mascip

OK, I will use a plain color cable to the solenoid then. Clear heatshrink, that's a good tip! Thank you.

Thanks ditchcrawler! More eBay search then... I'm still going to find one shop where I'll be able to find all wire I might ever need in the future. Richard, I was thinking of following a standard, whichever it is, so I can always recognise all cables by sight. But I guess labeling could go quite a long way in this direction. I want it tinned, because all the wire around my engine is corroded and has very stiff PVC insulation. I'm hoping to avoid this happening too quickly again.

Thank you! Yes, the red with yellow stripe one is very hard to find tinned. I'm still hoping someone will know

Hi, I'm looking for coloured tinned cable for re-wiring my engine bay. For example red wire with yellow stripe between ignition and solenoid, as recommended here: http://www.marinewireandcable.com/p/marine-wire-color-codes.html?m=1 But I can't find any shop online who sells it. Any idea? Or a shop in London. PS: the difficult part is finding it tinned

Nice one, thanks Alan! It's a friends birthday soon, I might offer him that =)

£30 for a 400A DC clamp meter? I have just bought a 200A one for £80, I couldn't find any cheaper. Many clamp meter which are sold as "DC AC" do DC voltage readings, but only AC current reading, not DC current.

How do you calculate the current that might pass between two batteries? Do you consider the battery as a generator and a resistance, and use this for calculations? Or is there a simpler way? If they are already wired you could measure it with a DC clamp-meter with sufficient rating (expensive if it's over 200V), but calculating would be better really. So calculating the maximal load if everything was on, and checking the alternator output. That should tell you what is safe. Maybe that 25mm2 cable is required, in case you would change to a bigger alternator for example?

Good question! About 5.6mm diameter for the copper: http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-cross-section.htm

Are you speaking about cable to the starter motor? I'm speaking about cable between batteries

I guess you are right. "Approximately" means "or a very close measurement, like 24.5mm2", not "as long as you think it's safe". Thank you for a clear answer Paul :-)

Thanks a lot for your input, springy and smileypete! I will add it all in the document when I work on my system again. I've had other life emergencies to take care of, so will get back to it in a few weeks. Then I will copy paste part of the document here in a new thread, because I cannot Edit the first message of this thread anymore. Oh! And smileypete, I saw this diagram too, but because I am not going to connect a calorifier to my system, I didn't keep any calorifier-related information. Even with the simplest system, I manage to get into too many details If you or anyone wants to modify the text and add things about calorifier, I can give you writing access.

I think you're write, this battery was tired. I'm reconditioning it now, let's see what happens... It is a 4TR regulator, and I do get 14.4v sometimes, event 14.5v. Maybe the regulator is a bit old and tired? What is the trimmer?

Hi, the BSS says that cables between a battery and - another battery, or - an inverter over 1000W, or - a master switch, - etc, should be "sufficiently" big: "must be approximately 25mm2". To me, "approximately" means "as long as it's really safe". With two leisure batteries of 110Ah in parallel, is it safe to have a 16mm2 cable between them? I have seen 16mm2 cables on several of my friends boats. I am wondering whether I should propose to change their cables to 25mm2. Also, if a cable to the master switch is 16mm2 and has a 50A fuse, that should be safe and hence pass BSS, right? PS: Woops, I cannot change the title anymore, it should be "25mm2". Mistyped.

Oh, that makes sense. Thank you. So I should always search "open thermosyphon" rather than simply "thermosyphon".

I'm definitely overthinking it ;-) The good thing is: I'm also getting active and making it happen on my boat. It's going to take a while though: I need to move the water tanks, remove some benches, etc. No filling ratio then. Maybe it's only useful for more finicky applications. Thanks for the info :-) I'll remove it from the document.