Mine looks very similar, but the lid is hinged, not entirely removeable.

 

Mine isn't removable w/o a knife. So, they may be the same. I know the stuff works very well.

 

I bought a kit from our Parts Master dealer, nice, lots of sizes and colors. My previous source is no longer available.

 

The crimps look pretty good. The 2/0 is a little prettier than the #4 AWG. I expected the first round to be the learning curve round.However, those look really good. I bet the next ones will look like a precision machine did them.

I like your new tool!

 

Gary,

From the "Day Late and a Dollar Short" department, I just noticed a comment in the "What have you done with your truck today" thread. You mentioned the boat's batteries were in the wrong location.

I'm not sure where the batteries are, but the designers may have deliberately placed them there. When you gun the throttle, the boat wants to twist to one side in reaction to the sudden increase of torque. By placing the batteries on the side that lifts (even if this means longer cables), the offset weight helps reduce the reaction.

FWIW.

 

Maybe. But my brother's Sea Ray has them on the port/left side, so I know they put them there.

Here's my guess as to how it happened. My boat came with the fresh-water shower option, and the tank and pump were put in the port side. Unfortunately it didn't come with the dual-battery option. But, Sea Ray needed to have things set up so boats could have both options, and placing both options on one side would have put a lot of weight on that side. So, they put the batteries on the starboard side and tank/pump on the port side. Then, when the upgraded stereo was added a second battery and switch were added - on the starboard side for convenience and to keep the wiring short.

We are fresh-water boaters and don't use the shower, so I removed it - saving weight and freeing up space. But that makes the weight imbalance even worse when there's no one in the boat, and the seating plan forces more people to the starboard side than the port side. So I'm just trying to even things up a bit. And, I also have factory-installed trim tabs if there is an issue with torque.

As for how that's going, I'd say swimmingly. The crimper is working well, and the crimps look good. So far I've crimped on about 10 terminals and I'm very happy with the tool. But, it only works well with the extra-heavy duty terminals. Who would have guessed that the cheap tool takes the expensive terminals?

 

Thought I'd give y'all an update on the project to clean up the wiring on the 25' Sea Ray. Used the 16 ton crimpers extensively, the ratcheting crimpers some, and the cable cutters lots. Here's the verdict:

• 16-Ton Crimpers
  16-Ton Crimpers
  : These things really work! Yes, the die are sized for metric wires, but if you use the extra heavy duty lugs, like Magnalugs, they work very well.
• Eclipse 300-132 Lunar: These also work well, but they stake the terminal so don't make as pretty of a crimp. However, it is tight and I put the crimp to the bottom so it isn't visible.
• Klein Cable Cutters
  Klein Cable Cutters
  : And, these work well but they require a gorilla to cut 2-0 cable. I got there eventually, but it was a battle. So, if you have many 2-0 cables to cut you may want a bigger size cutter.

OK, so how does the project look? Well, I'm not 100% done as the convoluted tubing isn't in yet, but I think you can get a pretty good idea anyway. Here's what the battery wiring looked like initially, with the Sea Ray 2-0 cable positive cable coming in from the top, rubbing on the metal base of the trim/tilt pump, which serves as a grounding point, and then connects w/a #4 wire in a bizarre lashup in the middle of the picture with a lot of electrical tape.





And, here's the same spot today. Yup, no batteries as they moved to the other side of the boat to balance things.





And, here they are. Note that the is shown in the top right. This thing parallels the batteries via the #4 wires when either battery gets to 13.2 volts for more than 2 minutes. It works well, but note that its negative lead, shown between the two batteries, is not connected in this picture. That's because the HF chargers I have take the batteries to 14.0 volts initially and then drop back to about 13 volts. So, the solenoid comes in and parallels the batteries while they are being charged. And the solenoid pulls 650 ma, but a single charger only puts out 750 ma and you probably shouldn't run the chargers in parallel. So, I'm not sure how I'm going to charge the batteries - yet.





And, here's a closeup of some of the crimps, with both 2-0 and #4 showing.

 

Looks good! Nice and tidy. Glad the crimper is working out for you. My OCD gives you a .

I'm surprised to hear it takes that much effort to cut the cable. I have basically the same cutters, but blue handle (I think Channel-Lock brand), and they cut really easy. Maybe it's the gorilla in me coming out?

 

Thanks, Dave. I like things neat, so am pleased with the way it turned out.


As for the cutters, maybe I should have admitted that I'm almost 69. But, I think I'm in pretty good shape for my age, so my recommendation is to go with the larger size if you are cutting 2-0.

 

Just a followup in case anyone out there is considering the battery "isolator" I chose - the .

To set the stage, I don't like the diode type of isolator since they have a voltage drop of .5 to .7 volts from the alternator to the battery. In fact, from my reading you are supposed to modify the alternator by pulling out its sense wire and take that to one of the batteries to ensure they reach 14.4 volts. But, I don't want to modify my alternator, nor have to modify the next one when this one fails. So I chose the CH unit since it uses a continuous duty cycle solenoid to parallel the batteries two minutes after either of them reaches 13.2 volts, and it has no voltage drop from the alternator to the battery.

I did a lot of research before buying, including reading the many reviews on various sites, including those on Amazon. And, to my surprise, the unit got several pretty negative reviews, and the problem was something to do with shore power. Hmmm, since I don't have "shore power" then I won't have the problem, although I'll confess I didn't really think that one through.

When I got everything installed I connected up two of the HF Battery Tender knockoffs and called it a night. The next morning I was surprised to find that the chargers didn't show "green", meaning that the batteries weren't fully charged. But, a bit of investigation determined that the battery isolator had paralleled the batteries. And then it hit me - both shore power and battery chargers bring the battery voltage above 13.2 volts, which causes the isolator to parallel the batteries. Further, in my case the chargers were capable of .75 amps each and the isolator pulls .65 amps. Apparently the remaining .85 amps wasn't enough to bring the batteries up to 14.4 volts, which is where the HF units take the batteries before going into float mode. Further, if I left it this way and put chargers on for the winter the solenoid would be powered all winter - and it was pretty warm after being on much of the night.

To cut to the chase, I installed a relay in the ground circuit of the isolator. The relay is pulled in by the ignition circuit so it won't come in unless the key is in On. And, when the relay isn't "in" the isolator has no ground so it cannot function. Now I can put chargers on both batteries and know the isolator won't parallel them unless the engine is running.

Here's a pic of the relay beside the isolator. (Brandon - recognize the relay. ) And, just barely showing in the upper right corner of the underseat storage area is a green LED that shines into the boat. When the isolator has paralleled the batteries it takes the white wire low, and that is hooked to the negative lead of the LED. So now I can tell at a glance if the isolator is working.

 

Looks like one of the JY relays we acquired at some point. I think I still have a few of them laying around. I should probably round all of tat stuff up in the near future. I am confident the motor will be back Jr within a couple of months and then I have to clean up the wiring as well as install my JY load center .

 

Yep, that's what it is.