On Sunday, May 12, 2013 3:52:22 PM UTC-4, Tim wrote:
On May 12, 2:32*pm, " Sir Gregory Hall, Esq·" åke

wrote:

"Wayne B" wrote in message



...



















It has been said that the definition of cruising in a boat is "fixing

things in exotic places". *Unfortunately there is some truth to that,

and it's also true that necessity is the mother of invention, or in my

case, motivation. * The circulating fan in our aft cabin (where we

sleep) air conditioner has been inoperable for a while. * It hasn't

been a big deal since we've mostly been anchored out in a good breeze,

and with mostly comfortable temperatures. * Today however we're docked

in Roadtown, Tortola (in the British Virgin Islands), the breeze has

abated, and temperatures have crept up into the mid to upper 80s.

It was time to do something.



There are no doubt professional A/C service people here in the BVI but

finding someone competent and reliable would be challenging enough

during the week and impossible on the weekend. *Out came all of my

amateur mechanic tools, trouble lights and test equipment. * With some

poking around, testing and inspection it was determined that the

circuit breaker was supplying power and that the local fuse was OK.

The connections behind the control panel seemed OK and nothing in the

wiring harness was obviously amiss. * What next? * I popped off the

cover to the junction box between the panel controls and the

condensing unit. * Once again voltages seemed normal and there were no

obvious signs of electrical issues. * Then I started tracing out the

wiring harness back to the control panel and noticed that there was a

big multi-block connector sitting in the middle. *Sure enough, the

connectors did not look firmly seated. * I used a big pair of channel

lock pliers to squeeze the connectors together, turned the switch on,

and voila the whole A/C unit came to life.



Mission accomplished.



It's more often than not that bad connections are the reason.



Boats seem to foster bad connections. Seems to me solder

is the only real reliable way to go when joining wires.



My refrigerator has been doing a great job of almost freezing

my beer since I re-crimped the stupid spade connectors at

the connector block. Prior to that it would "lose its way" and

stop cycling on.



--

Sir Gregory



though some here have disputed the practice, I still say that

solderless crimp connections always work best with a drop of solder on/

in them.

I'm a solder fan myself. Everything else seems to slowly deteriorate on a boat. I was only getting about 8 volts at my dash and walking back with the meter gave me an additional volt or so each time I got one connector closer to the battery.