Wiring

[nies]

Question?......is better to solder or wire tie a set of wires off the another set to power a depth finder. I have a set of wires from the battery to my trolling speed. and I want to come off that set to a switch for powering my depth sounder.......one  "expert" says solder another says twist tie......Phil

[Craig Weis]

Without a doubt solder for a few reasons.
1~Low micro voltage, ultra high frequency. You'll need every amp you can get. Bad connections tend to drop amps. Increase resistance.
2~Dampness. I have never seen solder turn green with condensation. Like copper wires can if just pinched/twisted together.
2~Vibration. Never saw a wire fall out of the 'loop' when properly cleaned with acidic flux, tinned, and soldered.
3~It just makes for good common sense. How many times 'do you want to get down there and fix it'?
4~If you can not heat shrink then surround with silicone, or I use PVC electric tape and super glue.
5~This is all doubleable true when dealing with electronics.

Hummmm. You want to run power down stream off of a trolling motor SPEED CONTROL...Let me ask...Several ways to drive an electric motor. And they all vari the current/power to the motor. Some induce resistance. Some pulse the current, in a sense 'chucking the motor along', some drop voltage effecting amps. In a nut shell the power to the electric motor changes. A changing input to a depth finder is death.

I would run a separate fuse/feed [wire] and switch to the Hummingbird Depth finder from the battery, only because of a voltage drop/spike if feeding 'down stream' off of an electric speed control to a trolling motor.
Turn on the motor---> brown out. Turn-off the electric motor--->. Voltage spike = blown 'something' in the depthfinder. Unhappy you.

It ain't rocket science. skip.

[kchunk]

Hi Phil...

I work on commercial aircraft and crimped splices are used all the time.



Use a quality heat shrink adhesive lined butt splice connector, it's easy and relatively idiot proof. Generally, they're color coded for wire size and again, generally speaking, a crimp connector with insulation that is slightly translucent will be higher quality that the cheapy connectors with solid color insulation you can't see through...generally.

The above connector is preferred. The below connector is inferior and should not be used in marine applications (like Hutchins did when they built my boat   ).



As for adding your depth finder to your trolling motor circuit, I don't think necessarily it will cause death to your depth finder, but it may certainly blank out from time to time and reboot. But Skip is right though, for a mod like this, I'd certainly run a new dedicated protected circuit, or at least run a new circuit from an existing "Navigation" or "Electronics" circuit if you have one. It's just good practice.

--Greg

[Craig Weis]

skip only solders because he usually uses the wrong color on the right wire, or crimps too hard, smashing the whole thing and making a fine mess Ollie. Or after crimping a gentle pull and the wire pops out but the crimp thingy is ruined. So After I screw it up I solder the remains, tape and glue...snickering along and an occasional spark here and there.
"Wiring is 'ma middle name."

[nies]

Thanks to all, I will solder where appropriate and crimp other wise. The trolling circuit is for a trolling motor speedometer and not a motor ( 0 to 10 mph ), the speedometer is great for showing the differences between sails and having the ability to make sure I am getting the most out of the boat.....Phil

[kchunk]

Skip, we have a saying in aircraft maintenance, "The right tool for the right job". Now granted, sometimes we're referring to the mechanic as the "tool"    but with wiring, the right tool certainly helps. For $25 you too can have the right tool...and you'll use it a lot more than your solder iron.




http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000NI5EY6

[nies]

Guys, used to run a old plant that required a lot of maintenance with lots of break downs, we also had a old saying "Why is it we never have enough time to fix it right the first time, but always have enough time to fix it right the second time ", I think I will try and do it right the first time, thanks again....Phil

[kchunk]

Guys, used to run a old plant that required a lot of maintenance with lots of break downs, we also had a old saying "Why is it we never have enough time to fix it right the first time, but always have enough time to fix it right the second time ", I think I will try and do it right the first time, thanks again....Phil

OK. Since you started this thread, for the benefit of those who come across this thread at a later date, what way is "right"?

[nies]

Greg....crimp with proper sized clear butt connectors using the "right" tool .........Phil

[kchunk]

Greg....crimp with proper sized clear butt connectors using the "right" tool .........Phil

Wow...I'm really sorry about that. After reading your reply and re-reading my post, that question really seemed self-serving and self-righteous 

It sounded a little diferent in my head as I was writing it, but it looks a lot different when reading it. My apologies to anyone who reads that...I'm not really like that. 

--Greg

[nies]

Greg, never took the question that way, no need for any apology to any one, .......Phil

[Craig Weis]

Kchunk, I have this very tool. But still manage to mis-crimp. I only panic when the wires start to become too short.


"Greg, never took the question that way, no need for any apology to any one, .......Phil " Dido. skip.


So I pull and extrude my wire and soon develop a short...how cool is that?

When I wired up my bilge pump I was not sure if the one wire could handle the current of a long pump motor run. So I doubled up on the wiring. Two conductors per terminal. Just for S&G's.

skip.[/color]

[kchunk]

Skip,
Well, maybe I misspoke when I said crimping wire connectors was easy and relatively idiot proof. I've done a bit of soldering and for me, crimping is way easier than soldering.

The picture of your pump wiring is a bit small and I can't really see anything. If you're not sure if your wire can carry the load, just look it up. There are charts for determining the maximum current for a size wire.

Let's assume your wire was truly undersized, doubling it is not the best solution. What happens if one wire opens? Now your only remaining undersized wire will carry all the load. Since your fuse was sized to your double-wire circuit it won't protect just the single wire carrying all the load and you risk overheating your wire...or worse. Did you double the ground too? I would assume you did. Troubleshooting simple wiring circuits, on both boats and aircraft, the problem is almost always the ground. Now that you have two grounds for this circuit it makes troubleshooting a bit more difficult. What happens if one ground corrodes and has too much resistance? Rather than the component stop working, forcing you to repair it, your component will continue to operate on its remaining undersized ground wire.

I'm certainly no authority on wiring or electricity. In fact, most of my knowledge is practical knowledge that I can't always substantiate with facts. Just be careful trying to invent a better mouse trap...like you always say, "It ain't rocket science!" 

[Craig Weis]

Well your right nies
BUT my wires don't open up. He said beating his chest, cough, cough,cough...

And I'm too lazy to run to the store for proper sized wire.  

All my wiring is 16 ga. 'cause that's what I had on hand. So two conductors of 16 ga, sharing the same soldered and crimped  and soldered round terminal. I hope that's OK. If I make a fire down there, it'll melt my ice, and it's in the lowest part of the boat. So she'll only burn to the waterline...LOL!!

But I didn't size the fuse, infact this pump is wired to a pop-out-push-to-reset aeroplane type circuit breaker now that I think about it.
It came as an adder to the pump/switch/switch plate/C.B. it's all in the kit I bought at West Marine.

A small pump to be sure, either 750 or 900 gallon per hour...so about nothing per minute. But it pumps out my melted crushed ice in my 'adult beverage' cooler under the potty.

skip. I gotta get a job...I'm having too much fun.

ANY BODY KNOW HOW TO MAKE PICTURES LARGER FROM PHOTOBUCKET? I have been trying for months...

[kchunk]

FYI...Wire gauge tables.

A quick internet search and I found this site. I don't vouch for it's accuracy, it's just a simple easy to read chart without all the technical mumbo-jumbo...

http://www.rbeelectronics.com/wtable.htm

btw...assuming your pump draws about 3.5A and your run is under 25', 16 ga. wire is more than adequate. Desolder that extra wire.