Newbie questions about bonding system, wires and connectors

[ZZ13]

I understand the concept of bonding all the underwater metals together with tinned copper wire and connectors and then bonding them to the underwater sacrificial anodes. But I have some newbie questions about the actual wiring and connectors themselves:

1. My boat is a 13 year old salt water boat. The bonding terminals are not pristine shiny copper. They are tarnished, but I am not sure if there is actually corrosion there. As long as a wire isn't broken off the terminal, is the conductive property still fine? Or can it be compromised by the tarnish/patina?

2. I do have one 8 gauge wire that broke off its ring terminal at the generator strainer housing connection. Where would I be able to buy these non-insulated tinned copper ring terminals? I have enough wire left on this cable to just strip it back and put on a new connector end. I checked West Marine and they don't have them. Would an auto parts store have them?

3. Much like question #1, does the metal on the strainer need to be bright shiny copper and the connector bright shiny copper before I screw the connector on? Or can I screw the new connector to the tarnished strainer housing (that is, does the tarnish compromise the conductive property of the metal)?

4. Is there a regular test I should do of all the bonding wires (sounds like it could be a tedious test)? Is there one big end to end test I could do, or would I have to test each cable run individually? I can do the voltmeter thing from one end of the cable to the other end, but that seems like it would only test that the connector and cable are working well. Would touching the probe to each metal object be the way to do that?

Thanks.

 

[fwebster]

I think you might be a little over reacting here........

When the ring terminals or bronze on a strainer turns green from exposure to salt air, the green isn't corrosion, it is oxidation and the oxidation actually protects the base metal. If you find, as you did, a wire broken off a ring terminal, then you need to strip the wire back to shiny metal and crimp a new ring terminal on it. The other sign of corrosion is a connection "growing" a chalky white bloom around the wire. That is corrosion and the terminal should be replaced. To aid in conductivity, you should wire brush the connection point doe the new wire terminals.

Yes replacement ring terminals are available and you can, in fact, find then with shrink insulation sleeves on them or silicone in the sleeve to aid in making the connection water tight. The big box stores stock what they have sell-thru on and large ring terminals is probably a low volume item for them. Try looking online....here is one source:

http://www.bestboatwire.com/cable-lug-battery-terminal-ring-8-awg-stud-size-1-4-inch

A far as regular testing is concerned, I don't and have never done anything more than visually inspect every bonding wire in the engine room. If you see a broken wire, if you see corrosion or if a wire stays under bilge water all the time, then it bears a more thorough investigation.

 

[ZZ13]

Thanks Frank. But no over reacting was involved. I was simply asking objective questions to gain an education.

 

[ZZ13]

I finally finished going over the bonding wires in detail and replacing or cleaning all connectors that needed it. Ended up cutting back seven wires and putting on new connectors. 3 on seacocks and 4 on strainers. So I had one interesting discovery. On the starboard main strainer, the bonding wire was connected to the top left mounting bolt. Its a stainless bolt. The head just sheared right off when I put a wrench to it. Turns out the stainless bolt had completely corroded through at the bonding wire ring connector and the ring connector was about gone. I got the stub out and put a new bolt in. What would this indicate? Bad contact at that spot?

 

[Jaybeaux]

Resurrecting an old thread, frankly, because I don't know where to put my question.

I'm replacing the air conditioning unit under the bed in the forward stateroom of my 2006 48 Dancer. It is a CruiseAir unit, 7K BTU, and I believe it is original to the boat. It still works, but it is loud and according to the Admiral, doesn't get cold enough.

I have purchased a MarinAire 9K BTU unit to replace the original. This is my second MarinAire unit on the boat. They are super quiet.

When removing the old unit, the wiring disconnect was straight forward. It is a 240 volt system, so 2 Black wires, 2 Red wires, and 2 green wires. The wiring instructions for the new unit indicate that I need to tie the unit, in two places, to the boats bonding system. Again, there was no bonding wire on the old unit while removing.

So my question is do I need to add the bonding wire (perhaps to the bow thruster which is nearby) or given our isolation transformers, that really isn't necessary?

Thanks in advance,

Jaybeaux

 

[Skybolt]

Resurrecting an old thread, frankly, because I don't know where to put my question.

I'm replacing the air conditioning unit under the bed in the forward stateroom of my 2006 48 Dancer. It is a CruiseAir unit, 7K BTU, and I believe it is original to the boat. It still works, but it is loud and according to the Admiral, doesn't get cold enough.

I have purchased a MarinAire 9K BTU unit to replace the original. This is my second MarinAire unit on the boat. They are super quiet.

When removing the old unit, the wiring disconnect was straight forward. It is a 240 volt system, so 2 Black wires, 2 Red wires, and 2 green wires. The wiring instructions for the new unit indicate that I need to tie the unit, in two places, to the boats bonding system. Again, there was no bonding wire on the old unit while removing.

So my question is do I need to add the bonding wire (perhaps to the bow thruster which is nearby) or given our isolation transformers, that really isn't necessary?

Thanks in advance,

Jaybeaux

The copper coils in the AC unit will act as an anode if you don't bond it.

 

[Jaybeaux]

@Skybolt But the old unit didn't have a dedicated bonding wire. That's what has me confused.

 

[Skybolt]

@Skybolt But the old unit didn't have a dedicated bonding wire. That's what has me confused.

And maybe why your replacing it now. Not sure, but I know bad things happen to good AC units when you don't bond them. I mean you did put the ground wires on so that something. If the unit states it should be bonded then - bond it.