Introduction to wiring a boat?

[kaluvic]

Originally Posted by CatfishSoup

(im talking i barely know the difference between ac and dc!

There's a difference?
Damn!

[sailingdog]

BTW, I'd highly recommend reading Maine Sail's page on crimp termination of marine wiring and such... fascinating read with pretty pictures to drive the points home. LOCATED HERE.

Originally Posted by CatfishSoup

Does anybody out there have any good recommendations for literature on wiring a boat from scratch that could be understood by someone with almost no electrical background (im talking i barely know the difference between ac and dc)? Books would be great and websites would be great in the meantime while i get the book mailed to me. Thanks!

[Deadeye]

Originally Posted by dsiddens

crimped....Then soldered...

No offense Doug, but I'd say no to soldering the crimp terminals. The OP said that he's new to this and, I don't know if you've had to refit any soldered electronics but it takes a light touch with the heat to do it properly. I assume it's earnesty, but most everyone overheats the wire, causing the solder to draw too far up. This creates a hard spot that will break under vibration. For someone who's good with an iron, sure...but definitely not for someone who's learning as he goes.

Catfish, about the only other thing I might add to the great info here is that you have a chance to develop good habits because you're starting new. The thing that I would suggest is to start thinking of yellow as the color for DC negative wires, not black. The industry is slowly changing over because one of the three colors universally used in AC wiring is black. With inverters becoming so cheap, AC is becoming far more common alongside DC wiring because you can have a few more of the creature comforts. The ABYC is slow to change, but they're recommending it now, so it won't be long before the manufacturers who wish to comply will change as well.

Oh yeah, and definitely check out the 'Resources' section of the Blue Sea website...

Cheers and good luck!

[sailingdog]

Deadeye's point about soldering and about using YELLOW for the DC ground wires are both excellent ones. Also, don't use a Klein crimper, since you can get much better results using the ratcheting crimper sold HERE. It is basically the same as the Ancor beastie, but costs a good deal less. However, it is designed for use with heat shrink covered single crimp terminals, not the more common nylon/PVC insulated terminals that require a double crimp tool. You can get the heat-shrink terminal fittings at that same website at a relatively reasonable price.