Wiring Recommendation

[AlexL]

For anyone doing some serious wiring on their boat, I would highly recommend these guys.

http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.co.uk/

I ordered some bits from them, very cheap (how about 80p / meter for very flexible, multistranded 6mm^2 40A cable )
and delivery by return of post - took only 2 days from phoning the order for mine to arrive

I have no connection, other than as a satisfied customer.

 

[cindersailor]

Also try http://www.premierwiring.com/ Very nice guy who also has a boat! No connection to me, just satisfied customer.

 

[David2452]

Good supplier for a lot of stuff, but their cabling is not fully tinned and is really unsuitable for marine use.

David

 

[Evadne]

Thanks for the link, lots of other toys on their website for the boat and bike, even if the cable is untinned.

 

[Guest]

Tinned wire

Agree, tinned wire ought to be used.

The only supplier I could find was Farnell, (do a websearch) and they only had red or black 1sq mm or 2 sq mm in 50m drums, but very good prices

 

[ShipsWoofy]

Always?

So what happens if you do not used tinned wire on a marine application then?

 

[Stork_III]

Youv'e finally named it then! Look forward to seeing it. Hope Liz is well and coping.

Peter & Viv

 

[paulrossall]

The copper goes black, resistance increases and eventually the wire fails. The "black" (is it copper oxide?) creeps down the negative wire. I made the mistake of using un-tinned wire and have had to rewire after 3 years.

 

[ShipsWoofy]

If you seal the wire correctly then this will not happen.

 

[pampas]

Auto application wires are ok to use. After crimping, solder the exsposed strands.this will stop the negative corrosion taking place at the important bit,the crimp. On ac circuits not quite so important, After running the same wiring on one boat that I Had, No failures due to high resistance. My present vessel I have just rewired because there were volt drops at almost every terminal, Hope that this tip is of use.

 

[npf1]

good thread on this topic here ...

http://www.thehulltruth.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=56499&start=1&posts=7

 

[VicMallows]

Agree. In the 70s we used silver plated wire and gold plated pc board pins! and that was on huge mainframe computers living in air-conditioned rooms!.......and they were all redundant 5 years later.........

Vic

 

[Ships_Cat]

I agree too Woofy one. Is a bit of a marina myth, in my opinion, all this talk of having to use tinned wire and other wire falling apart. The myth gets resurrected from one thread to the next and forum to forum. Fine, if ones boat is wet inside or the installation is poor, but in that case one will have more to worry about than just the wire.

My view is it is good practise perhaps to use tinned, but by no means at all essential. In the end most things one wires to that have wire tails, including bilge pumps and switches which may live in water, will normally have untinned wire on them anyway.

In our own boat we specified tinned for DC runs, untinned for the electrical panel and untinned for the AC. But all good quality cable was used. After near 9 years the untinned wire is as bright as the day it was installed and that includes some in the bilge. There was no effort to seal any of it except in the case where one end could be expected to be immersed eg inside shower and bilge sumps).

John

 

[AlexL]

Hmmm, I would have thought (actually I know!) that the underhood environment in a car is MUCH worse in corrosion terms than the relatively protected environment of a modern boat.
I tin the ends of all my wires as a matter of course when wiring and usually seal alot of the connections with heat shrink.
However none of the wires which came with the system are tinned (appart from the exposed ends) so Raymarine obviously don't think this is a problem.

 

[Graham_Wright]

Except that it is probably pvc covered which is (slightly) permeable to moisture.
It will still oxidise.

 

[Evadne]

I'd disagree. Under the hood of a car it frequently gets hot, which drives off condensation. Its also usually a lot higher above sea level, so the RH is lower. Also less saline. On an AWB things are generally much drier than on the likes of my boat but I've found that mast wiring especially is prone to "creeping blackness" where the copper goes red then black then crumbles. That's why nothing above deck level works on my boat (hopefully that'll change this year /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif )

Another useful ingredient is Waxoyl, which should be applied, while it is still dry, to every joint that is not habitually made and broken.

 

[fireball]

Driving off condensation is one thing - but under the hood of my MGB its like a sauna in there when driving in the wet ... and still very wet when I stop ... less salt content though! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I have seen the creeping blackness in some cables - but this is on a 30 year old boat ... same problem is not yet evident on our (replacement) 10 year old vessel.

 

[LittleShip]

Re: Waxoyl

Dave,
I have used Waxoyl for years on my old cars, but never thought of using it for the electrics on the boat!!!/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
before I spray everything in site(like the cars) does it work in the marine environment.

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif