"Mark" wrote in message
ups.com...

Steve wrote:
I have noticed that the continued wire seems to have survived well.
i.e. the boat is 20 years old and the original stuff is which was
mainly
continued is fine. I can see no signs of corrosion even after
stripping
large lengths.

Had the 30 year old windspeed meter on my sailboat cease working
recently. Investigation revealed the 60 foot sensor wire had a break
in it somewhere. Connections looked OK. No visual sign of damage, but
cutting it in about the middle revealed black crumbs instead of copper
wire. Turns out entire lengths of the wire had corroded to dust.
Probably had worked so long because it was only handling a half volt or
so AC signal. It was non-tinned and had lousy insulation, sort of like
extension cord wire.

So it can happen, at least in small gage wire.

30 year old wire isn't a good example. Most 30 year old people are a bit
corroded inside

Wayne.B wrote in
:

And larger at times. I once had a similar condition with the shield
braid on a coax cable. Apparently the outer insulation had developed
a pin hole leak allowing moisture to enter. The copper braid in that
section had turned to green powder and was totally non-conductive.



I have never seen a piece of plastic covered coax cable like RG-58 that
DIDN'T have water ingestion if laying in water for any length of time. It
always eats the shield away...salt or not.

If you MUST run coax through the bilge, like to get to the mast, one great
way to prevent ingestion is to run the coax through a piece of nylon water
line, the kind used to hook up the house water source to the ice maker in
the refridgerator, that's just big enough to pass the unconnectored coax
through as a sort of flexible, sealed conduit through the bilgewater area.
Seal it on both ends with 3M 5200 forever. It now has virtually no
airspace to breathe in and condensate water and the water line is
impervious to the oil, grease, gook, amazing biological species and
seawater in the bilge....(c;

Small nylon airhose is also great, but it usually comes in a self-coiling
section, now, not a straight piece like the water line.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Yup! But I have a friend that soldered all his battery connection with a
small blowtorch as you mentioned.


My little MAPP gas torch did a fine job heating Lionheart's battery
terminals for soldering. There was very little wicking because the #0
cable strands are quite a bit larger than hookup wire strands. The
soldered connection is a neat, very strong and very low resistance
connection. You can pick up an L-16 by picking up its cable with this
solder connection. Try that with your crimp connector.

Soldering maximizes the contact surface area as far as it can be. Crimping
only makes contact with a tiny outside edge of the outside conductors only,
nearly a point contact but with some length down the hole.

Cold solder joints are the ones that "crack"....not properly soldered
joints which are stronger than the wire, itself.

Steve wrote in :

Does make me worry about the big multi-core wire in the mast though.


Cables hung vertically in the mast drain very quickly and are not exposed
to submersion. Where the mistakes are made is where they come out of the
mast at the top. Instead of allowing the cable to have a drip loop so the
cable doesn't become a path for rain and spray to ingest water into the
mast, the neatnicks try to see how much of the cable they can hide by
making it as short as possible. Then the water runs down the cable into
the hole, instead of dropping harmlessly off the drip loop that should have
been there. It doesn't have to be a full loop....just a sag in the cable
just before it enters the hole so the water can drip off...

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Yup! But I have a friend that soldered all his battery connection with a
small blowtorch as you mentioned.


My little MAPP gas torch did a fine job heating Lionheart's battery
terminals for soldering. There was very little wicking because the #0
cable strands are quite a bit larger than hookup wire strands. The
soldered connection is a neat, very strong and very low resistance
connection. You can pick up an L-16 by picking up its cable with this
solder connection. Try that with your crimp connector.

Picking up a battery by the cables isn;t a terribly good practice, although
a good crip should be able to do it as well.

Soldering maximizes the contact surface area as far as it can be.
Crimping
only makes contact with a tiny outside edge of the outside conductors
only,
nearly a point contact but with some length down the hole.

Actually, the conductors are flattened when they contact the inside of the
connector and each other giving quite a bit of contact area.

Cold solder joints are the ones that "crack"....not properly soldered
joints which are stronger than the wire, itself.

Not according to the research I have seen in the past. Perhaps that has
changed in the past few years.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Actually, the conductors are flattened when they contact the inside of
the connector and each other giving quite a bit of contact area.



Still, no matter how hard you crimp, the terminal only makes contact with
the very edge of the outer conductors, no matter how much pressure you put
on the inner conductors. Soldering makes contact with every strand on all
the surface area that's exposed......and properly soldered, prevents
exposing covered copper to seawater and condensation corrosions.

On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 19:57:15 -0500, Larry W4CSC
wrote:

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Actually, the conductors are flattened when they contact the inside of
the connector and each other giving quite a bit of contact area.



Still, no matter how hard you crimp, the terminal only makes contact with
the very edge of the outer conductors, no matter how much pressure you put
on the inner conductors. Soldering makes contact with every strand on all
the surface area that's exposed......and properly soldered, prevents
exposing covered copper to seawater and condensation corrosions.

with a properly crimped connector the wire becomes one solid mass
throughout.

regards
Gary

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Actually, the conductors are flattened when they contact the inside of
the connector and each other giving quite a bit of contact area.



Still, no matter how hard you crimp, the terminal only makes contact with
the very edge of the outer conductors, no matter how much pressure you put
on the inner conductors.

Just not true.

Soldering makes contact with every strand on all
the surface area that's exposed.

True, but the soldered joint is subject to other factors that will
compromise
it over time.

.....and properly soldered, prevents
exposing covered copper to seawater and condensation corrosions.

Moisture (especially seawater) will eat up a soldered joint pretty quick.
A properly crimped joint that is sealed from moisture will last a long time.

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in message
...

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Actually, the conductors are flattened when they contact the inside of
the connector and each other giving quite a bit of contact area.



Still, no matter how hard you crimp, the terminal only makes contact with
the very edge of the outer conductors, no matter how much pressure you
put
on the inner conductors.

Just not true.

Soldering makes contact with every strand on all
the surface area that's exposed.

True, but the soldered joint is subject to other factors that will
compromise
it over time.

.....and properly soldered, prevents
exposing covered copper to seawater and condensation corrosions.

Moisture (especially seawater) will eat up a soldered joint pretty quick.
A properly crimped joint that is sealed from moisture will last a long
time.



Sure it will last...if it is a "properly" crimped joint...but I don't think
you or Gary know any way to tell if it is "properly" crimped. So you go on
faith or solder. I'd solder.

When you section a crimp you can still see the individual strands so some
interface still exists. I will agree it is very close to homogeneous. If
however it is less than perfect there may well be excellent wicking
dimensions present.

Jim Donohue

"Jim Donohue" wrote in message
news:Obq2e.895$ZV5.546@fed1read05...

"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in message
...

"Larry W4CSC" wrote in message
...
"Doug Dotson" dougdotson@NOSPAMcablespeedNOSPAMcom wrote in
:

Actually, the conductors are flattened when they contact the inside of
the connector and each other giving quite a bit of contact area.



Still, no matter how hard you crimp, the terminal only makes contact
with
the very edge of the outer conductors, no matter how much pressure you
put
on the inner conductors.

Just not true.

Soldering makes contact with every strand on all
the surface area that's exposed.

True, but the soldered joint is subject to other factors that will
compromise
it over time.

.....and properly soldered, prevents
exposing covered copper to seawater and condensation corrosions.

Moisture (especially seawater) will eat up a soldered joint pretty quick.
A properly crimped joint that is sealed from moisture will last a long
time.



Sure it will last...if it is a "properly" crimped joint...but I don't
think you or Gary know any way to tell if it is "properly" crimped. So
you go on faith or solder. I'd solder.

Generally a high quality crimping tool will produce a good crimp.

When you section a crimp you can still see the individual strands so some
interface still exists.

Of course. Anything further would be pretty difficult to acheive.

I will agree it is very close to homogeneous. If however it is less
than perfect there may well be excellent wicking dimensions present.

Doesn;t matter if the crimped joint is sealed.


Jim Donohue