My connection gets HOT!

[1980Galaxy]

Hey guys, I bought an aluminum bass boat a couple years back and after about a year the butt connectors for the trolling motor got hot, melted the jackets and shorted out. I replaced the fuse, put in new connectors with heat shrink tubing over the top. Problem solved..... until recently (about another year). This connection is getting really hot again with constant trolling motor use of a few minutes.

I assumed there was some resistance making it hot (ie. bad connection, corrosion, etc....) but i made sure to do a good job with the repair so it wouldn't happen again. Whats going on here??!!! Am I just going to have to make this repair every year, or what? Thanks for all your help...

 

[kmarine]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Make sure you get a clean connection on the wires or move to a heavier gauge wire. The longer the wire the heavier cable you will need. There is a chart available on what gauge you need for the cable as to how many feet of wire both positive and ground combined. maybee someone here can post one for you.

 

[1980Galaxy]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

It's only the connection that is getting hot. After I made the repair last year, everything was great. I could run it for a long time and it wouldnt even get warm. Over time, it started getting hotter and hotter. Like i said, I made sure to get everything clean and have a good connection... I just don't understand why it is going bad again.

 

[1980Galaxy]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Just another note: The boat is garage-kept. It's not like it sits out in the rain or elements. I use it alot but do my best to keep it in excellent condition.

 

[foodfisher]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

[QUOTE I made sure to get everything clean and have a good connection... .[/QUOTE]

Evidently not. edit: Dissimilar metals?

 

[1980Galaxy]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Are there special butt connectors for this use? Heavy-duty marine grade type? I googled, and looked here on iboats but they all seem the same to me, other than heat shrink coating on them.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Those are big wires so you need quality butt splices installed with a quality crimping tool. My prefered method is to solder the connections and cover with multiple layers of heat shrink tubing followed with a larger layer covering both wires.

 

[JB]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Dissimilart metals? You bet. Your battery ground cable is copper with a tinned spade connector bolted to an alloy block with a steel bolt. That is a corrosion factory.

Removing and servicing battery cables and connectors should be an annual routine maintenance item. Otherwise they cause unneeded and expensive replacement of solenoids, batteries and starters that aren't broke.

 

[TwoRivers]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Make sure you get a clean connection on the wires or move to a heavier gauge wire. The longer the wire the heavier cable you will need. There is a chart available on what gauge you need for the cable as to how many feet of wire both positive and ground combined. maybee someone here can post one for you.

Here's a link to a chart for wire size. I'm dealing with a similar issue.
Minn Kota Motors

 

[Thalasso]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

The reason wire heats up is resistance is to large. Dissimilar metals hasn't a thing to do with it. You need bigger wire or better connectors. If the motor has a problem it might be trying to draw to much power causing the hot ends. You need to find out what the motor is drawing amp wise and go from there.Soldering wires only make them brittle from heat. I would advise against this.If you rewire just make sure you use marine wire because it's tinned so it will reduce any corrosion problems and it's flexible because it's stranded.To measure resistance on the cable, take a ohm meter and place it on the cable connectors. Not on the battery terminal but on the lugs and see if there is any resistance like a bad wire. It should read below.1 closer to 0 if it's good.6 gauge wire is standard rigging for trollers up to 55# at 12V on the average boat.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

most of the time its the ends have not been crimped correctly or the lugs were the wrong size to start with. If you can see any air between the lug and the cable when its installed then it will fail in time. Replace the lugs and put a dab of grease over the terminals. I have nothing against solder but its not easy to solder a large cable with out damadging the insulation on the cable and a bad solder join is worse than no solder. If you have any friends that do large electrical ask them to crimp the ends for you.

 

[UncleWillie]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Splicing high capacity wires is not a good idea to begin with.
Consider replacing the entire lead with a single piece of wire.
The proper crimping tool could cost more than the wire.

An auto parts store that makes battery cables would be a place to see if they could properly crimp the splice together for you.
Or make a single replacement cable the proper length with the proper ends, correctly crimped.

 

[joed]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

The only thing that makes a connection hot is a poor connection. Redo them again using a different method.

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Correct! The battery terminal (or terminal block) will generally act as a heat sink. If the wire is too small, the crimped ends will usually be cooler than the middle of the wire away from the crimps. The solution is two-fold.

1. Make sure you start with a good connection. This can be either a good crimp or a soldered connection. If you crimp, keep the crimp air tight. This may be done by using di-electric grease in the crimp, or better yet, by using a good crimper in the first place.

2. Keep the connection clean and oxide free. Again, di-electric grease will keep the oxide from forming in the first place.

I know that many of you may not like the idea of di-electric grease, but that is what has worked for me. As far as dis-similar metals, they can accelerate the oxidation process, so I would try to stick with brass or stainless hardware where possible.

TerryMSU

The only thing that makes a connection hot is a poor connection. Redo them again using a different method.

 

[1980Galaxy]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

Splicing high capacity wires is not a good idea to begin with.
Consider replacing the entire lead with a single piece of wire.
The proper crimping tool could cost more than the wire.

^ That's exactly what I was thinking. Why in the world would they have this thing set-up like this in the first place?! The wires from the trolling motor are crimped to a little adapter cable end that plugs into the 12V socket. The thing is only like 4 inches long to connect the trolling motor to the power. Completely stupid in my opinion but I don't think I could get a replacement that is all one piece.... I tried to solder it the last time but was way to hard with that big of a wire so I just crimped them instead and wrapped in heat shrink.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: My connection gets HOT!

^ That's exactly what I was thinking. Why in the world would they have this thing set-up like this in the first place?! The wires from the trolling motor are crimped to a little adapter cable end that plugs into the 12V socket. The thing is only like 4 inches long to connect the trolling motor to the power. Completely stupid in my opinion but I don't think I could get a replacement that is all one piece.... I tried to solder it the last time but was way to hard with that big of a wire so I just crimped them instead and wrapped in heat shrink.

thats normal as trolling motors tend to come with out a plug attached and the plug is molded so it already has wires thus you have to join them. If you have enough wire you can buy a plug with terminals but they like to get water in them after they have been on the boat a few years and the seals have dryed in the sun. So its never going to be perfect but good crimps and heat shrink works wonders then a little split loom casing can make it look pritty