Fishfinder power wire to 10 Gauge

[Capt No Fish]

Hello all, I was wondering if someone can provide assistance.

 

I have been doing some research and see that it is recommended that I use a 10 gauge power wire directly from the battery to get the clearest picture on the FF.  I bought the 10g marine wire and tried to solder the tiny power wire from my Garmin to it with not much luck.  Seems the size difference is too much to get a good job.  What is the best way or preferred way to get a solid connection between the 10 gauge power wire and the tiny, I don't know what gauge, wire from the FF wiring harness.

 

Appreciate the help!

[MN Fisher]

I think the power wire supplied by Garmin is 20 or 22 AWG...connecting 10 AWG to that is gonna be a pain.

 

When I wired up Bass Trek, I used 10 AWG from the 35AH to the fuse box, but 16 AWG from that to the individual items. (I've got a second battery for the TM and there I'm using 8 AWG)

 

Only thing I can think of is

Wrap the Garmin lead around the end of the 10 AWG

Crimp an end-cap over them both.

https://www.amazon.com/Closed-Crimp-Terminal-Connector-12-10GA/dp/B08JXGQ8GX?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A1GAG8V2FL2TTY

[padlin]

What was the issue soldering them together?

 

Is the 10g stranded or solid?

[Capt No Fish]

1 hour ago, padlin said:

What was the issue soldering them together?

 

Is the 10g stranded or solid?

Its the Marine grade, stranded tinned copper.

 

The issue was it was only attached to the one side of the 10 AGW wire.  The solder didn't run over the whole thing.  Perhaps my soldering iron doesn't get hot enough.

 

 

[padlin]

You are probably right, best thing I found was a butane soldering iron, fast and pretty much as hot as you want it, even Harbor Freight has one. A little Flux is helpful too.
 

 

[Fishingmickey]

Aye Capt.

     The only thing I can suggest is make sure that the wire is very clean. I've done a good bit of soldering and I use flux core solder.  I'd strip back 3/4" the 18-20 gauge power wire from the fish finder power cord and twist wrap it around the 10 AWG with 1/2" stripped. I'd finish it off with a piece of the 3m heat shrink ( 1/12" - 2") that has the hot melt adhesive in it. It will make for a waterproof connection.

FM

[WRB]

You should be running the heavier power wire to a switch and the smaller wire from the sonar unit to the switch. The larger wire provides less DC voltage drop over longer distance.

Tom

[immortl]

I recently rigged up wiring and electronics on my kayak using lots of solid guidance from folks here. I'm a beginner at this but I'm learning and developing techniques quickly.

 

 I never got the hang of soldering earlier in life.  For this project I picked up 3 things that I think greatly assisted me with finally starting to get the hang of it.  A Weller soldering station that has an adjustable temp setting and recovers very quickly, a butane torch for the larger 6ga connectors, and a helping hands station with 4 bendy arms sticking up from a flat metal plate to help hold things in alignment.  I did also pick up a cheap harbor freight hydraulic crimper for the 6ga ends.

 

If you want to solder the tiny wire to 10ga, a cheap butane torch as @padlin suggests above would probably get the job done.  I too would strip a good length of the smaller wire from the FF and wrap it around the end of 10ga wire, having first dipped both ends in some flux and wiping the excess off.  I soldered all the ends to my 6ga wire with a torch (after crimping them on with a hydraulic crimper).

 

The closed end terminal crimp connecter @MN Fisher suggests above seem to me like they'd work well too.  If you really want to solder the connection, you can get bare tinned copper butt connectors as well.  I'd do the flux dip, wrap the smaller wire around the 10ga and slip the appropriate sized 10ga or so but connector over it, crimp, then heat up the connector with a torch and fill the connector with solder from the unused end.

 

For waterproofing the connections, as @Fishingmickey suggested, some marine rated double walled shrink tubing with adhesive would work well.  I used 3:1 shrink ratio and found in most instances it shrunk enough.  For those where it might not shrink quite enough (big enough for 10ga might not shrink down firmly around tiny FF wire, heat it up, shrink as much as it can, then immediately lightly pinch with needle nose pliers and hold for a few seconds. The glue will seal the sides together.

 

Now all that said, as @WRB suggested, I ran my 6ga tinned copper marine wire from my electronics battery to a blue sea systems fuse block with a fuse and on/off battery disconnect in between the two.  Then I connected my FF to the fuse block. I did have to extend the power/ground wires on my FF about 3' and did so with 14ga marine tinned copper wire using the tinned copper butt connectors with the marine shrink tube over it all.

 

Joe

 

 

 

 

[Dirtyeggroll]

Run the 10 gauge wire as a close as you can to the unit and then add a bus bar. Then you can connect the smaller gauge wire to the bus bar. Coat the connections with terminal grease to protect from corrosion.

[Johnbt]

Ancor, as well as others, makes step-down, adhesive lined, heat shrink butt connectors.

 

A 22 or 18 ga wire can be stripped and doubled or tripled over before insertion and crimping. The wire insulation goes inside the butt connection so when you hit it with heat the adhesive glues the butt connector to the wire insulation and provides a waterproof mechanical connection.

 

One example: (I don't have time to search for all the options because our dog has a vet appt.)

Heat Shrink Butt Connector, Step-Down, 16-14/16-10, 25pc

Part # 320225

Ancor's new assortment of adhesive lined heat shrink butt connectors can be used as a step-down from one gauge size to another

 

_______________

 

 

I've used these kinds of butt connectors for more than a decade and never had one come loose or lose a connection. If you're a belt and suspenders kind of person you can get some adhesive lined heat shrink tubing at Harbor Freight, Lowe's or West Marine and cover the entire thing. Or just buy a bottle of liquid electrical tape and paint it on.

[Capt No Fish]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions.  I saw another video with a professional on wired to fish and they did the bus bar close to the console.

 

I went with MN Fisher's suggestion of the closed end terminals.  I did however cut the cap flare off and then put some marine heat shrink over it all to try and make it a little more water resistent.

 

 

[MN Fisher]

7 minutes ago, Capt No Fish said:

make it a little more water resistent.

Marine applications I either use waterproof heat-shrink...or this stuff