So who has tinned battery and other equally fat cables all tinned?

[Fuss]

After being told that high quality crimps on normal copper battery cabling is not good enough in another thread. I decided to check a few chandleries when passing to see how available fat battery cabling is in the tinned form.

Hmmm, seldom it would seem, No chandlery I have visited stocks it.... Do you know one?
Hmmm, Vetus, a big supplier of marine equipment, uses ordinary copper cable for the battery cabling.
Hmmm, so I'm doing a bit of boat work in the marina and find that I need some fat cabling, so I walk over to the boat shop, Surprise.... they only have non tinned, oh well, better use that then.... Or would some people suggest I order it online and wait a few days?

Do you have only tinned battery and other fat cabling on your boat?

[rwidman]

I have no idea what you mean by "fat" cabling, but my boat is wired with tinned marine grade wire. West Marine carries tinned marine wire. genuinedealz.com is a low cost source of tinned marine wire and cable. as well as connectors, ligs, etc.

If you're in some third world country you may have trouble finding it, but not in the USA.

[Ziggy]

Where are you located? At least in the U.S., most chandleries stock tinned cable.

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by Ziggy

Where are you located? At least in the U.S., most chandleries stock tinned cable.

Im in Europe in the Med.
They obviously dont seem to place as much importance on tinned here and certainly supplies from the average chandlery or marina are not common.

[Cheechako]

How long do they need to last? You could use normal copper and put that heavy duty shrink tube on the ends (the kind that glues itself on when you shrink it. Alot of boats dont have tinned copper battery cables. Not that it isnt the best!

[Maine Sail]

Done correctly, with a good wire jacket (105C rating), Mil-Spec dual wall adhesive lined heat shrink, closed end tinned copper battery lugs and crimped using a compression/swage type lug crimper that is properly sized for the terminals you'll be fine. Even using a finely stranded bare copper it can last a very, very long time if the execution is done well. Done correctly the bare copper wire will be sealed from the environment inside the jacket, lug and then sealed over with an adhesive lined heat shrink.

Over here, finding 105C rated wire with marine type stranding it is considerably easier to find tinned, than non-tinned.

Done well the tinned vs. non-tinned becomes a relative non-issue. Of course if you can fined tinned, then by all means use it, but don't beat yourself up over it if you do all the other steps well..

[Fuss]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

Done correctly, with a good wire jacket (105C rating), Mil-Spec dual wall adhesive lined heat shrink, closed end tinned copper battery lugs and crimped using a compression/swage type lug crimper that is properly sized for the terminals you'll be fine. Even using a finely stranded bare copper it can last a very, very long time if the execution is done well. Done correctly the bare copper wire will be sealed from the environment inside the jacket, lug and then sealed over with an adhesive lined heat shrink.

Over here, finding 105C rated wire with marine type stranding it is considerably easier to find tinned, than non-tinned.

Done well the tinned vs. non-tinned becomes a relative non-issue. Of course if you can fined tinned, then by all means use it, but don't beat yourself up over it if you do all the other steps well..

I agree fully,
Thats what I said in this thread below. The thread basically states that anything other than tinned is unacceptable in a marine environment. I think that this gives the wrong priority as what is most important is the quality of the crimping/heat shrinking etc.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...es-100984.html

[Ziggy]

My boat was built with non-tinned wiring. I've been gradually replacing it all with tinned. The workmanship on the non-tinned wiring is definitely not up to Maine Sail's standards and it is corroding, but so far I've had no problems in practice.

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Fuss

Im in Europe in the Med.
They obviously dont seem to place as much importance on tinned here and certainly supplies from the average chandlery or marina are not common.

It might have made a difference if you had given your location in the first place.

That said, I would be surprised if there really isn't any place to buy proper marine tinned wire and cable.

[hellosailor]

I think everyone has their own personal criteria for when "wire" becomes "cable" thickness.

We got lucky and found a spool end of Type3 Machine Wire, fully tinned, which is almost identical to battery wire. (I call it cable, they call it wire.) Do you plan to keep the boat for five years or longer? Do you like doing the same job twice? Do you like gambling? <G>

Sealing things up is all well and good and probably will work for you, but when you used tinned wire you simply eliminate one possible failure mode. Then you just find a handy 7-11 to rob to pay for it.

[rwidman]

I'm still wondering what "fat" cabling is.

[goboatingnow]

Tinned wire is available in Europe through industrial specialist wire & cable suppliers. It is not common in yachts therefore generally not available in chandleries etc

Dave

[Jim Cate]

Hmmm...tinned wire not common in yachts in Europe. On last inspection there were a hell of a lot of yachts in Europe. Most of their electrics seem to work.

Is it just possible that tinned wire isn't really all that important?

I've always used tinned wire when it was available, but I've never worried about it if it was not. Haven't had many failures due to corrosion of the wire... terminals and connectors, yes, but the wire generally seems to survive.

Maybe I've been lucky. For a long time. Who knows?

Cheers,

Jim

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Hmmm...tinned wire not common in yachts in Europe. On last inspection there were a hell of a lot of yachts in Europe. Most of their electrics seem to work.

Is it just possible that tinned wire isn't really all that important?

I've always used tinned wire when it was available, but I've never worried about it if it was not. Haven't had many failures due to corrosion of the wire... terminals and connectors, yes, but the wire generally seems to survive.

Maybe I've been lucky. For a long time. Who knows?

Cheers,

Jim

I agree. Tinned is preferable, but I don't think it makes a big difference.

[Emmalina]

Originally Posted by rwidman

I'm still wondering what "fat" cabling is.

Guessing 50mm2 to 70mm2