Harsh environment crimp connectors

fc3 said:
The specs show that label maker's printer is thermal transfer. I found that thermal prints don't last and turn dark pretty easily even when not exposed to heat, like in the engine room. I am not a fan of thermal transfer printing technology. Have you found that the text remains legible for years?
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Thermal is different than thermal transfer.

Thermal will change from heat or reaction to contact w/ plastics.

Thermal transfer is there for the duration. It is as solid as the substrate.

Yes, these all still look like new after many years.

My setup has five stocks. All three sizes of heat shrink, one size of self-laminating wrap and one size of panel stock, to cover all my uses. Very handy.
 
Uplate said:
Just curious, and maybe it is a Marine thing, but why would anybody want to use a crimp connector when a solder connection would likely be far more secure and conductive? Welding parts together have always seemed better than "smashing" them together.

In our electrical work, a solder connection is always preferred to a crimped one. Heatshirink is used for insulation only as ring connetors attach to buss bars.
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Soldered connections are prohibited under ABYC guidelines. Essentially it makes single strand wire out of multi-strand; only multi-strand wire is permitted on boats due to vibration because single strand wire can "break". I would question the use of solder-filled connectors as well.

I've always used the wire and heat-shrink conn's (Pacer) from Bestboatwire, but I have had problems with the ring terminal connectors as there's precious little space to crimp and sometimes it fails if not precisely done.
 
These are the ABYC guidelines... You have to use ring or captive spade connectors:

"Terminal connectors shall be the ring or captive spade types.” 11.16.3.4.

"Twist on connectors, i.e., wire nuts, shall not be used.” 11.16.3.6.

"Ring and captive spade type terminal connectors shall be the same nominal size as the stud.” 11.16.4.1.12.

"Solder shall not be the sole means of mechanical connection in any circuit.”11.16.3.7.

"Solderless crimp on connectors shall be attached with the type of crimping tools designed for the connector used, and that will produce a connection meeting the requirements of E-11.16.3.3.” 11.16.3.8.

"The shanks of terminals shall be protected against accidental shorting by the use of insulation barriers or sleeves, except for those used in grounding systems” 11.16.3.9.
 
Gary,

Thanks for the article and pictures - I haven't heard of Boeshield T9 - just picked some up - thanks.

Wasn't that your toe in the picture?? LOL :)
 
OK...

I got the box-o-stuff from Presentation.

He knows crimps.

I need to find out how to buy the stuff he sent as it makes Ancor look like poop.
 
Four Suns said:
OK...

I got the box-o-stuff from Presentation.

He knows crimps.

I need to find out how to buy the stuff he sent as it makes Ancor look like poop.
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Presentation said:
Gary, if you want some quality Mil spec crimp terminals send me your address and I’ll send you some. I think I even have some sitting around that are nuclear radiation resistant and 94-V-0 (self extinguishing) rated.
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There is a reason why a mil-spec hammer or toilet seat costs $400.

These sound like exceptional connectors, but as has been stated, comparing mil-spec parts to commercial parts is apples and oranges.

By all means, please provide manufacturer and MFG part numbers. I'd love to get my hands on some and to get pricing on these parts.

The pricing and availability may return us to "good enough" parts.
 
Also, it would be a crime to use a $10 crimp tool on a $10 ring tongue connector instead of the $400+ tool that is specifically designed for that part.
 
wingless said:
Also, it would be a crime to use a $10 crimp tool on a $10 ring tongue connector instead of the $400+ tool that is specifically designed for that part.
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Keep in mind; I am not trying to sell anyone here anything. Do not PM me to buy because I can not sell them to you. I replied to Gary’s post and am providing information only. I’m not here to spam these boards. Gary even offered to send me some money for what I sent him and I told him not to, that I gave him the items as a friend.

These products are not retail type products. They are not normally at retail type stores such as home depot or west marine. If you really want to get your hands on these products you can find them at wholesale electrical distributors throughout the country and I’m sure Google will turn up some internet based sellers.

