On Sun, Jul 18, 2010 at 09:42:56AM -0400, [email protected] wrote:
>
> I have a ratchet crimper (not West Marine) and have tried it a few times.
> I was not impressed. I suppose if I used the proper size wire in the
> proper size fitting every time it might be wonderful. But it appears to
> crimp the fitting a specific amount and unless the wire inside is the
> proper size it may be loose.
>
> So I use my hardware store crimper and squeeze it as hard as I can, and I
> don't always use the indicated color-coded crimp spot on the crimper to do
> it. I always give the fitting a strong tug on the wire when done. About
> 10% of the time the fitting comes off and I do it again, squeezing it
> tighter. Much easier to re-do it now than later when troubles develop.
My experience parallels Norm's for most of the above - except that I
bought a good quality manual, non-ratcheted crimper (made by Klein, I
believe.) When I make a crimp with that one - and I only use Ancor
fittings, since nothing sold in the average hardware store is worth a
penny - it stays crimped. You can also get good quality fittings from an
electrical wholesale supplier, which can be quite a bit cheaper than
Ancor, but you have to know what you're looking for.
> I will always remember arriving aboard a tanker that just had a teletype
> sort of rig installed. I started having all sorts of problems (I'll spare
> you the troubleshooting). Turned out to be a half-dozen blue butt-crimp
> splices. I saw the splices right away but assumed the "professional"
> installer had done it properly. They pulled apart with an easy tug. I
> re-crimped them with my technique and had no further trouble.
When I was making my living by working on boat electrical systems in the
Caribbean (among other things), almost all failures were due to bad
connections - and of those, more than 90% were due to crimp fittings.
Looking at it cynically, those little bright plastic tubes have made me
a ton of money. :) Oh, and cheap wire, too. Nothing more "fun" than
pulling apart a tangled mess'o'crap and watching the corroded wires pop
out of the crimp fittings with the slightest tug.
There was only one boat where I *knew* that any electrical trouble
actually meant equipment failure. The guy had been a mechanical
engineer, and had ripped out and replaced the entire electrical system
with neat distribution panels, nicely-routed oversized tinned wire, and
silicone-filled crimp fittings. It was all bright and shiny despite
being over 10 years old. It was a pleasure to see it.
> For Mission Critical situations it's hard to beat a soldered Western Union
> splice with a sleeve of "glue inside" shrink-wrap.
In general, I try to avoid splices whenever I can - but if I needed a
reliable one, that's as good as it gets. I don't solder end fittings,
though.
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