Boat Rewiring,tinned Cable?

[mr magoo]

hi folks decided to rewire my boat need tinned cable but i would like to get different wire colours do do the different things ,so by looking at the colour you could tell that was running the bilge pump for example ,there are plenty of place that sell black and red tinned cable but would like multiple colors ,could the good folk at fishraider give us some ideas were i could find this stuff

cheers arman

[donital]

As a car sparky I can tell you it won't be easy to get.Tinned is a specialty item and as such getting hold of multiple rolls of the stuff in different colours is very expensive.I would suggest that you do what I did and buy 1 spool of twin tinned cable (red\black),pass it through to the end and then stick a tag on each end saying what it is for(nav light etc.) .That way you can use just one roll .

[mr magoo]

As a car sparky I can tell you it won't be easy to get.Tinned is a specialty item and as such getting hold of multiple rolls of the stuff in different colours is very expensive.I would suggest that you do what I did and buy 1 spool of twin tinned cable (red\black),pass it through to the end and then stick a tag on each end saying what it is for(nav light etc.) .That way you can use just one roll .

thanks mate

cheers arman

[dangles]

buy different coloured heatshrink, cut into 10mm lengths slip over the ends and shrink on at say 1m intervals or whatever suits this way u can trace wiring even if it is the same colour

[donital]

I bought a 50m roll of twin core tinned last week to do my boat.It costs about $100.

[Seagoon]

Hey mr mango, just wondering why you want tinned cable? Its your call of course, but if i may offer some comment - if you are worried about corrosion, just use single core building wire - its has less overall surface area to corrode & holds its shape well (not good for flexing but). Also, tinning doesnt help conductivity - solder, tin and others are actually pretty patheric conductors compared to copper ;-)

BTW, if you are crimping or inserting your cable into screw terminals, dont tin it with solder - this actually reduces the compressability of the wire and means that the crimp or screw termination is NG.

All the best mate - should be a satisfying job!

Cheers,

Jon

[impulse]

I might as well add my thoughts and practical experience,

Tinned cable will not corrode as fast but will corrode over time if you don't do regular maintenance. When you crimp or use screw down terminals they will damage the "tinned" layer and expose the copper to the salt air which will start to break down (if you let it).

I spray all my wiring looms with Lanox (Inox with Lanolin). The Lanolin (from wool producing animals like sheep) is an excellent water repellent and will slow corrosion down to almost nothing.

As for not using solder for screw down terminals I would disagree as the soldier will hold the cores together and allow the screw terminal to bite down on the full conductor and not break or damage some of the cores. If you break or only clamp on some of the cable cores it will effect the current capacity of the cable.

I will agree that you don't solder the cable if you are using crimps as this is a no no, the same as you would never crimp a solid core conductor. What happens is that the crimping action will crush the solid core or the soldered core out of shape and greatly increase the chance of breaking the wire at the crimped point.

If you solder your connections then make sure you twist the wires tightly together first then solder them.

I use standard flexible non tinned cable with crimps, screw terminals and solider joints with no sign of corrosion at all (sprayed with Lanox every other month or so).

[traysexy]

Hey ,

Personally I wouldn't use building cable on a boat..

Although the size of the cores maybe the same, or indeed larger, they are still rated to 10, possibly 15amps...

Building cable has a thicker conductor due to higher voltage, low ampres that is generally used in a house.

Can you imagine if somoene was wiring up a boat and used it as a starter cale thats pulling about 30-40 amps under crank???..

Use the right cable for the right purpose...

Use DC cable for DC and AC mains cable for AC applications.

regards,

pete.

[Seagoon]

Hey tray,

The voltage type (either AC or DC) doesnt matter. Its the current that matters. 10 amps is 10 amps, AC or DC :-)

The cable has to be matched to the load current, and the length & CSA (ie resistance) of the cable and voltage drop tolerance of the thing on the end of the cable.

Cable does have a voltage and temperature rating, which is a function of the insulation thickness and properties generally. Using mains cable for extra low voltage DC applications is always fine so long as the currents are appropriate.

Cheers,

Jon

PS Thicker conductor = greater current handling capacity.

[traysexy]

Seagoon..

What I was refering to, was don't use mains cable as a starter....

I've seen people do that before becaue " if it's good enought to use it home, it's good enough for my outboard"..... no go..

pete..

[Seagoon]

Seagoon..

What I was refering to, was don't use mains cable as a starter....

I've seen people do that before becaue " if it's good enought to use it home, it's good enough for my outboard"..... no go..

pete..

Yeah definitely :-)