No, I missed that because it wasn't truly a link and had no color to it. But, I found it and have now looked. Turns out everything they in this category is Cole Hersee stuff. Here are some thoughts:

• They have battery isolators that require mod's to the alternator wiring and those that don't. So, I don't understand and will have to call them.
• They have Battery Sensing Isolators that "Isolates When Both Batteries Drop Below 12.7V. Batteries Will Reconnect When Either Battery Voltage Reaches above 13.2V for 2 Minutes.
• And, they have Battery Separators that "Isolates When Batteries Drop Below 12.7V. Batteries Will Reconnect When The Main Battery Voltage Reaches above 13.2V for 2 Minutes.

I like the sensing isolators or the separators. Both do everything I was wanting to do with the continuous-duty Cole Hersee solenoid, and then some. Anyway, I think I'll call CH and see what they recommend.

Thanks!

 

I have to find a simple way to post *links* from my phone.

Cut&paste the url into my post is simple, but doesn't do it.

 

Not sure why it doesn't work. Both my iPhone and iPad will crash if I highlight text and then hit the globe/link icon to make the text a hot link. So, when posting links from there I just past the link and FTE turns it into a hot link.

Anyway, I really like the CH smart battery isolator, which appears to be either their 85 or 200 amp solenoid with smarts attached. Texas Industrial wants $176 for the 200 amp job, but Amazon has it for $110 on Prime. However, the 85 amp unit is only $61 from Amazon.

I'm thinking the 85 amp unit would be all I need since the alternator is only good for 60 amps. Yes, the unit has a "boost" function to parallel the batteries if needed for starting, but I can do that with my battery switch. So, I don't know that I need more than 85 amps capability.

Thoughts?

 

I love Amazon Prime!

Been using Amazon Smile of late to send a few pennies to good causes.

 

Not entirely true...

I'm giving away my age here, but for reasons unknown, Boeing 727s had soldered terminals on the connectors at the horizontal gyros. The foolish things failed with alarming regularity, right at the point where the solder had wicked up between the conductor strands. So yeah, I'm definitely in the anti-solder camp.

To prevent corrosion inside a crimp, I highly recommend two things:

1) Use marine grade terminals and wire. With the wire, the individual strands are tin coated. Great for corrosion resistance. Most automotive grade wire is just bare copper. Yes, marine grade runs a little more, but years from know when you post a follow-up to thank me, I'll buy you lunch and the expense will all even out. Ancor is a good brand, available from many sources. Also, don't forget that the positive and negative battery posts are slightly different sizes, so you will need to purchase correspondingly different sized terminals. I do not care to discuss how I know this.

2) Before making the crimp, add some dielectric compound in the crimp area. I'm very partial to Dow Corning DC4:



This is the same basic stuff used on spark plug boots. Makes a great dessert topping, too. It's strange stuff because it's neither a conductor nor an insulator. Within the crimp, it won't interfere with the metal to metal connection, but helps prevent corrosion by excluding oxygen. But if some leaks out, it won't conduct anything on its own like some types of grease can.

 

Ok, three guys that I trust tell me not to solder. I'm now converted. Thanks, guys!

And, I've made note of the wire recommendation, and will follow it. Thanks for that as well.

The link Brandon provided eventually produced this drawing for using an isolator and a battery selection switch. So, I think I will replace the Sure Power battery isolator in the drawing with the CH smart isolator, and be good to go. But, notice how many cables are needed? Now do you see why I need the crimper?

 

Don't look at me to deter you from your addiction.

I'm not only a toolahaulic enabler, I will push new stuff on you that you never knew you craved..

 

I don't WANT to be detered. I just want acceptance. Understanding. Commiseration.

 

I was just quoted in another thread.

In my *quoted* post the url appears as a highlighted link.

Idk...

 

Not on my browser:

 

Gary, the cabling we did at NNS for the Navy was strictly crimped, not soldered, at least not on the big stuff. We had to do pull tests on samples to make sure it couldn't come apart.

 

I have seen pictures, but havent found any for sale. I see some terminals that look as though have like a collet inside of them. I am not talking about the kind that have a big set screw in the side. These have hollow looking insert that looks as though it threads into the terminal where the wire goes. Those look like they would work well.

 

I've been making all my own cables, as I've mentioned before, for the past 20 years or so and also make them to order.
Here's my take:

As an alternative crimper that doesn't take up much space and is very portable, these hammer crimpers are quite good.


I've made a lot of cables using one until I bought the crimper I pictured in the "Tools" thread.

For terminals I use milspec terminals.

The reason for that is the ease of adding additional cables, but more importantly if the terminal becomes worn it's easy to replace without having to replace the cable.

For lugs I use magnalug heavy duty made by QuickCable.

This one was crimped with my hammer crimper.

I use adhesive lined heat shrink on the terminals. The adhesive seals the joint completely and a good heavy duty heat shrink adds strain relief.


I crimp only. With a good crimp there's no reason to solder.
You might want to consider Marine cable. It's a higher strand count than standard battery cable (more like welding cable) which makes it more flexible and better conductivity, each wire strand is tinned and the insulation is oil/chemical resistant.

I've cut open terminals I've installed as above and after 10 years on the underside of the vehicle the copper looked as good as the day I made them.

For the isolator, make sure you use one that has Schottky Diodes, otherwise you will get a high volt drop.

 

Thanks, guys. It looks like the consensus is to crimp and not solder. You are now preaching to the choir. (But, I'll still solder and heat-shrink all my splices of smaller wiring.)

Now for why I need to make cables. Today I put my new HF battery chargers on the boat batteries and, while in there I did some looking around. In this first pic you can see the mess I have. In the very top of the pic you can see the original 2/0 positive cable going off to the on/off battery switch in the gunnel, and then coming back and going to the starter. Pretty much dead-center in the pic you can see where the 2/0 cable is connected to a #4 wire coming from the CH battery switch that lets you pick Off/1/2/1+2. And, that splice is shown in a close-up in the 2nd pic.

Not shown are the #2 wires from each battery to the CH switch. But, you can see the fairly heavy silver and blue wiring going to the stereo system's amps, plural.

Also, note that both batteries are on the same side of the boat. In addition, the way the seating is laid out more people sit on that side of the boat than the other. So, I'm hoping to balance things a bit. The battery in the back lists at 53 lbs, and the one in the front at 45 lbs, so I have ~100 lbs of batteries on one side of the boat. I'm thinking of moving all of that to the other side.

In other words, I plan to completely revise things, and that means custom cables - with crimped connectors. I realize that a hammer-operated crimper works, but I have a lot of cables in my future, so want the ease-of-use of a hydraulic unit, especially when they are so inexpensive.

Tom - Thanks for the input on cabling and connectors. I'm sure to use it.

 

Gary, after viewing this video:
I decided to go with the 10 ton crimper. Found the exact same one on Evil-Bay for about 10 bucks cheaper, with free shipping.

This is the only good video I found on this crimper and he cuts the crimp so you can see what it really looks like...and it looks very good. Hopefully we get the same results.