Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

[natedog337]

Located a corroded wire split on my boat which was giving me no power to my circuit breaker. The single power wire was running from my batter to my circuit board compartment. The single wire was split into two wires with only shnk wrap which completely corroded out. My question is I'm going to install 2 new wires at the split and was thinking of using a crimp connector to tie the connection together and also using liquid electric tape to avoid any corrosion. Any options and what size connector should I use. I think a connector for 10ga wire may be too small as I'm tieing two wires together

 

[Don S]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Use heat shrink crimp on ring terminals. Then use a small/short screw to hold all of them together, then liquid electric tape it. Then insulate it so it can't touch metal.

 

[Georgesalmon]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

You could also solder them together, then clean off the rosin and use liquid tape and shrink tube.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Or run the two wires to the battery. Splitting one 10 gauge wire into two 10 gauge wires serves no purpose as trying to pull the current limit through both 10 gauge legs overloads the single 10 gauge leg. Yes -- you protect the single 10 gauge leg with a properly sized breaker but then what's the purpose of having 10 gauge wire from the split to wherever it goes.

 

[natedog337]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Or run the two wires to the battery. Splitting one 10 gauge wire into two 10 gauge wires serves no purpose as trying to pull the current limit through both 10 gauge legs overloads the single 10 gauge leg. Yes -- you protect the single 10 gauge leg with a properly sized breaker but then what's the purpose of having 10 gauge wire from the split to wherever it goes.

Thnk I'm going to take silver tips advice and do it right. $20 in new wire and prob LEDs than an hour of work and it'll be good as new and hopefully no issues going forward. Thxs

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

You can use a step down butt splice. They are used to connect a large wire to a smaller wire or 3 wires of the same size.

http://www.iboats.com/12-10-16-14-S...9520315--session_id.656119320--view_id.931248

You won't have a totally waterproof connection so you may have to apply some sealant.

This will probably only work for wires smaller than 10ga though so running 2 seperate wires will probably be the best for your case.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

But if the breaker is sized for the single 10 gauge wire (say 30 amps) and the smaller branches are loaded to that value you let all the smoke out of the wire and we know what kind of a problem that is. This setup just screams for two totally separate feeds of whatever size wire is appropriate for the loads and each one protected by an appropriate size fuse or breaker. Did you ever determine where the two 10 gauge wires go to? Why don't you figure that out and then let's discuss this some more.

 

[natedog337]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Silvertip both wires run to my circuit breaker .. I have a 6 rocker switch breaker with a cigarette lighter. The wires run to separate switches and then jump to other switches with a small wire to provide power. I was wondering why they just didn't run one wire to the curvuit breaker and then jump power to all the switches but maybe that would overload the one wire running from the battery. This whole experience makes me wonder of a weird experience I had boating about 3 times during the summer. While running at Night with everything on ( nav lights, radio, and halogen lights docking lights) I had a complete loss of power to everything except my engine. This occurred for about 5 seconds and then everything came back on. Happened 3 times but now I wonder if that wire was overloaded and the breaker 30 amp on the line next to battery snapped..

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

If it was an auto resettable breaker it could have.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

I guess I didn't realize at first what was going on. I think I do now but could you expalin again where these two wires are splitting off to? Are they splitting off to two circuits on your dash? Normally, a large wire coming from the battery/breaker will connect to a fuse panel.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

I think the diagram below represents your wiring issue. Hope this helps.

 

[natedog337]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

The weird thing is the single wire is split and both split wires connect to separate switches on the circuit board.. No idea why it's like that

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

i dont think nate has a fuse panel like the one silvertip has diagrammed it sounds more like a switch panel with seperate breakers. the splice sounds like one side is connected to the cig lighter socket and the other is picking up all the small loads. if you was being cheap on building then this is acceptable as the real load is the cig lighter socket the others are small loads that are proberly daisy chained together and do not add up to much but due to the feed wire proberly having a breaker sized for 10g near the battery then the gauge of the wire can not change until the switches. another way to do this would be to make the cig lighter the first in the daisy chain. i would add another breaker near the battery and pull in 2 seperate wires and do away with the spice as the cig lighter socket would be better fused/breaker seperate. i dont like the idea that someone can plug in a wet phone charger and bring the boat to a halt. on my boat i added a seperate fuse panel in the rear just for the 4 lighter sockets as i have way to many plug in things on the boat that i didnt want messing with the main circuits of the boat.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

If this 10 gauge wire is feeding a cigarette lighter socket, that is not the correct way to do it as there are none of these that are rated for 30A.

 

[natedog337]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Ok just pulled all wire out and ready to replace with two brand new wires. I discovered that the single wire running from the battery is 8 gauge and splits into two 10 gauge under control panel cabinet. This was where it completely corroded out. The total run is about 28 ft of wire... I planned on running two 10 gauge wires on separate shortstop breakers directly from battery to circuit panel. But now I'm concerned that 10 gauge is to lite. What every1 think ??

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

But now I'm concerned that 10 gauge is to lite. What every1 think ??

What is max current draw and what is your length?

 

[natedog337]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Current draw?? Good question not exactly sure. I run a standard 40w radio , nav lights, 55w halogen docking lights, led mood lights, all at once on occasion. The total run is pretty long , say about 28 feet of wire.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Depends how much voltage drop you can tolerate. Sounds like your max draw may be up to 20A. If its that or less stick with 10 gauge. If its over 20 go to 8 gauge

 

[natedog337]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Depends how much voltage drop you can tolerate. Sounds like your max draw may be up to 20A. If its that or less stick with 10 gauge. If its over 20 go to 8 gauge

Not gonna take any chances, not something I want to deal with next season so I'll just put in two 8 gauge wires to play it safe..

 

[Mark_VTfisherman]

Re: Splitting single 10ga wire to two 10 ga wire question?

Not gonna take any chances, not something I want to deal with next season so I'll just put in two 8 gauge wires to play it safe..

Every time I find myself in someone's boat wiring something I always run 8 gauge from the battery to an under-dash terminal block. Fuses and/or circuit breakers get fed from there. Although I can imagine scenarios where it might be necessary I have not yet run into a circumstance where I was concerned with overloading 8gauge wire in a smaller boat. From there I most often over-wire everything... properly sized fuses and circuit breakers take care of safety. I like heavy wire because it is efficient for reducing losses of amps and leaves no room for doubt (even if the "gain" is theoretical or mathematically small it makes me feel better. I have found a lot of small wires burnt up in boats but other than stupidity I yet to see heavy wire smoked).