Great way to splice wires

[Seymour Snerd]

I found out about these from Terminal Town Terminal Town's Electrical Connector Home Page which is where I buy all my crimp terminals for wiring. I finally used some today and they are fantastic. The splice is made of heath-shrink tubing but the trick is the ring of solder in the center. To splice two wires you simply strip about 3/16" from the end of each one, insert them into the splice from oppositw ends with the bare copper overlapping or "merged" within the solder ring, and heat with a heat gun. First the heat shrink shrinks, then after a little bit the solder melts and solders the two wires together. You know you're done when the solder ring collapses entirely and turns shiny.

Tips:

1. It's important not to disturb, and to continue to support, both ends of the splice until the heatshrink has cooled enough to harden. Otherwise the joint can either bend and cause the copper to poke through the soft heatshrink, or perhaps in an extreme case separate entirely.
2. Having a reflector on your heat gun helps a lot both here and with any other heatshrink operation. I got my reflector as part of 9 Piece Heat Gun Accessory Kit. at Harbor Freight for $7.50. The reflector is the one with the slanted flat piece, which I bent into a nearly closed cylinder using a pair of needle-nose pliers.
3. The shrunk heatshrink looks thin and the whole thing's a little bumpy so depending on the wire's mechanical environment you might want to cover it with another plain heatshrink segment.

The splices are here: Terminal Town's Electrical Coonector Solder Seals

I've been using them in particular where I need to "tap into" an existing wire. Cut the wire, strip both ends, then pair up your third tap wire with either end of the cut wire. Splice. Done.

BTW Terminal Town is highly recommended. He now has some crimp terminals who's sleeves are heatshrink and contain glue so after you crimp you hit it with the heat gun and it seals around the wire's insulation. I haven't tried these yet (probably later today), but they sound wonderful:

Terminal Town's Electrical Connector Crimp and Seal/Crimp and Seal

 

[Nick]

Many years ago I worked for part of Westalnd Helicopters and we used these a lot.

As I'm sure you will appreciate being used on equipment going into aircraft they were subjected to vigorous testing and inspection, they were very good.

 

[David in Durango]

Thanks for that tip!

 

[Phil]

Al:
The heat shrink with the glue is great stuff, I once dropped a part on the electric/cooling cable for my tig torch on a Saturday cutting a good slice in it. I scuffed the outside of the tubing, slid the shrink over the fitting to the cut and shrunk away. That was about 3 years ago and its still holding 50 psi.. Saved me about $100 for a new cable. They also work great on battery cable ends especially the crimped ones, makes a nice neat job.
Cheers
Phil

 

[Seymour Snerd]

...crimp terminals who's sleeves are heatshrink and contain glue so after you crimp you hit it with the heat gun and it seals around the wire's insulation. I haven't tried these yet (probably later today), but they sound wonderful:

Terminal Town's Electrical Connector Crimp and Seal/Crimp and Seal

Update after using some of these: they work exactly as advertised. They have a longer neck than typical crimp connectors, and when you heat them that neck squeezes down around the insulation and you can see the glue melting against the insulation as the neck grows somewhat translucent, and a very tiny bead of glue forms at the end of the neck. Nobody's going to be pulling these terminals off, and no moisture's going to wick up the wire to the contacts!

 

[Steve C]

Great tip

Steve P2125

 

[Alex]

Update after using some of these: they work exactly as advertised. They have a longer neck than typical crimp connectors, and when you heat them that neck squeezes down around the insulation and you can see the glue melting against the insulation as the neck grows somewhat translucent, and a very tiny bead of glue forms at the end of the neck. Nobody's going to be pulling these terminals off, and no moisture's going to wick up the wire to the contacts!

I use the crimp/heat shrink terminals from waytekwire on all my builds. They're awesome and well worth the extra cost.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

I use the crimp/heat shrink terminals from waytekwire on all my builds.

I just noticed that both Waytek Wire and Pico Wiring (http://www.picowiring.com/pdf/Cat-7.pdf) offer terminals (as opposed to splices) with the embedded solder pellet, but I've never used these. Have any of you? My concern is with how easy it is to verify that the solder has melted and wicked, since it's inside the crimped area whereas in the splice it's in full view.

Have any of you used these?

 

[Alex]

Not I - crimp and shrink is the way to go

 

[Seymour Snerd]

I just noticed that both Waytek Wire and Pico Wiring (http://www.picowiring.com/pdf/Cat-7.pdf) offer terminals (as opposed to splices) with the embedded solder pellet, but I've never used these.

I found these for sale in reasonable quantities at Sherco Auto Supply Sherco Auto Supply. They are at the bottom of the page and called "multilink;" all with part numbers starting with ML.

