Crimped a gauge 2 wire a new way

Discussion in 'OnBoard Electronics & Controls' started by sdowney717, Jul 10, 2021.

  1. sdowney717
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    Worked very well. It is about 1/4 inch. I used a brake line flare tool... simply this. Took old fitting which was loose. Heated it with propane torch an whacked a rod into the hole to straighten it rounder. Then cleaned wire an lug in vinegar. Scrubbed rinsed dried. Fit wire strands into lug. First used the 3/8 hole on brake tool. Squeezed tight and slammed with sledge. Then onto the 5/16 tube hole. Fit into brake tool. Tightened and slammed with sledge. Tightened and slammed with sledge. Worked super. It is as tight a connection as can be
     
  2. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    Solder?
     
  3. philSweet
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    philSweet Senior Member

    fallguy likes this.
  4. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    For joints of a certain size, the standard makes good sense. But crushing a soldered joint borders on hilarious.

    I suppose one could solder, crush, er crimp that is, a 2/0 lug, then reheat it, but that seems a but xtreme as well, especially because the lugs aren't really made for crimp are they?
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2021
  5. sdowney717
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    Solder? What solder? Sodder?
    Who said anything about solder or crushing a soldered joint? I am not interested in soldering on lugs, is that what you do?
     
  6. sdowney717
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    Just solder on you fools. Soldering your high amp lugs.
    It was loose cause whoever made it first time did not do it right, it looked squeezed with pliars. I still dont get the crimping a soldered joint comments, are you guys on something? To get the lug off, I used a sledge and whacked it to round it out, then grabbed copper strands with vice grip and pliars on the lug and bent it over and it slipped out from the lug. Some of the wire strands were broken so I cleaned up the end by using scissor and cut them off to get a new end to work with, lost about 1 inch of a 15 foot wire.

    If about 10 strands had not been broken, I likely would have left it alone, but I want to use this to extend the battery starter cables to my 6500 watt generator.
     
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  7. sdowney717
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    I know pics or it never happened idea? After I was done, i wrapped with rubber tape.

    The loose lug was not the same, so some prior guy had replaced it, other cable also has the square lugs, so this round ended one is newer

    Anyway, I dont get the joke. If you think this is bad, just say so, but why are you talking about solder.
    I used a torch to soften (anneal) the old copper lug so it would be easier to open up.

    https://photos.app.goo.gl/DWPb7AA8wJGCzaWK6
     
  8. sdowney717
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    picture test
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  9. sdowney717
    Joined: Nov 2010
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    sdowney717 Senior Member

    One of my picture posts vanished, why is that?? Maybe I accidently deleted it.

    I got an automated message, apparently it was malformed, so the system deleted the entire post

    "Your post in the thread Crimped a gauge 2 wire a new way was deleted. Reason: Sorry, not sure exactly why this didn't work; the URL may be too long for the IMG tag in this case and the IMG tag is looking for an image extension (.jpg) at the end."

    The reason it failed, I copied in the link to the pic, not the pic, so the system had an issue with a google photos link to a picture.
     
  10. Boat Design Net Moderator
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    Boat Design Net Moderator Moderator

    Ah got it. I merged your two posts together above. The Images in the one post were not showing.
     
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  11. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    I was told to solder my lugs by a reputable dealer, but man. Oi vey. Thanks for the post. Soldering big joints is really hard to do well.
     
  12. Rumars
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    Rumars Senior Member

    Soldering is forbidden for several reasons: vibration can break the joint and correct soldering is almost impossible without damaging the insulation. Achieving a proper soldered joint takes a lot of practice and very good tools even on bare wire. A properly crimped connection actually welds the lug to the cables and does no heat damage.
    The hammer swaging shown above is a hit and miss thing, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.
     
  13. Barry
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    Barry Senior Member

    I would recommend Liquid Tape instead of electricians tape. It seems to make a longer lasting joint as it does not appear to deteriorate as electricians tape does.
    If using electricians tape, stay away from the stuff from the big box retailers and by 3M or equivalent. There is a lot of poor quality offshore tape which often does not last a year
     
  14. fallguy
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    fallguy Senior Member

    from Minnesota, I only use scotch brand...

    funny the guy that sold me the lugs told me how to solder them...it IS really hard to do well
     

  15. The Q
    Joined: Feb 2014
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    The Q Senior Member

    That tool looks very like an ormiston crimp tool, used to crimp small boat rigging rigging, I've got one somewhere but also recently bought a 10ton hydraulic crimper off amazon. Only £30, Working both in electronics electrics and having a motorboat that needs rewiring and a sailing boat that needs rerigging it's easy to justify.
    The ormiston crimper
    upload_2021-7-11_7-27-36.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2021
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