Boy, I screwed up bad today. I was all happy, purchasing a new boat cover from cabelas, and started the Dewinterization process on the smokercraft. I made a mistake I think reversing the ground cable for the starter. I hooked up all 4 cables, the main pos & neg, then 2 other wires to the pos side of the battery. I noticed the 1 wire getting warm, so I quick disconnected everthying, but not before the cockpit filled with a lot of smoke. Upon inspection, the wires from the ignition to a connector were fried. Plastic melted all over, wires coming off, ect. I have an electrician friend who will try and figure it out. Sucks!
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Just had the fun of replacing fuse block and a small handful of terminal ends on my boat. Corrosion. All terminal ends are now soldered.
NW Walker
Member
- Nov 26, 2012
- 88
Jags, while I understand your approach, current ABYC standards forbid soldering for terminations due to poor vibration resistance. Current practice is crimp lugs with integral heat shrink jacketing to resist corrosion. Not saying you did it wrong, it's probably way better than what you had before. Just throwing it out there for others who may be reading.
Good info.
Mine is just a little fishing boat. And I didn't let the solder wick past the terminal (used to be micro mini certified), so probably not a lot of issue with brittle wire. But good to know the "proper" way.
I'll be taking the boat to my friends after work to find out if its doable. Keeping fingers crossed
I'll keep everyone posted
I'll keep everyone posted
In the two yachts I helped build every connection was crimped, soldered and then marine heat shrunk. In over 20 years on salt water there have been zero electrical connection failures.
Sounds like you hooked the ground of your ignition to the positive? with the main chassis/starter/engine ground already installed.
Should be just the one wire that you hooked up and is most likely burned at the crimp(highest resistance) connections.
Good idea to change the entire length of wire as a megger won't see much insulation breakdown if the boat is fiberglass - different story when everything inevitably gets wet.
Should be just the one wire that you hooked up and is most likely burned at the crimp(highest resistance) connections.
Good idea to change the entire length of wire as a megger won't see much insulation breakdown if the boat is fiberglass - different story when everything inevitably gets wet.
You hit the nail on the head I think. That wire of a larger gauge got quite warm, but the smaller one all the way up under the console had a meltdown, taking other wires within the harness down with it. Ill surely know more tomorrow once we dig in.
NW Walker
Member
- Nov 26, 2012
- 88
Depends on who is regulating the build. 46 CFR for most commercial vessel builds doesn't allow them in wire ways at all. Currently accepted practice on private boat service work is again marine tinned crimps with integral heat shrink jacketing, with the whole splice then sealed in marine heat shrink tubing.
NW Walker
Member
- Nov 26, 2012
- 88
These Ancor brand are my favorite, but there are quite a few on the market...
http://www.fisheriessupply.com/ancor-heat-shrink-butt-connectors
http://www.fisheriessupply.com/ancor-heat-shrink-butt-connectors
I guess if I could bill for time and materials, these would work well, but dang...a bit pricey.
Should be a simple fix. Only damaged part is the ignition wire harness. Once I can find that part, my buddy will install a decent radio. Cheers!
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