flat ground straps

[peter lena 9,100]

@formariz  that type of soldered old school strap , is the deal , just find it amazing to watch others struggle with a simple fix, too obvious to me , will just stand out of the way , like jumping over hood hinges for a better  ground, ?  now thats really a tough one, pete

[Handy Don 13,378]

On 12/15/2021 at 8:29 PM, Jeff-C175 said:

 

That's not really the point.

 

The point is that if the photo on amazon is accurate, the so-called crimp of that aluminum foil gauge ring lug is totally unacceptable.  

 

A proper crimp connection has to provide mechanical strength and crimp tightly enough so as to exclude oxygen (specs and standards typically call this "gas tight") which would oxidize the metals which over time would increase the resistance of the wire / lug interface.

 

Folding thin metal over the wire and pressing flat does neither of those things.

The thin metal of the lug is not easily overcome, but one could try soldering the lug to the braided wire to make that connection gas tight. I agree, however, that these seem appropriate only for non-vibrating, weather protected situations

 

4 hours ago, wallfish said:

If you have bolt cutters grind the tip of the jaws sharp edges to a ( )

Never gonna cut much with the tip any way but it works great for crimping those lugs.

Very cool suggestion.  Now to keep an eye out for bolt cutters (which I never thought I'd need or use) when cruising the tag sales.

[peter lena 9,100]

@formariz  that type of soldered old school strap , is the deal , just find it amazing to watch others struggle with a simple fix, too obvious to me , will just stand out of the way , like jumping over hood hinges for a better  ground, ?  now thats really a tough one, pete

[peter lena 9,100]

@Handy Don  it would be nice to pick up a large pair of wire crimpers , like you mount in a vise , we always had a set in a welding booth , for wire lug make up , we used to make everything to support a  work set up , we also had a tubing bender fixed in a vise , for panel layout tubing work . pete

[Handy Don 13,378]

1 hour ago, peter lena said:

@Handy Don  it would be nice to pick up a large pair of wire crimpers , like you mount in a vise , we always had a set in a welding booth , for wire lug make up , we used to make everything to support a  work set up , we also had a tubing bender fixed in a vise , for panel layout tubing work . pete

After rewiring my second trailer I broke down and bought a good crimper for small electrical connections (the color-coded ones). Boy, I sure wish I'd done that years ago!

 

FWIW, I also tried out a can of "liquid electrical tape" to try an extra seal on top of the shrink tubing on the boat trailer wiring where some of the wiring gets immersed on launch/recover. Except that it takes a couple hours to fully cure, I like it and after one season I'm not trying to find the ruined connection for one light somewhere.

[peter lena 9,100]

@Handy Don  FWIW , you can get pneumatic tubing  for a wiring cover , we used to make up control boards with that. great wiring  protection , pete

[Handy Don 13,378]

41 minutes ago, peter lena said:

@Handy Don  FWIW , you can get pneumatic tubing  for a wiring cover , we used to make up control boards with that. great wiring  protection , pete

It isn't the wire runs, they are nicely tucked into the frame. Its the *$#!?.& salt water and the connections. If the wire connections are not perfectly watertight, the water gets in and gets sucked into the stranded wire via capillary attraction. Copper wire and salt water? Fuggeddaboutit.

[Jeff-C175 7,203]

24 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

sucked into the stranded wire via capillary attraction

 

Ain't dat da troof!  I rewired a boat trailer for a buddy a few years back.  Cut off the crimp, stripped... bad wire... OK, go back a foot, I'll splice and solder and heat shrink... BAD WIRE... another foot, BAD WIRE!  Yeah, suffice to say that I ripped it all out and started over.  The liquid electrical tape is good, but make sure the stuff goes up the wire well past the actual connection point.  AND that the insulation itself is not permeable!  (I've seen that too!)

 

[peter lena 9,100]

@ jeff-c175, thats another good thing about pneumatic  tubing , you can swage lock connections , letting you add what ever you need , while keeping it , air tight and secure ,  pete

[wallfish 17,568]

29 minutes ago, peter lena said:

@ jeff-c175, thats another good thing about pneumatic  tubing , you can swage lock connections , letting you add what ever you need , while keeping it , air tight and secure ,  pete

Interesting. How are the wire lug ends kept air/water tight with the pneumatic tube connectors? Pics?

