Wires where to find and buy

[gm280]

I have read a lot of these wiring problems on so many different boat projects, and I have actually located some great places to purchase some of the wires for my engine and boat project from reading them. However, I have yet to locate odd wire colors like Red with Purple stripe (12 gauge stranded), Blue with White stripe (18 gauge stranded), and Purple with White stripe (18 gauge stranded). Since I am trying hard to not deviate from the normal wiring colors I want to find these exact colors to rewire some not so great faded colors on my boat project. I have wired many things in my life after doing a lot of aircraft repairs on black-boxes and even cable manufacturing, but I have never seen such odd colors for different issues like these unique colors. Does anybody have a source for such odd color wires? Thanks for any help...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

Not sure you are going to find the wire with the stripes easily.

More important to get marine wire which is fully tinned.

I buy here:
Genuinedealz

They may know where to get the striped wire. I know they don't show it on their web site but I would still ask.

 

[gm280]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

Not sure you are going to find the wire with the stripes easily.

More important to get marine wire which is fully tinned.

I buy here:
Genuinedealz

They may know where to get the striped wire. I know they don't show it on their web site but I would still ask.

Ha thanks for the reply. I too think those unusual striped wires are going to be hard to locate. I have found the Blue with White stripe wire but not the others... I do like your suggested site for the other wires though. I guess there is an option I really didn't want to do, but I could cut those odd ball striped wires in the harness somewhere in the middle of the harness and add some stander color in between the cut ends to give me nice clean striped colors at the end of the harness for compliance. The entire harness will be rewrapped and unless somebody cuts into the long harness, who would have any problem... I really don't like to do that, but it is an acceptable practice in some cases. I use lap joints with dewicking tweezers to keep solder from wicking under the insulation. Then I clean the newly soldered splice connections with alcohol to clean off any flux residue and use heat shrink to cover over those splices and rewrap the entire harness back again. It is an option but I still would like to run new straight wires to avoid doing that... Thanks again for your reply though...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

I wouldn't be splicing wires just to preserve the colors at the ends. Add a label if you really think its necessary.

 

[Don S]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

You can always buy a universal boat harness and cut it up for what you need. CDI Electronics: Boat Harnesses

I'm with Bruce, don't cut and splice wires like that. Imagine looking for a corroded splice in a wire somewhere out of sight.
I've had that pleasure where someone spliced into the engine harness to get power for a light. Of course it corroded and killed power to the ignition switch. Oh, and it was on a 28' boat with a cabin, and it was behind a cabinet that was installed by the owner.

 

[gm280]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

Yes I too agree with your reasoning for not cutting into existing harnesses. I just have to ask, with all the available solid colored wires available, why on God's green earth would Johnson decide to use Red with Purple stripe wires in the first place, or even Purple with White stripe wire. I mean solid Purple couldn't do? I have used different colored wires most all my life in aircraft situations and they use a lot of white wires with stripes and those are available all over the place. But even standard wire color codes don't use Red with Purple stripes...what could they possibly be thinking...? I so easily could rewire this entire boat project as I wish, but I was trying to look out for the next guy that could get this boat once I get tired of it years from now. I'm really trying to keep the Johnson wiring schematic intact with their codes... Maybe a fruitless cause though... Some of these wires are so faded now that I have to literally ohm them out to even get an idea what color they were supposed to be... As you stated it is a hard thing to do to find a corroded splice in the harness after a few years. And it is equally hard to figure out what the previous owner did when color codes were not used to reflect the schematic. Or even worst, the previous owner used one color for everything...WOW! SO I’ll seek on a little more before making changes... Thanks for the input(s) though. :facepalm:

 

[Don S]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

Merc, OMC, Volvo, and all the other marinizers use it, not just J/E.

It indicates a fused 12V source (solid red is unfused), It's part of the BIA marine color coding system by the ABYC.


http://www.maxrules.com/fixmercwiringcodes.html

 

[gm280]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

Just about any color combination you can ask for. Wire

Scroll down to the plastic coated wire.

WOW Bubba, what a great find. I have been googling wires, Marine wires, red with purple wire, where to buy BIA wire, Belden wire and every type MIL Spec wire I could think of and so many other wire sources I used to use without any success. I don't know how you found it, but thank you very much for your efforts. My hat is most certainly off to you sir...:joyous:

And Don S, I do know that more manufactures than Johnson were using that color wire and it does signify a +12 volt Fused source per BIA (Boating Industry of America wire code). I still think they could have so easily used solid colors for the limited number of wires used in the boating industry, even back decades ago. I also read that IF you are rewiring any boat they (the BIA) suggest updating the wiring codes to today’s latest changes. The old Johnson code uses Blue for cylinder one coil and Blue with White stripe for cylinder 2 coil. And to shut off the engine you short those two wires together at the ignition switch at the control center with the key in the off position. I think the latest codes call for Black with Yellow stripe for that option...not absolutely sure though. I think I will wire to the old schematic so future owners can get a manual for this motor and trace the existing wires without problems.
Thanks everybody for the efforts and feedback you all came through with. These iboat.com forum(s) are the best...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

I would make sure whatever wire you get is tinned.

 

[Don S]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

I would make sure whatever wire you get is tinned.

The OEM wiring isn't tinned.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

The OEM wiring isn't tinned.

I understand that. I still would make sure its tinned.

 

[Auger01]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

I would make sure whatever wire you get is tinned.

I agree. If I had to choose between the correct color code or tinned wire, I would go with tinned wire every time. You can get flexible label tape made just for wires that go in the standard Brother or Dymo label makers should you want to identifiy the wires that way.

 

[gm280]

Re: Wires where to find and buy

I agree. If I had to choose between the correct color code or tinned wire, I would go with tinned wire every time. You can get flexible label tape made just for wires that go in the standard Brother or Dymo label makers should you want to identifiy the wires that way.

Ha guys thanks for the info as well. Tinned wire is a good option but certainly not a cure all by any stretch. I've worked wiring problems most of my career in the aircraft industry to include black box repair and aircraft cabling and Reverse Engineering circuits and such and I can tell you that tinned wires are not going to stop corrosion, just give you a little long protection before corroding takes its toll. I know that for absolute fact. But I will try to get tinned wire(s) for that little longer protection if it is possible. There is no such thing as a non-corroding metal. Even stainless steel is affected by oxygen... It will most certainly last a whole lot longer but eventually will succumb to corrosion as well... Aircraft frames are made out of some of the best anti-corrosion and exotic blends of metals and they still have their problems with corrosion and metal fatigue after years in service. But again thanks for your info and concerns. I do like the available knowledge and experiences by so many on these forums...