gw204
Well-known member
The original lugs on my battery terminals were pretty banged up and corroded, so I decided last fall that I would replace them this year. When I removed the batteries for winter storage it also dawned on me that my terminal were pretty crowded and I should do something about that too.
Turns out luck was on my side for once. When I replaced the batteries mid-summer, I got ones that had the standard auto-motive style posts, as well as threaded posts. I figured there had to be a way to make use of the extra posts, so I began searching for a solution.
My search lead me to these...
http://www.centerpin.com/battery-home.htm
They looked interesting, but I couldn't find anyone that had ever used them. Jim @ BOE highly recommended their VHF connectors, so I decided to give them a try and placed an order. That was 2 months ago, right before I got tied up doing crap around the house so we could put the place on the market. [
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Well, I finally got around to installing them tonight. That process is as follows....
First, you cut off the old lugs and reform the cable to it's original round shape.
Next you slide on the cover (not the red thing) and the o-ring provided. I also chose to add a Blue Seas terminal cover on each wire, so that actually went on first since the lug is too big to fit through the hole.
Then you push the lug on. There's a pin in the center that you place right in the middle of the cable. Push it on far enough so the cable bottoms out on the lug. This can be tricky.
After that, you pinch down the "teeth" with a pair of pliers or something.
Slide the o-ring up against the compressed teeth.
Lastly, push the cover up and over the o-ring and teeth, engage the threads in the lug and tighten everything up.
It all seems like a good system and installs easily just as advertised, but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. On the two ground wires that are 2 ga., the o-rings self destructed when I tightened the caps down so I ended up taking them out.
I'll be sure and report if I have any problems with them. $24.99 for a 5/16" and 3/8" lug at West and Jim @ BOE beat that by a dollar.
Turns out luck was on my side for once. When I replaced the batteries mid-summer, I got ones that had the standard auto-motive style posts, as well as threaded posts. I figured there had to be a way to make use of the extra posts, so I began searching for a solution.
My search lead me to these...
http://www.centerpin.com/battery-home.htm
They looked interesting, but I couldn't find anyone that had ever used them. Jim @ BOE highly recommended their VHF connectors, so I decided to give them a try and placed an order. That was 2 months ago, right before I got tied up doing crap around the house so we could put the place on the market. [
]Well, I finally got around to installing them tonight. That process is as follows....
First, you cut off the old lugs and reform the cable to it's original round shape.
Next you slide on the cover (not the red thing) and the o-ring provided. I also chose to add a Blue Seas terminal cover on each wire, so that actually went on first since the lug is too big to fit through the hole.
Then you push the lug on. There's a pin in the center that you place right in the middle of the cable. Push it on far enough so the cable bottoms out on the lug. This can be tricky.
After that, you pinch down the "teeth" with a pair of pliers or something.
Slide the o-ring up against the compressed teeth.
Lastly, push the cover up and over the o-ring and teeth, engage the threads in the lug and tighten everything up.
It all seems like a good system and installs easily just as advertised, but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. On the two ground wires that are 2 ga., the o-rings self destructed when I tightened the caps down so I ended up taking them out.
I'll be sure and report if I have any problems with them. $24.99 for a 5/16" and 3/8" lug at West and Jim @ BOE beat that by a dollar.