[peter lena 9,100]

@ jeff-c175, thats another good thing about pneumatic  tubing , you can swage lock connections , letting you add what ever you need , while keeping it , air tight and secure ,  pete

[wallfish 17,568]

Was that a double post or are you assuming I can't read?

[Jeff-C175 7,203]

11 minutes ago, wallfish said:

Was that a double post or are you assuming I can't read?

 

My posts get doubled sometimes too, don't know why!

 

Pete, I'm not sure what you're saying about the pneumatic tubing too.  Are you saying to put the wiring inside tubing?  Probably cheaper and easier to use wire with appropriately rated insulation?

[wallfish 17,568]

1 minute ago, Jeff-C175 said:

My posts get doubled sometimes too, don't know why!

Mine do to every so often but not typically with another post between them. Guess it's possible which is why I asked

 

 

 

[peter lena 9,100]

@wallfish  ,

 

[peter lena 9,100]

@wallfish https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-External-Junction-Connector-Electric/dp/B07TFSLLBY/ref=asc_df_B07TFSLLBY/?  this type of box is a very good electrical hook up junction , mounted at highest area , just something i have used , with no issues, pete 

[formariz 11,994]

21 hours ago, peter lena said:

it would be nice to pick up a large pair of wire crimpers , like you mount in a vise

Here is what  and how I use it!

[squonk 42,720]

7 minutes ago, formariz said:

Here is what  and how I use it!

That crimper is meant to be hammered. But a vise keeps it all nice! 

[pfrederi 18,367]

2 minutes ago, squonk said:

That crimper is meant to be hammered. But a vise keeps it all nice! 

 I have one of those.  Nice tool but can be hard to keep everything lined up in the vice.  So I give a shot with the hammer first the put it in the vice to get a tighter crimp....

[squonk 42,720]

23 hours ago, Handy Don said:

 

 

Very cool suggestion.  Now to keep an eye out for bolt cutters (which I never thought I'd need or use) when cruising the tag sales.

If you ever worked in a hospital or school. You almost need to carry a set of them. Pad locks on lockers always need to be cut off. School kids lock the key in the locker. OR nurses write the combination inside the locker door and then forget it! 

 

Best one. Whenever I got called to cut off a lock in the hospital, I had to have security with me so I wouldn't be accused of cutting locks at random and stealing stuff. I get called to cut one off and go get the security guy. I had to wait like 10 minutes for him. Finally we go up and the nurse is waiting for us so she can get in her locker. Turns out to be one of those teeny tiny suitcase padlocks on it. It was so small the bolt cutters wouldn't even grab it. I whacked it with a hammer and it fell apart! 

[formariz 11,994]

12 hours ago, pfrederi said:

 I have one of those.  Nice tool but can be hard to keep everything lined up in the vice.  So I give a shot with the hammer first the put it in the vice to get a tighter crimp....

One places cripmper with lug in it already in vice. Crimper is spring loaded so lug stays put. Tighten with light pressure. Then insert wire and tighten. No difficulty at all. 
  My other method. Place lug in vise hole up . Fill with solder. Push wire into it.  Then crimp also as indicated above. 
 With either method never a problem lining up things or holding them . Results are always consistent.

Edited December 20, 2021 by formariz

[formariz 11,994]

14 minutes ago, squonk said:

That crimper is meant to be hammered. But a vise keeps it all nice! 

Never liked that method . Hammering never consistent, and too many things to do at same time to come out consistently correct. This way no drama and predictable consistent results.

[Jeff-C175 7,203]

58 minutes ago, formariz said:

Full with solder. Push wire into it.

 

Cas, not following you...  you heat the lug and fill with melted solder?  and THEN crimp?  that doesn't make sense to me.  Why not crimp first, solder later?

 

[Handy Don 13,378]

[formariz 11,994]

10 hours ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

Cas, not following you...  you heat the lug and fill with melted solder?  and THEN crimp?  that doesn't make sense to me.  Why not crimp first, solder later?

 

LOL. A little unorthodox right?

I always liked the idea of filling the uncrimped lug first making it easy for solder to totally cover and penetrate through wires. Then crimp and apply heat shrink cover. 
I have however many times just soldered and not crimp. I actually like that better and never had one fail.

Edited December 20, 2021 by formariz