Terminating Tip for Corroded Wire

[Emmalina]

Here's a tip that I use occasionaly soak overnight in Coca cola. More available than acids and strange as it may sound it works....

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Terra Nova

As a community service you should ask admin to delete this entire thread, less some amateur thinks this is a good idea (repairing non-marine grade wire that a) should never have been used on a boat and b) has outlived its useful life..

Presumably TIG
Most amateurs already have their own unique ways of doing third rate work - just read some more CF posts

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Emmalina

Here's a tip that I use occasionaly soak overnight in Coca cola. More available than acids and strange as it may sound it works....

Not that strange, CC contains phosphoric acid as does most (all?) similar drinks. Concentration is quite low which is why it takes many hours/ days of soaking before it cleans severe corrosion.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

In such a situation, might it make sense to soak the part of the wire which had been acid treated, in an alkaline solution, in order to terminate the chemical reaction. Prior to rinsing everything well with water?

Also, what about cutting the corroded wire back a bit. Then doing an in line splice. Followed by attaching a new end fitting?

Yes, neutralising would have been good as noted above
I tried cutting back but the wire was fighting back , corrosion went all the way to far end and for a whole variety of good reasons, it wasn't possible to replace on this occasion.

[Canibul]

I'm not sure I've ever seen this many self righteous armchair captains in one thread before. It's becoming obvious to me that some people on this forum are padding their resumes. Some of these guys have never left the dock, except for a brief float on a perfect day. Musn't get the boat wet!!

If you're in THIS country,and your blackened wire breaks, you repair it if you want to use that device. You will NOT go to west marine and buy marine wire. There is no West Marine. And what you are looking for is "water blocked", anyhow. The word "marine" is basically a marketing concept to get you to justify spending more money.

How to stop acid from wicking up the wire? Uh..well, you could trim back the insulation 3/4 " and only dip the wire for the lower half inch, and then rinse it with fresh water. Or dip it in a baking soda solution and then rinse it. The idea is to make a connection and keep going.

Oh gosh, I just realized I used oxalic acid to clean the rust stains off my sail!!! two years ago!!! I SHOULD have just bought all new sails when I first spotted that little rust stain!!
We're all going to die!

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by thinwater

A few thoughts. No disrespect to get-her-home expedience intended.

• ………...
• How do you keep the acid cleaner from wicking up under the insulation, where it cannot be rinsed away? I think I would stick to fanning out the strands and using fine emery or Scotch Brite.
• What are the amps? So long as it is <7 amps or so, you are probably fine.

Exactly, there was no way of preventing the acid from from eating away the wire under the insulation. The rinsing was never going to be very effective. The risk was explained to the customer and he accepted the compromise. Given the gauge of wire, I suspect it will last a few months more so I only promised a few days, maybe a week or so of service.

Current is ~10 amps applied for ~300 milliseconds at intervals 15 or 20 minutes.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Maine Sail

……... I am not a fan of using acid but do use a product called DeoxIT...

And I had a can of DeoxIT in my bag….. just never thought to use it this time - my bad .

Thanks for the reminder

In fact, I still have a short piece of the said wire and I will try the DeoxIT on it.

FWIW, DeoxIT is my go to contact cleaner - I must be getting past "out of hours work"

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by deblen

Some folks have never been more than an hour or two from West Marine or their local repair shop apparently.

Cheers/ Len

West Marine or not, some folks have no idea when it coms to electricity and electrical repairs and do some pretty foolish things, thinking they have done good.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Canibul

I've had really good luck dipping the end of blackened cables and wires into Sno-Bol toilet bowl cleaner, which you can buy just about anywhere. Active ingredient HCl.


I had tried Ospho ( which we can buy by the gallon here) first, and it didn't do diddly. Maybe I didn't leave it in long enough? Anyhow, I needed a good connection on a battery cable, so I cut a piece of copper tubing to use as a crimp and put the blackened end of the cable in the Sno-Bol.


There are 3 photos at the very end of this post:
2 Gringos in the Caribbean: Underwhelming Post


Just skip down thru all the tropical bs photos until you see the one of the vise and hacksaw cutting the copper tubing.

Thanks for the toilet cleaner tip!

Maybe the Ospho was too dilute; some versions I have seen are only 5 to 10% phosphoric acid. I was fortunate to have a 20% concentration.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by reed1v

……...
Remember, anything more than 2 amps can kill a person. 10 amps is as good as any electric chair and will kill quickly. 30 amps, and you got the potential to be killed even if your not touching the wires. Thus, a GUI for the entire boat is essential, if not for each device.

Off topic I know but as the OP, let me go there!
Current flow though the body does kill but what determines the amount of current though the body is the applied voltage (and the bodies resistance), not the available current (unless the available current is less than ~ 20 milliamps).

As a rule of thumb, voltages below ~30 V are very safe for the almost everyone and voltages between 30V and 60V are safe for the average person.

Higher than that, all bets are off

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Wotname

The other day I had to re-terminate a corroded wire - you know, the one where the surface of every copper strand has turned black.

We know the correct procedure, replace the wire

In this instance, this was not an option (at this time), it had to be terminated and it had to be perfectly serviceable for the next couple of weeks / months.

Now I hate doing second rate work and I hate even more working with corroded wire.

Crimping didn't seem to be the best option under the circumstances and soldering was impossible due the corrosion. Did I mention, I only had an hour or so to do the work and it was after hours

So…..

I soaked the end the the wiring in a 20% solution of phosphoric acid for 5 minutes and then cleaned the strands with scotcbrite. Then rinsed with running water for 5 minutes. After that it soldered perfectly well.

Perhaps I could have crimped the now clean wire end but I was concerned about the possible acid residue and the fact the wire strands were weakened by the acid bath. Anyway, it was soldered and tightly constrained - as it was in a dynamic environment. I am sure the acid will eat away at the rest of the wire but it is scheduled to be replaced as soon as practical - say inside 3 months.

The take away is that phosphoric acid (rust convertor) will clean up corroded copper pretty quickly and pretty well.

Sounds like a good tip.

[sartorst]

I have cleaned really nasty battery terminals by soaking in plain water for about 10 15 minutes works great

[Skuzzlebutt]

West Marine or not, some folks have no idea when it coms to electricity and electrical repairs and do some pretty foolish things, thinking they have done good.

Similar could be said about most aspects of sailing (weather, plumbing, sails, etc), or life in general. Hair dryers in the bath, for example.

This thread, and many others, are all about how to survive in an imperfect world.

Wouldn't be the first time I've used duct tape on a sail to keep it from shredding on way back to port, a cork in a leaking thru-hull, a (gasp) wire nut to bring a dead bilge pump to life.

This isn't about best practices nor about hiring professionals. It's about everyday life aboard a working/cruising boat.

I, for one, appreciate the info, to add to my 'toolbox' of ideas to get me thru the next emergency (self-caused or otherwise).

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by Skuzzlebutt

...............

I, for one, appreciate the info, to add to my 'toolbox' of ideas to get me thru the next emergency (self-caused or otherwise).

I suggest re-reading the thread and considering one of the alternative fixes. There are better ways to accomplish what was done.

[Aaarrgh]

Quoted, "In this instance, this was not an option (at this time), it had to be terminated and it had to be perfectly serviceable for the next couple of weeks / months."

Since this particular circuit is not identified by the author of this thread, we must assume that this level of urgency must have been due to the circuit being responsible for supplying power to the BEER COOLER! Aarrrgh!