[Rhodes22-list] Harbor Freight connectors - caution

[PBR]

Yes.  Thanks Peter.  Seems like rather obvious advice.  I think I did shop
at west marine for a few heat shrink marine grade parts when I rewired my
boat trailer but then I got cheaper and stupider :-).  ..and always in a
hurry so I tend to rig things with what I have instead of doing it right.
Patrick

On Mon, Feb 1, 2021 at 5:35 PM Scott Andrews via Rhodes22-list <
rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org> wrote:

> Thanks Peter, I have some Pep Boys looking connections I was wondering
> about too.
> Scott
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Feb 1, 2021, at 5:01 PM, Peter Nyberg <peter at sunnybeeches.com> wrote:
> >
> > I’ll take this one step further and suggest using quality connectors
> that are specifically labeled as being marine grade.  These would have
> tinned copper tubing.  I prefer connectors that have heat shrink with
> adhesive.
> >
> > And, of course you should be using these with marine grade wire (also
> tinned copper).
> >
> > The headaches you save may be your own.
> >
> > Peter Nyberg
> > Coventry, CT
> > s/v Silverheels (1988/2016)
> >
> >> On Feb 1, 2021, at 2:51 PM, PBR <pbryanriley at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> I thought I would drop a note of caution about using harbor  freight
> >> materials.  I have had a couple of electrical failures of butt joints
> using
> >> their connectors.
> >>
> >> When I lived in Denver I drove past a HF store everyday so I picked up a
> >> lot of cheap stuff there.
> >>
> >> 1) After wiring a new hitch wire harness to my utility trailer using HF
> but
> >> joint connectors I wrapped the joints with electrical tape to seal it.
> >> About a year later the lights weren't working properly and I narrowed
> the
> >> failure down to an open circuit in that area under my tape.  Upon
> removal
> >> of the tape the wires were just falling off, breaking at 90 angle to
> then
> >> ends of  the connector body.  Visible was a lot of corrosion white and
> >> green material.  I don't think there was any significant water intrusion
> >> and it's pretty dry in Denver.  I chalked it up to some sort of galvanic
> >> corrosion between the seemingly aluminum connectors and the copper.
> >>
> >> 2) Meanwhile I had used the HF stuff in other areas too.  LIke my R22
> bilge
> >> pump.  I recently returned to check on my Rhodes after about a 2 month
> >> absence to find that storms in Kitty Hawk had shredded part of my tarp,
> >> clogged the drains with tree parts of all nature, and filled the laz
> with
> >> water which found its way into the bilge.  Water up to the floor boards
> -
> >> why wasn't my automatic bilge pump working?  Traced it to a butt
> connector
> >> down at the pump being basically open circuit.  This time I had
> >> waterproofed the joints with liquid electrical tape or something like it
> >> and all that was good.  On the outside everything looked water tight and
> >> this joint was in an area where it never saw stress or chafing.  After
> >> cutting into it, I again found white and green signs of corrosion.
> >>
> >> Lesson learned.
> >> 1) don't buy harbor freight (but the only non-chinese made connectors I
> >> have found are Taiwanese, please advise if you have a north american
> source)
> >> 2) I will make sure any butt joints have full copper to copper contact
> in
> >> the middle (but that may not help much).
> >
>
>