Wire gauge

[green-thumbs]

Price of copper not weighth is the reason. Aluminum wiring in houses and commercial buildings gained a bad reputation some years ago. The engineers and the electricians failed to take into account the differences between copper and aluminum that required specific changes in designe and strict adherence to new installation practices..

If the wiring is OEM, it is likely the system is designed around that type of wire. Change to another type of wire may or may not work, depending on terminal to wire corrosion issues in a marine environment. Or so it seems to me.

Louis

 

 

 

[crosbyman]

I think a lot ot problems  with eletrical components  (aside from poor designs)  would statiscically  favour poor maintenace  pratices as the root cause

How many problems have been solved on this board by simply asking OPs to  check connections, wire crimps, cracked insulation, chaffed/ broken wires etc… a lot of which would lead  to  “hot”  wires, HV arching , loss of amperage flow between components  while voltage  “checks out ok ” .

Obviously the boating/marine environnement precipitates problems but  basic  preventive maintenance can do just that…  prevent us from rowing back to shore..

 

Joining AOMCI has priviledges 🙂

[Anonymous]

CRC contact cleaner or electronic cleaner can be your friend.

1 user thanked author for this post.

frankr

[amuller]

It’s worth noting that automotive (SAE) wire gauges are different and smaller in cross-sectional area than building wire (American Wire Gauge)) gauges.  The difference may be on the order of 5-10 percent.  I think, but am not sure, that marine wire is sized according to the AWG.  Lot of room for confusion here.

[billy-j]

I used 4 gauge wire for the main starter cables of my 1956 30 hp. Johnson. I bought my wire at west marine . It was marine grade wire. It was tinned and had good grade of insulation and was very flexible. I know you can look at the wiring diagram for OMC motors and it will list the colors and wire gauge.

[Bob Wight]

On my ’56 Johnson 30hp I rebuilt a few years ago, I bought the main battery cables at http://www.batterycablesusa.com.   They will make up any length cable you want from 12″ to 3o feet in sizes from 8AWG to as large as 4/0AWG with your choice of cable terminal types at each end of the cable, all at a very reasonable cost.  I recall I paid about $20 for a pair of 5′ long #6AWG cables with marine grade tinned copper wire (probably a bit more today, like everything else).

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1955 Johnson QD-16
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1957 Evinrude 3022
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."

[Author]

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