They are absolutely wonderful. You feed your wire in, give it a little crimp, then hit it with the heat gun. The adhesive lined tubing shrinks as usual and then a little while later the solder ring melts and a little drop of solder is pushed out the front by the shrinking action to tell you its' done.

Voila: soldered and sealed termination in one easy three-step-sequence. I tried pulling one off and basically couldn't without destroying it.

 

[Joey Dean]

I work for the FAA in Flight Inspection. These are all we use, period. They make a better electrical connection and there is no mechanical pinch point that could eventually fatigue the wires and cause breakage. Another plus is the rings at each end make a water tight seal that not only keeps moisture out, but prevents oxidation of the enclosed wire.

Short answer? Buy 'em and use 'em.

 

[Dave Aarons]

Yeah these look great so I tried to order 1 pack of each size. $23 for the terminals and a whopping $94 for postage of a small Jiffy Bag to the UK.
Anyone know of a source in the UK?

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Yeah these look great so I tried to order 1 pack of each size. $23 for the terminals and a whopping $94 for postage of a small Jiffy Bag to the UK.
Anyone know of a source in the UK?

The terminals are about $1.00 each, more than I'm used to paying but easily worth it in my opinion. But still, that's ridiculous postage; from whom did you try order them? Sherco? Maybe I should go into business as an intermediary..Or just call them and give them a lesson in international shipping. Let me know; if necessary I'll ship them to you at cost.

 

[Bill Musarra]

This looks like a great way to splice wires. Lord knows I had to do a lot of this with the build of my car. I had to shorten my harness for the FI and ignition rather drastically as the wiring was intended for a front wheel drive car. Lots of cutting,soldering and shrinking. When I decide to redo the wiring(next year probably) I will definitely look into these.

Bill

 

[Bill Musarra]

Just for edification. Is it better to use a heat gun or soldering iron or flame with these units? If the gun is best what heat range is best. Flames are hard to control and usually melt the wiring insulation too far back and the heat shrink tubing is then too short requiring tape or the paint on stuff. When I redo my wiring next year due to constant add ons and revisions of circuits, I want to get it neater. When you add timers, relays and safety switches, it tends to complicate the simple wiring you started out with.

Bill

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Is it better to use a heat gun or soldering iron or flame with these units? If the gun is best what heat range is best.

I've been using a Harbor Freight heat gun (Heat Gun - Great Deals on Heat Guns at Harbor Freight) with a "reflector" from 9 Piece Heat Gun Accessory Kit the second item from left, back row, having rolled the blade into a nearly closed cylinder using a pair of needle-nose pliers.

The higher heat range is of course faster and so far I haven't over-heated anything, but you do have to keep nearby items, especially to the sides, out of the way including fingers and attached wiring, sleeves, etc.

With the reflector you can simply hold the wiring and terminal still until the process is complete. It takes 10-20 seconds.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

Anyone know of a source in the UK?

Dave -- the manufacturer's web site is here: National Standard Parts Associates - Home of the Sealed Electrical System They have a contact form to find distributors. Let me know if I can help.

 

[Jack]

Bill, I use the same HF heat gun set-up as Alan. Works great. Heed Alan's safety advice. Don't ask how I know! Ouch!

 

[Dave Aarons]

Thanks for the offer of help Alan. I have submitted an enquiry to National Standard Parts so I'll let you know what happens. I origionally tried ordering from Terminal Town. Ironically I'm in the Courier business so I know roughly what it should cost.

 

[Seymour Snerd]

I know roughly what it should cost.

The last time I sent a small package to the UK I think it cost maybe $5, but that's by the US Postal Service. The UPS or Fedex or DHL rates always amaze me for how high they are.

Since my first post abouty the splices I discovered Sherco Auto & Marine http://www.sherco-auto.com/ who also carry lugs, spades, etc all with the solder pellet in small quantities (other vendors sell in ~25-unit packages). They have provided very good service. I just noticed this text on their web site:

"International Shipping with MyUS.com
We have partnered with MyUS.com to offer convenient, fast international shipping to more than 225 countries for our customers. MyUS.com members receive deeply discounted shipping rates, exceptional customer service, 24/7 online access to their account, and access to other services.
Sign up with MyUS.com and receive your own U.S. street address to receive merchandise. MyUS.com provides specialized international package forwarding services from your new U.S. address to your international address.."
​

So apparently someone really is in the "intermediary" business. I looked at the site and it costs $10 to sign up, and that's it; from then on they make their money on marking up the the shipping costs. The rate to the UK for 1 pound (the minimum) is about $30. 10 lbs is about $70.

That's still too much for a bag of terminals, IMO. I can ship up to 4 lb in a standard 8-5/8" x 5-3/8" x 1-5/8" box to the UK for $13.50, or my own small package for ~$1 per oz.