My vessel some connections shrink many not depending on where they are. If the end of the wire isn’t sealed glue or not isn’t relevant to salt intrusion.
Hey Clark, very good video. I have a question. I was replacing some terminals a while back and saw there were several different kinds of metals they can be made of. When I replaced them the first time the machine had no power when it was hooked up. Come to find out I had the wrong type of metal terminals. I think I put zinc ones on it. Do you have any information on what types of metals to use? The batteries I was working with were lead top post style. Thank you!
For lead batteries with lead poles, lead terminals are probably best. Copper plated in tin is always a good idea.
Avoid aluminum in my opinion.
@@Clarks-Adventure do you mean tin plated copper?
Yes
I have studied electronics all my life. One of my professors once told me that electricity is made of smoke. He explained that once smoke gets out of the wire, your appliance no longer works.... 😃
That's the proof I always use for that theory.
If i, or another fan would like to travel to your location and have a good time, would you like that?
And how can we find you and let you know were close?
We have already met some patrons. We had a lovely dinner in Indianapolis with a couple who we met on Patreon.
I don't think we will be putting current locations here on RUclips directly but we will make meetup opportunities available on Patreon.
@@Clarks-Adventure supercool, thanks!!
My dream is to sail as well, not just weekends, but as a home. But i'm afraid of so many things, because its something i know little about, i can sail, and do all the maintenance, but still, it would mean no more income, and a home that if something happens it costs a pretty penny.
Would have been good to have a close up camera so we could see detail
Lots of good info in this episode
Thanks Mark
Regarding the "waterproof" adhesive-lined connectors and heat shrink: It's almost impossible to really make something waterproof 100% of the time - so if just a tiny bit of water gets in, it will then stay there - making the problem worse. It's far easier to "encapsulate" something to keep water out than it is to try to make a watertight seal.
Reason for gel wire. Not almost impossible just a lot of work I do them sometimes replacing whole wire harnesses as failure isn’t acceptable.
There is a school of thought that says soldering already crimped connectors is a bad idea in vehicle applications. We know that we need to use stranded wire because vibration will cause early failure in solid wire. When you solder a connection you would want the solder to wick up the strands under the insulation. Otherwise why do it? You're trying to seal the exposed strands right? What you end up with is basically a solid wire. You have just created an early vibration failure point, with arguably no real advantage.
Yes. Wish I knew how something would fail ahead of time.
There are untinned stranded wires on Temptress that are still going fine after 50 years.
I don't think your connection should get hot enough to melt solder. If it does, there is probably a problem. If using in a high temp item, there is high temp solder, upwards of 600F.
Yes one problem gets you an even larger problem. I regularly recast lead battery terminals from getting hot enough they melt off. We use 2 12v batteries to weld, 15-120watt is most soldering irons.
@@braithmiller again, if your terminals are melting you have a problem. Pulling way to much power for the set up. Nothing should get that hot.
@@helomech1973 It has nothing to do with ‘to much power’ rather high resistance at any mechanical contact. Union halls used to do labs on such things to get it into the tradespersons heads.
My terminals don’t melt, I repair a lot of different systems so see it across marine, land, road and specialty equipment. The basic make mechanical fastened then solder. There is a reason.
Thanks Braith
@@braithmiller Too high resistance is a problem, which is exactly what I said. If you have high resistance, you have a problem. Solder should not melt in a normal functioning system. Not saying not to do a mechanical connection. Simply stating facts, if it is getting that hot, you have issues in your system. Been working on helicopters, cars, boats, farm equipment my entire life. You should not have cables getting that hot. If it does, need to look into why.
Having to repair marine electrician mistakes use tin copper wire crimp, solder
Crimpace- made in USA just collected my first in marine salvage store. Why this isn’t still made?!
Fun how much people argue the gospel they learned as if it is the only correct way. Weird people like the history of how all this has ever been done. Love pre-war trade books. Btw - I comment with two accounts guess
👍!!!
Hi Clark, I have a question if I may: Ryan from the RUclips channel "Ryan & Sophie Sailing" (ruclips.net/video/b4DAy_JSgFE/видео.html) on his tech-talk video (36'23'') showed a terminal burned, he said it is because a "bad crimp". My question is whether is possible to identify a bad crimp (if it look good visually)? Perhaps, will the wire resistance be different between a wire with a good terminal and good crimp and another wire with a bad terminal or bad crimp? Thanks!
That's part of the tip I promise at the beginning of all this. How to find a voltage drop on a live circuit.
Probably get to that video once we get back to Temptress next month.
I've laid all the ground work for it.
👍🧿
Love the math. I almost feel smarter. Lol if I could remember it.
Thanks Luke
Never use any kind of silicon even near wires. I have found that in the hard way.
And why??
👍🏻🇨🇦
Please do more closeups when showing tools and connectors, and other small items. To you, closeup, these things may be clear; from a meter or more away, it's not. All your demonstrations in this video were USELESS.
Sorry. Maybe you need to find another series that meets your high standards or stop complaining so much.
These are hard to make