The right plug rant...

Trying to make sense of a boats electrical system can, for want of a better word, make you nuts...

... and we are not talking minor league nuts, we are talking full blown foaming-at-the-mouth-profanity-spewing-cutting -a-hole-in-the-bottom-of-the-boat-because-it-seems-like-a-good-idea-and-Palin-starts-looking-like-the-answer-to-our-problems-and-as-soon-as-you-sink-your-boat-you'll-volunteer-for-her-campaign-because-it-is-more-sane-than-dealing-with-your-boats-electrical-system nuts!

Yeah... Seriously nuts!

A big part of the problem is that no one really makes marine products of an electrical nature... Oh sure, they say they do, but when you factor in the various ill-chosen metal combinations (how many different metals can we put in this product?), undersized and untinned wiring, mixed of course with components that are simply not up to any enviroment much less one where salt and humidity is part of the normal day to day.

My pet peeve and foaming-at-the-mouth trigger are connectors/plugs... A couple days back we went to the local chandlery and the only plugs they had looked like this...

 

To say that your basic cigarette lighter plug  is the worst possible way of connecting a device to power on a boat is something of an understatement. However, it is a great means of driving you around the bend so if you have someone you really, really dislike you might want to get them a dozen for their birthday!

A real connector on a boat should not depend on friction alone, have reasonable metal in the wire to pole section and have self-cleaning and robust contacts. In a perfect world the wire to contact connection would not involve tiny screws of dissimilar metals that become immovable due to corrosion while not providing a solid contact.

Enter Anderson Power Products who make a line of connectors dubbed "PowerPole" and they look like this...

... What's really neat is they lock together so it is easy to build wiring looms (for example, if you have six wires going up your mast instead of having three to six connectors you can make a single mast plug). How cool is that?

They go together with a simple crimp, handle power from 10 to 180 amps, have no dissimilar metals, are color codeable and because they are a simple industrial product used in the millions, they are affordable... What's not to love?

With the right plug... (dare I say it?) I could rule the world...