Trying to be as fair as possible about pricing, I’m going to try to error on the high price side, below are ‘trade’ or ‘manufacturer recommended’ pricing for items that are as close as possible to what was originally discussed here:

Ring terminal, for 10-12 gauge wire, Nylon insulation, #10 Bolt hole size, non-bulk box of 50 pieces. Terminal part # RC10-10. $117.15 per 100 pieces (2 boxes) or $1.17 each. If you spend some time on the internet you may find them for less then this.

Crimp tool with ratcheting mechanism for this specific series of terminals would be ERG-2001. This tool will crimp the Red (22-16 AWG gauge copper stranded wire), Blue (18-14) and Yellow (12-10) $433.06/each.

These are trade pricing, or manufacturer recommended pricing. In the real world, a volume customer like a military ship builder would be buying the bulk equivalent at a greatly reduced price. For example the terminal would be RC-363, 500 in a box and the pricing would be much lower per terminal. On the tooling side, again, in the real world, a volume customer would often qualify for manufacture promotions that are offered from time to time. One of these promotions is running right now. Buy at least $500 of this brand of terminals from a manufacturer authorized distributor and get the ERG-2001 tool for $0. ***Warning – this is going to sound like a sales pitch*** this promotion is as good as it gets and is not offered often. I will not sell the terminals to anyone here but if you cant get the flyer for the free tool I’ll email you the redemption flyer. The flyer would need to be sent in by the end of the year.

Jim & Wes, I have taken effort to make this a non-sales pitch. If I crossed the line of this forums TOS please delete this post, I will understand and have no hard feelings.
 
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The RC10-10X is a Thomas & Betts part.

There are on-line distributors for those parts.

Those Sta-Kon T&B parts have an excellent contruction and are ideal in a marine environment.

Those parts are useful for high-volume users that can justify maintaining large inventories of many different parts.

My medium-volume usage has me maintain 10-20 of each part, which is still a lot. I can't justify bumping up my stock volumes, but I would otherwise select those parts.
 
Not to try and divert this topic but to try and clear up some misconceptions about military components. Mil standard parts cost is dictated by many things one of which is the documentation requirements which must be maintained for a number of years after manufacture. The hammer and toilet seat are good examples of a $20 item with $480 of paperwork! In many cases commerical components are equal or superior to Mil standard components but cost much less because of the manufactures are not required to create and maintain the dreaded paper trail. Semiconductors are a good example, the typical Integrated circuit microprocessor in your modern PC is fabricated in a process that is superior to anything our government has, and the process control far exceeds any mil standard requirements. If this was done to mil requirements the quality would actually decrease and the cost would dramatically increase, because in this case the mil standards are not good and comprehensive enough and the paper trail would choke the manufacture. Simply said our military can't design or fabricate anything close to what the commerical semiconductor industry has, they were passed and left behind 20 years ago!

So the belief that mil standard parts are better is not always true, but it's for sure they will cost more!!!
 
tobnpr said:
I thought the reason that marine wire is tinned is because solder is resistant to corrosion as compared to the bare copper wire?
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Same here. I thought the tin provided the corrosion resistance. Also tinned wire is easier to solder because solder won't adhere to copper oxide, tin providing the barrier to corrosion and improved solderability (if that's a word!).
 
Uplate said:
In our electrical work, a solder connection is always preferred to a crimped one.
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Pirate said:
Solder does not tolerate vibration or corrosion at all.
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tobnpr said:
I thought the reason that marine wire is tinned is because solder is resistant to corrosion as compared to the bare copper wire?
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mawyatt said:
Same here. I thought the tin provided the corrosion resistance. Also tinned wire is easier to solder because solder won't adhere to copper oxide, tin providing the barrier to corrosion and improved solderability (if that's a word!).
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The marine wire has individual strands of wire that are tinned, so the multi-strand insulated wire maintains flexibility.

Yes, the tinning improves corrosion resistance.
 
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