A Quick Introduction to Marine Battery Cables and Terminals

[Greg Anixter]

There are so many different types of electrical wire and cable out there that the corpus can quickly get very overwhelming. This is true enough even if you have a background in electrical engineering, but for those that don’t the variety is simply frightening. There are so many different types of wire and cable that are not only defined by the color coding of their insulation but by their purposes that volumes could be written on the score. To make things simpler, we’ll be looking at a specific class of cables in this article to shed some light on its specifics and designation. Consider that you may have heard of different types of wire and cable styled as “armored cable,” “ground wire,” “alarm cable” or even others in the past. We won’t be touching on these in this article, although it might seem somewhat familiar what their uses are from their names. It would therefore follow that wire or cable styled as marine battery cables and terminals would be used in a marine environment. But why is there a special class of cables for use in these environments?

To answer this question we need to take a closer look at the environments in which marine battery cables and terminals will be operating, which is, unsurprisingly, a marine environment. The words are simple enough, but anyone who has ever worked on a ship, at sea, or along the coast will know first hand just how corrosive and destructive the influence of the sea can be. Consider that the ocean and salt spray make quick work of exposed iron fittings, often even those that are galvanized. It makes waste of wood and other materials that will react or degrade.

Also unsurprisingly, many conductors are made from copper, because it is an excellent conductor. At the same time, copper is also highly reactive. If you have ever experienced the degradation of exposed copper along the shore you will know what happens to it in short order.

There is something else to be considered; many marine battery cables and terminals are actually used on ships and boats that are at sea much of the time, and not only along the shore for coastal use. Something to be considered here is that fact that even in calm seas, a ship is in constant motion. If not from the vibration of the engines the ship will be gently moved by the motion of the water. Therefore everything within the ship is subject to constantly changing forces.

In short, to combat this, marine wires are made up of many thin strands of copper wire. This makes them more flexible and therefore able to contend with the shifting forces. As far as corrosion, each strand of wire is individually tinned in order to better insulate it from the corrosive nature of the sea.

That’s basically all there is to the makeup of marine wires; if you’re looking for them and other wires or cables for specialty uses, check out EWCS Wire at EWCSWire.com. They have a broad portfolio of products and their team would be more than happy to walk you through the fine points of some of their wires and cables. Check out their website today.