Fitting new battery cable terminal....great video

NASA seems to accept soldered direct connect terminals :)

https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2 books/links/sections/613 Terminals.html


It therefore looks as if vibration at the terminal is not an issue on rockets....


Here's some discussion on 'wicking' fallacy.

https://forum.sparkfun.com/viewtopic.php?t=20574

I do note that strain relief is a common feature in the specifications, so perhaps having long lengths of unsupported battery cable is not a good idea. The longer the length between solid attachment points, the more inertia of the cable there is when the boat goes over a wave, and hence potential for movement, or sympathetic vibration with engine revs.
 
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imho
the guy in the video gave a very carefull explanation, and did a good job, but not a pro,
what he said on the crimp tool is worrying, he used a 35mil tool for the 50mil clamp,
so the crimp will be just "approximately" right,
in a pro crimp, you use the correct tool, and crimp it completely / before you can release the tool;
and there is no need to put solder.
oh yes,
solder will avoid corrosion on the wire ends, but that corrosion is negelectible in the grand sheme of things.

when a crimp is perfectly done, the mechanical contact inside is nearly perfect homogenious
we did hundreds of such crimps in mobile applications (OB vans) with a correct tool, and never put any solder inside, never ever had a problem with that.

the idea of using solder to garanty the good connection inside this high current cable clamp woud anoy me, because Tin has more resistance than copper, so could warm up when the curent gets high...

using silicone for closing these openigs is no good idea imho, silicone might not glue perfectly with the metal, so still leaving some openings for moisture, so it will give you a "false" feeling that you've done a good job.
(silicone is a product that I alway's avoid to use onboard, better use the correct type of sicaflex / 3M or perhaps tek7, depeding on the job to be done)
 
BartW said:
imho
the guy in the video gave a very carefull explanation, and did a good job, but not a pro,
what he said on the crimp tool is worrying, he used a 35mil tool for the 50mil clamp,
so the crimp will be just "approximately" right,
in a pro crimp, you use the correct tool, and crimp it completely / before you can release the tool;
and there is no need to put solder.
oh yes,
solder will avoid corrosion on the wire ends, but that corrosion is negelectible in the grand sheme of things.

when a crimp is perfectly done, the mechanical contact inside is nearly perfect homogenious
we did hundreds of such crimps in mobile applications (OB vans) with a correct tool, and never put any solder inside, never ever had a problem with that.

the idea of using solder to garanty the good connection inside this high current cable clamp woud anoy me, because Tin has more resistance than copper, so could warm up when the curent gets high...

using silicone for closing these openigs is no good idea imho, silicone might not glue perfectly with the metal, so still leaving some openings for moisture, so it will give you a "false" feeling that you've done a good job.
(silicone is a product that I alway's avoid to use onboard, better use the correct type of sicaflex / 3M or perhaps tek7, depeding on the job to be done)
Click to expand...
We use these tri-rated bell mouthed lugs on 3 phase power connections using 16 tonne crimpers, rather than the 8 tonne the chap was using. We routinely have to use different size jaws because the crimp terminals vary in wall thickness quite considerably, so a heavy crimp for stiff armoured cable would require the 50mm2 jaws for 50mm2 cable, but when a bell mouth crimp is used for tri-rated then dropping a jaw size is perfectly normal. He was careful how much pressure he put onto the crimp and left a small gap between the jaws, otherwise I have commonly seen the crimp extrude sideways into the minute gap between the smaller jaws, although this is harmless, and means the crimp is ultra tight, but doesn't look quite so tidy.

I do feel he should have edited out the charring of the insulation when he was doing the soldering, although yes in real life anyone would be quite happy the charring is out of site and out of mind once the heatshrink is applied, although I would not discount use of Self Amalgamating tape for this aspect. However, it is not always possible to solder so cleanly when the lug concerned is hanging adjacent to its intended connection point. Not so sure I would be overly happy with a Mapp Gas torch in the confines of my engine room literally lying right next to the starter motor, laying in a very narrow access gap, and mostly one handed. Drop the torch, or lose attention of where the flame and heat are going and you have created your very own Viking funeral !

I do not agree that applying solder can increase the overall electrical resistance. The solder will flow into the tiny gaps between the hard squeezed strands, and at their periphery the relatively flat surface of the crimp, providing greater electrical conductivity, it won't displace strands so cannot reduce conductivity / increase joint resistance, it can only increase conductivity (IMHO), but whether this has any net effect is questionable.

I am in the process of replacing all my start supply cables as mentioned in another thread, and all the joints will be hydraulically formed, but I am preferring to use the heavier armoured crimps, with tri-rated cable purely because these present better cross section from the cable to the flat bolt hole at the crimp lug itself.
 
Can I ask why you are using tri-rated cable rather than tinned please ?

The only tinned battery cable I have used seemed a lot less flexible than untinned - but I am not certain the untinned had all 3 certifications.
 
sarabande said:
Can I ask why you are using tri-rated cable rather than tinned please ?

The only tinned battery cable I have used seemed a lot less flexible than untinned - but I am not certain the untinned had all 3 certifications.
Click to expand...
Because we use it at my business in vast quantities. Besides on an enclosed power boat the entire run is in very dry conditions so with well protected and properly crimped ends I am not so concerned about contamination causing corrosion of the terminals. The Tri-rated is certainly easier to handle and route around difficult places than some of the stiffer heavy duty cables with thicker and fewer strands.

The original cables on my boat are not tinned and apart from those running through the bilge areas for bonding I have never found any with the tell tale black oxidation present.
 
superheat6k said:
The original cables on my boat are not tinned and apart from those running through the bilge areas for bonding I have never found any with the tell tale black oxidation present.
Click to expand...
my experience as well. Only used tinned cable to redo completely the bonding in the bilges
All else are normal cable as was the 35+ yo nowadays original stuff [fingers crossed et al-checked the ais signal, boat is still afloat...]
 
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A question for everyone, how many times have you suffered a cable connection failure? I can’t remember any in over 30 years of boating. I’ve changed a few for other reasons, but never because of failure.
 
I have seen lug connections fail a couple of times a year in my working life, normally due to overheating caused by either loose connection or bad crimp. There have only been a couple in 40 years that were not due to the above.
I will admit these are not on boats but in portable 3phase distribution each of which had approx 100 lugs ranging from 120mm to 16mm.
 
longjohnsilver said:
A question for everyone, how many times have you suffered a cable connection failure? I can’t remember any in over 30 years of boating. I’ve changed a few for other reasons, but never because of failure.
Click to expand...

I've seen a few bad crimps go high resistance.
I've seen a couple of cables broken by fatigue.
I've seen engines not start due to bad wiring.
 
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