Archive through November 29, 2007

[bbrigham]

Art, the only luck I've had with those conectors is to first strip back the insulation on both wires then fill the connector with dielectric grease before clamping it. They usually hit the circular file before the bag they came in.

Bren
`

 

[bbrigham]

Art... if we didn't have someone whine we couldn't play with this....

Bren

 

[aaytay]

Brendan-
I love when someone uses those connectors on the trailer harness of a car or truck and then wonders why they have no trailer lights and the tail-lights on their truck starts doing weird things 3 months later.

Road-salt gets in and starts to form a blob of crusty stuff that eventually pushes apart the connector until the wires no longer contact. That corrosion then starts to work it's way up BOTH wires you just punctured.

It's even better when somebody does that to a perfectly good wire-harness on a 40 year old tractor!

DUH! !

I've almost saved up enough of those things that I can use them as packing peanuts the next time KenTuck buys something from me!

 

[rvondohlen]

I think 3M used to (might still) call those 'Scotch Locks'. Pretty sure the name evolved as a result of locking your hand around a certain distilled beverage to calm your nerves after chasing electrical faults around.

Once upon a time,,, we used those quite a bit at a GM dealer I worked for when installing 'Dealer Option' equipment. You could slap an alarm system on really fast but you sure paid for it when one came back in faulty.

 

[bbrigham]

Art, can't remember how many 1000's of cars came through my buddies garage where I worked that had those stupid things in them . Even seen them in the harness for the computer . I've seen some pretty high dollar electrical accesories with them . I soldier and heat shrink everything . The best heat shrink tubing I seen has a sealer in it that melts and completely seals the wires . I can't find it anymore around here but am still looking . It's worth the extra money .

Bren

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bren, Digikey sells some, yeah, you'd have to order it but they are a good company to work with. Here's a link to their catalog page with the type with the sealer: Qualtek Heat Shrink I think they might have a $20 or $25 minimum order. If you see what you want I could get some next time I order and send it too you.

 

[bbrigham]

Thanks Kraig, I was just lookin at McMaster-Carr for other parts and noticed they also sell it . Glad we got on this topic ! There is a few things I need from there so I will add that to the order .

Bren

 

[jegstad]

Brendan,

If you are going to solder a connect or splice make sure you tie/glue the end result down so it doesn't flex or vibrate. There is a reason why NASA will not ever use a soldered joint, it's called FAILURE. Soldering hardens the wire and it wont take a lot of bending before it parts. They use crimped or welded joints. I know a lot of people swear by soldering but actual MTBF figures show crimp is way ahead by a long ways. Just my .02

JimE

 

[bbrigham]

Jim, You're .02 is good advise . There has been alot of discussion on that when I was taking classes for electrician license . Alot of discussion on the web also . I have been soldiering for so many years it's just second nature . Funny thing is I do have crimping plieres , not those cheap^$$ auto store ones either , they really make nice crimps .

Bren

 

[kide]

Jim:
The crimp versus solder debate does hinge on intended use.. I agree that the solder creep can create a stiff portion of wire behind the connection, but over the years, I've had waaaaay more problems with crimped connections than soldered/heatshrunk ones. Anything that is designed to flex should get tied down so that it's not flexing at the connection anyway, either soldered or crimped.. On the other hand, my 129 doesn't use a Atlas E or F or SRBs for motivation either. Probably less vibration.....

 

[rchristensen]

It's not just the PO's that screw things up. I have a new Motor Home and it gave me fits this summer on a trip to Montana. Lots of intermittent electrical problems. Coming down the mountains south of Flagstaff I lost all electrical and the engine. Had enough brake to get it over to the side. Found this electrical connector on the main battery that feeds the control box had burned off.

Had to make temporary repairs to get to the next town, almost used the vise grips like Charlie mentioned.

Once I got it home I went through the unit from one end to the other. With all of the loose connections I found I wonder how I ever made it home. I guess made in the USA didn't apply here.

Used my big crimp tool a few times.

 

[kide]

The control board for the A/C unit in our motorhome almost burned up at the Portland Vintage Motorbike show a couple three years ago when it was running almost non-stop (gets hot in July in Indiana). Kept smelling burning phenolic... took it apart - found loose crimps from the factory install on the connections to the compressor motor...had the same thing on one side of the 220 in our home central air last year, same problem - bad factory crimp caused loose connection, eventually burned off. Just bad luck, I guess. I soldered both of 'em when I fixed 'em.

 

[bbrigham]

Richard, I got a pair like that too cept their hydrolic

don't even use them any more

Bren

 

[rvondohlen]

Lonny; is this what we need to get the extra front height?

 

[jegstad]

Kendall,

I hate to keep this going but a bad crimp is the same class of workmanship as a cold solder joint. All quality crimps are pull tested, all solder joints such as on a pc board are visually inspected under magnification. Sorry, but I worked on aerospace projects, BTDT. When I put a fuel injected motor in my old PU I used barrel crimps with heat shrink to marry the wire harnesses. You could yank all day on it.

Like I said, the debate goes on. And I have used solder in an emergency, I just don't depend on it for the long haul.

 

[lbuttke]

Robert.
I dont know if that would work, it might if it was reworked to fit the axle.

Kraig.

I did some cutting and welding.
I took a spindle from a 154 and a spindle fron a wide frame and removed the stock spindle from the WF bracket, cut the 154's spindle apart and welded the longer spindle to the WF spindle bracket.
I will have to get better photos of the finished product this weekend and post them next week.

Hugh.
Sounds like you need to take some personal time off from work so you can chetch up on the cub repairs.

 

[kweaver]

Brendan - I bought some of those "hot glue" crimp/melt butt connectors at wally's world once and can't find them either. They worked great for marine wiring.

My TOY is soldered/shrunk on the work that I've done to it.

Kendell - You mentioned A/C ... The ol lady and I got home from a long ride around the country summer b4 last (7 hours) and our house A/C unit was arcing like crazy were the unit's fan wire had broke at the crimp and was bouncing around on the housing. The Yorkie in the house said he couldn't reach the off switch

 

[digger]

Ummmmmmm!

 

[bbrigham]

Now I got a supplier for heat shrink tubing with sealer I can get the harness soldiered together to marry the AQS engine to FrankenCub.

See Charlie......and you you thought this was all OT

Bren

 

[wcompton]

At work I'm exposed to quite a bit of electrical work on vehicles. Basic rules apply, always heat shrink a connection, protect harnessing in a protective loom, attach looms with P-clips, and NO crimped connections under a vehicle. If a splice in a harness needs to be made, make a "T" harness using quailty Deustch connectors.