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#1
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
AAAaaaarrrg!
Installing a new bilge pump I have found no less than 4 sets of wires that are just cut amidships. The battery charger wires were just shoved into ring terminals but not crimped. A single black wire w/o terminal attached to a POS battery terminal - I can not find the other end anywhere! I killed my starting battery. I left the switch on #1 (starting batt), shore power off, solar panels on, all other switches off. As far as I know nothing is wired direct to the batts not even bilge pumps at this time. Starting battery went dead, as in 0.00 volts, in 24hrs. OK that's my rant. (that was just a sample). Any suggestions for tracing the wiring and drawing it up on paper? Is there a way to attach an RF transmitter to one end of a wire then track it with a receiver? Best way to label wires? Well thanks for being here. I'll be taking life one wire at a time from now on. - Allen |
#2
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
"bushman" wrote in news:A1EVg.2184$fe2.1365
@tornado.tampabay.rr.com: OK that's my rant. (that was just a sample). Great boat! Searay?....(c; I feel your pain. Cap'n had already bought a new B&G sonar transducer when I found the UNPROTECTED European-style wire screw terminals, those little strips with screws in them the wires are clamped into by the little screws....IN THE BILGE, all green and rotten... The sonar worked fine after a little "modification" to this atrocity.... And a stupid NASA engineer owned the boat last! -- There's amazing intelligence in the Universe. You can tell because none of them ever called Earth. |
#3
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
Everything on the boat has been working fine. I just like order and things
will stop working eventually so better to have the documentation now. - Allen |
#4
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
And a stupid NASA engineer owned the boat last!
Well, it's not like NASA gear has to contend with marine corrosion.... |
#5
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
bushman wrote: AAAaaaarrrg! Installing a new bilge pump I have found no less than 4 sets of wires that are just cut amidships. The battery charger wires were just shoved into ring terminals but not crimped. A single black wire w/o terminal attached to a POS battery terminal - I can not find the other end anywhere! I killed my starting battery. I left the switch on #1 (starting batt), shore power off, solar panels on, all other switches off. As far as I know nothing is wired direct to the batts not even bilge pumps at this time. Starting battery went dead, as in 0.00 volts, in 24hrs. OK that's my rant. (that was just a sample). Any suggestions for tracing the wiring and drawing it up on paper? Is there a way to attach an RF transmitter to one end of a wire then track it with a receiver? Best way to label wires? Well thanks for being here. I'll be taking life one wire at a time from now on. - Allen The tracing the wire part can be done by getting a tool the telco people use, a line toner. Electricians have one, too, but it's lots more expensive. It puts an RF tone on the wire. Two different ones, for pairs, if you want, and the tool pokes around in the rat's nest until it hears the tweedle. Mine is a Progressive Electronics Tracer 2 for the tone, with the 200EP inductive amplifier tool. If you have long enoungh wires without twist, it will pick up WSB in Atlanta on non-toned wires :{)) The drawing them out is up to you as to how you want to do it. You can spend a lot and buy a proper electronic charting program, or just draw it on paper, or do something in between... Had lots of that on my boat - no rants from here, because I don't have the time. Lift's coming to put me in the slings so we can finish the bottom of the keel, and the stand bare spots, to splash Monday... L8R Skip and Lydia, on the home stretch |
#6
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
I bought a GB Wire Tracker a while back and use it all the time to figure
out where that wire I ran last year and forgot to label goes. Well worth the $30.00. Besides the regular alligator clip it also has connectors to trace telephone and Ethernet cable -- Glenn Ashmore I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com |
#7
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
Larry wrote: And a stupid NASA engineer owned the boat last! He should have gotten a technician to do the dirty work. Engineers are good at figuring out how to do things, technicians are good at actually doing them. We've received many donated boats here at the Naval Academy over the years and its very rare when one comes in with a decent wiring installation. It's amazing what people do when it comes to electrical/electronic installations on boats. I should have kept a photo log! Eric |
#8
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
"Bill Kearney" wrote in
news Well, it's not like NASA gear has to contend with marine corrosion.... And, it only has to work a week or two before its next multimillion dollar extended refit.....a boater's dream....(c; -- There's amazing intelligence in the Universe. You can tell because none of them ever called Earth. |
#10
posted to rec.boats.electronics
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The great wire trace rant.
JohnDW wrote in news:MPG.1f9195c698c090c9989759
@news.aaisp.net.uk: Yes, you can inject a tone and trace the wire using a detector. You don't need a high frequency, though, since it will be coupled into parallel cables and so give false positives. "Cable tracers" normally use audio tones. Search Google for examples. I do PA work in churches, also. An old trick is to put a light bulb, which you already have on the other end of the wires in the boat, across the line on the other end. Pump some audio through the wires from about any amp to make the bulb glow. This produces audio current in the line, without producing loud noises, too. Radio Shack used to sell a "telephone amplifier" that was a sensitive little audio amp that ran off a 9V battery with a pickup coil you stuck to the back of the phone's handset with its suction cup. It picked up the audio magnetic leakage from the earphone in the handset and fed it to the little speaker- amp..... All you do to trace the wires is run the little coil up to each wire you think is the circuit the audio is hooked to. It's real easy to hear the audio in the speaker when you get close to the right wire....you hear it. I'm still using it, 20 years later. Everytime RS dumps these at some yard sale they occasionally have, I buy them out for $1-3 each....coil and all. No, you can't have mine....(c; Check around electronics stores for "telephone amplifiers".....or the net. -- There's amazing intelligence in the Universe. You can tell because none of them ever called Earth. |
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