That is the way to up your amps and keep your voltage the same and I agree with G- bring down the wires to a useable place so you do not have to go up on the roof to make any changes if you need to in the future. Then there is to solder or not to solder?? Well that will get you all kinds of opinions. I use to solder everything but now I use a compression crimp with the new epoxy filled shrink tubing. The compression crimp uses a metal crimp tube that in without plastic covering. The crimping dies have a dimple in the jaws and there is no way you can pull it apart without tearing the wire in half. I have run tens of thousands of wires in my life and heaven knows how many connections. I have tried everything I could think of because if it failed not only would I be held responsible, but someone could be hurt or suffer in some way so I always tried to stay at the cutting edge of the technology.
I tried the new low temp solder type that when you heat the shrink wrap the solder melts and sticks the wire together and a big bunch of heat activated epoxy melts and holds it all together too, but vibration caused the connections to fail often in the first year. I told the manufacture what was happening and they told me it was our electricians. Oh well, that ended us using that junk so beware! They are much too costly anyway. If you don't use the dimple compression crimp then solder and shrink-wrap it with a quality heat shrink tubing. Some of them even come reinforced with fibres in the tubing. Make sure you get one that stays flexible so they don't break or crack. When you solder use clean stripped wire, a good 60-40 electrical solder and strip it back a half inch, add a shrink wrap tube and give it one half inch over the edges of the trim, push the wires together on a horizontal plane where they go inside each other and look like they would if there was no cut, then mash them together so none of the strands stick out. Solder them together as quickly as possible, making sure the solder flows freely, so the joint doesn't overheat.
You want a shinny solder finish. If it is a dull finish it was moved before hardening or not hot enough or too hot, otherwise known as a cold solder joint. Even if they may hold they could have a high resistance and can cause problems on top of breaking. Soldering seems easy, but it can cause all kinds of problems with electricity if done poorly. Yea, I know it's just soldering. But a poorly done solder joint can be the same as adding a 2 - 10 ohmm resistor. It can heat up and melt the solder or cause other seemingly impossible problems, If you can use the compression dimple crimp, use it because it is strong, almost water tight by it's self and will last for years without problems. I have used them in 12, 24 and 48 volt connections with out an appreciable raise in resistance for years. Half of them were on outside vehicles. Oh one other problem soldering has if you use too much heat it will temper the copper and make it quite brittle, it will break if it is in a vibrating situation. I hope this info is useful to someone. Good luck. And happy sailing!
Badmoon
