Heat shrink waterproof butt connectors?

I'll be soldering my connections, but ran across one of the commercial boats using 3M heat-shrink butt connectors for their wiring.  They're double-walled and adhesive lined, like the heat-shrink tubing I'll use.  Anchor makes them, too, for a better price than the 3M's.

Has anyone seen or used these?  They look like a workable option for anyone lacking soldering tools or skills.

I'll be soldering my connections, but ran across one of the commercial boats using 3M heat-shrink butt connectors for their wiring.  They're double-walled and adhesive lined, like the heat-shrink tubing I'll use.  Anchor makes them, too, for a better price than the 3M's.

Has anyone seen or used these?  They look like a workable option for anyone lacking soldering tools or skills.

I've been using these as long as I've been rigging electrical wiring on kayaks - they're awesome.  Make sure they are completely sealed though.  Sometimes they can develop little holes in the shrink tubing where you clamp them.  I hit them with a little liquid electrical tape if I see that.

As Rawkfish mentioned,  their downfall is damaging them when crimping.   Many use combination stripper / crimping tools that crimp both insulated and none insulated connectors.  Many of the newer techs I work with use the wrong slot. 




 The ratcheting crimpers made just for insulated terminals / connectors can be found pretty cheap.   I think they have some at HF for around $15.00

I'll be darned.  I had to go look at my crimpers and indeed they are marked for insulated and non-insulated connectors.  Live and learn.

Jump to 9 mins.

Thank you.  I've found gel-filled connectors featured in the video to be unreliable in wet conditions.  In my experience, they are water-resistant but not waterproof, and I would never trust them in saltwater.

The heat-shrink butt connectors seemed to offer a good alternative if you (a) don't know how to solder electrical connections, or (b) don't already have a soldering tool.

It appears that they are, if you are careful about how you crimp them.

I used to work at an rc battery place, and there are plenty of connector options based on brand. Lots of shrink tube and liquid electric tape to seal.

Yes there are, but are they all the dual-wall adhesive-lined heat-shrink connectors that are made for marine environments?

[EDIT]

Sorry, this part didn't stick the first time:

I'd like to learn a lot more about the LiPo batteries for RC use.  I've been looking at them, but haven't seen one with more than 5200maH.  Do they make them up around 10,000maH?

I think you will find that the larger RC batteries are specifically designed for high current output for  relatively short time periods vs. low current demands of our fishing electronics over long periods of time.
Hence why when you look into the run times of RC cars, boats and aircraft,  they are measured in minutes while we are hoping to get a good number of hours

I think you will find that the larger RC batteries are specifically designed for high current output for  relatively short time periods vs. low current demands of our fishing electronics over long periods of time.
Hence why when you look into the run times of RC cars, boats and aircraft,  they are measured in minutes while we are hoping to get a good number of hours

Yes, lipo batteries are suited for high pull, short use. They would be better for a trolling motor than fish finder. Something else is that if the battery cells drop too much they swell and are ruined. A lipo cell is nominally 3.7v, and if I remember right the cutoff is 2 or 2.5v. To avoid this you would have to attach a voltage alarm to stop you. You also need a special charger for these batteries. I think a better battery material would be li-ion like phones and laptops use.

Or stick with a tried and proven 12V SLA deep cycle battery as big as you are comfortable hauling around with you.  There are 7, 7.5, 8, 9, and even 10ah batteries available that will suit just about all of the 3-5" full color multi-function fish finders currently on the market. 

Anyone should easily be able to get an 8 hour day out of a good battery that was fully charged prior to launch.  I've pulled a few 8 hour days on the water fishing, and it was a long day for sure. These were usually on a lake, and navigation wasn't ever an issue.  There have been one or two times on the ocean as well, but my Eagle Cuda could easily do 24 hours on a 7ah battery so I wasn't too worried. 

Now that I am planning to run the Dragonfly 5Pro that has a bit more draw from it, I do plan to have a back up battery on board if I am going way off shore where I could possibly exceed a solid 8 hours.  The 12v SLA batteries are pretty cheap, very durable, waterproofed without much effort, and easy to charge.

Also, I met a few guys fresh out of highschool that had an epic fishing trip around the entire United States living out of a Subaru, and fishing from a pair well outfitted Hobie Outbacks.  These kiddos added a single 5w solar panel  to the left rear area of the gunwhale of each of their Hobies, that I think was available from Harbor Freight at the time.  They started their trip from somewhere in Michigan, and they wandered down the east coast, fishing all the way to the Keys.  When I crossed their paths, it was way down in the southern Louisiana area of Grand Isle.  They explained to me that they used their fish finders pretty much every day, and never had to recharge their batteries once since the initial charge back home. 

The 5w solar panel was water resistant at best and they too were surprised that after all the saltwater, rain and other soakings they endured, that the panels still worked. 

I have no idea where I am going with this, so I will end my jibberish on this note.

There is no need to over complicate the batteries or wiring of kayak fishfinders.  Youtube has plenty of great How Too's for those that are skiddish with wiring. 

Jibberish?  You?  Perish the thought!

Okay, here's why I started the thread: when soldering the fuse holder supplied by Lowrance into the battery wiring I had a heck of a time getting the solder to "stick".  I'm generally good with a soldering iron, use a good quality soldering pen and very good rosin-core electronics solder.

I eventually had to use a liquid tinning flux to get a solid union.  Generally (again) when soldering electrical connection with rosin-core solders, you don't use flux.

I thought that if I had this much trouble, others might find it even harder and wondered if these kinds of crimp connectors might be a useful alternative.

Now, about batteries: NWKA has several hundred threads about batteries.  NCKA has at least as many.  One person posted that LiPo RC batteries are a great alternative to SLA and Li-Ion and with nwjimwa's greater knowledge, this was a chance to ask about them.

BTW, there's a Battery Tender LiFePo 12v battery on Amazon for around $80 - haven't researched the amp hours or the watt hours, but it's the first LiFePo battery I've seen for under $100, and is close to the cost of the Anker Li-Ion batteries folks have been using.

I'd like to stick a solar panel to the bow of the Revo and see what changes, but I like gadgets, and me being me, I'd start running around hunting for patches of sunshine and forget to fish.

AND FINALLY: I'll be adding electrics to my Tarpon in the near future.  I will use an SLA battery when I do it because I'm not voluntarily going through the aggravation of working with a Li-Ion system ever again after I finish the Revo.

For alla'y'all who live near larger cities where you can see and find the associated bits-and-pieces locally and don't have to order them online, I see the clear advantage.  For me, gathering the other components to complete the installation was a PITA.

Thanks to all for chiming in.

(How's that for babbling?) 

I was trying to remember the plug that didn't require soldering.  They are called powerpole connectors. Also called sermos. In case anyone is interested, although it needs a crimping tool.

Tinker,  I live pretty close to suburbia and one would think with close proximity to stores that I have access to everything kayak in just a drive into town.  In reality, very few stores carry or have in stock what I am looking for (or at a reasonable price) and that pushes even myself to use the "Internet Shopping" button quite regularly. 

In fact for my DragonFly install, here is what was purchased online for this project. 
-The Dragonfly 5 Pro itself.
-Pelican 1120 case.
-12v 9ah SLA AGM battery (and a backup).
-LED light connectors (waterproof).
-Hobie thru hull kit.

The only thing I purchased locally was a Battery Tender Junior for charging the 12v SLA batteries with, and a fuse holder.