Wiring Questions

[Superpants]

For splicing, soldering is probably the way to go, as others have suggested- it will tend to produce a smaller, neater joint than a crimp which is an advantage if you have several to bury in the loom. Out of interest, a lot of vehicle looms now use ultrasonically welded splices when needed and covered in heatshrink as they are cheap and very reliable.

For sleeving I tend to use PVC harness tubing, mainly as I acquired a couple of hundred metres of the stuff for nothing. If starting from scratch, I would tend to use the slit convoluted tubing as it is easy and offers a good degree of protection. Expandable braided sleeving makes a neater job in my opinion (and can be very cheap), but is not ideal on off-road vehicles as it tends to trap mud easily.

If you want the ultimate in a tidy (and waterproof) job then heatshrink is the way to go- it’s widely used in military equipment and can be very hardwearing, especially if coupled with a braid under the sleeve. It can also be stiff- but there are a couple of tricks that ease this; twisting the loom up so that it lays like a rope will aid the flexibility (adding filler cores to build it up to round). As will using an elastomeric heatshrink, and picking the smallest un-shrunk size that will pass over the loom (as this will have a thinner wall thickness when shrunk). Military and motorsport harness builders tend to use Raychem DR 25 which is a diesel resistant & elastomeric, It is however significantly more expensive than standard grades (7 times the prices- going from Farnell’s prices!), so unless you have a cheap (surplus?) supply, then it is probably not worth trying. Heatshrink also has the disadvantage that additions/ modifications are very difficult to make.

[will_warne]

Nige, depending on where the wirings going and how waterproof it needs to be depends on what you should go for. For splices solder and heatshrink is neat and waterproof but it can be a bit tricky to do in situ with a big loom in which case the heatshrink splices which you crimp and then heat the shrink work well.

For any joints in the cabin I use bog standard blade connectors with a little vasoline on then. External joints now get heat shrink blade connectors - simerlar to the splices but blade connectors with the sheath made of heat shrink. The only problem with these is they cost about 10 times that of a standard blade so you want to use them a bit more sparingly.

As with many others I use flexible conduit to keep the wiring tidy. You can seal this if you wish but I tend not to bother as I keep the wiring inside sealed anyway.

[Shaun D]

Loads of great ideas so far but one I didn't see mentioned, for your in line splices use glue-lined heatshrink (I get mine from R.S.Components). When you have a splice of say one into three wires the water gets in where the three wires are in parallel, this glue lined stuff has a hot melt glue in it which squidges into all the gaps making it completely waterproof.

The point about soldering making the wires stiff, practice makes perfect, you just have to learn to make the joint more quickly so it doesn't have time to wick down the wire. . Nice clean wire helps so you don't have to "cook" the joint for so long.

Shaun.

[FridgeFreezer]

Those heat-shrink joints are glue lined, it's the way of the future fo' sho'

[Hybrid_From_Hell]

Thanks for this lot, just had a good read, keep the ideas coming.

Just back on topic again, other than VWP wherelse can I buy a large selection of wires with differing colours and tracers ?

Is say 1mm Sq wire all the same, is there a best brand ? if so who and where to get it (only really wnat to make this once) ?

Ta

Nige

[white90]

Autosparks in Nottingham

[Superpants]

Blue Beehive do a selection of wire as well:

http://www.bluebeehive.com/Stock_pages/Cab...p.html#8.75_Amp

Been very quick, helpful and reasonably priced when I have bought crimp terminals from them.

[missingsid]

Solder and motor vehicles, not a good idea if vibration is present.

It is to do with the "It makes the wire stiff" comment. When you solder multistrand wire (which is the only wire that survies vibration) the end of the wire which is soldered becomes a solid wire, when the wire is subject to vibration the multistrands flex and absorb the movement, up until the point it reaches the solid solder end. With all the vibration focused here it gradualy fractures each strand until it fails completely.

That was what I was tought at work anyway.

[mpb]

Solder and motor vehicles, not a good idea if vibration is present.

It is to do with the "It makes the wire stiff" comment. When you solder multistrand wire (which is the only wire that survies vibration) the end of the wire which is soldered becomes a solid wire, when the wire is subject to vibration the multistrands flex and absorb the movement, up until the point it reaches the solid solder end. With all the vibration focused here it gradualy fractures each strand until it fails completely.

That was what I was tought at work anyway.

I was tought the same when I went to college, but I still solder connections if im splicing into an existing circuit.

[LandyManLuke]

Yes fatigue is a problem with soldered joints, hence, you keep the joint small, use a hot soldering iron and the right method (i.e. not filling the wire with solder), and then heat shrink over the joint and either side by a good few cm.

I've never had any problems with this method, certainly better than scotch blocks, but then so is throwing a monkey into the car with a pair of wire snips.

[JSG]

I don't want to hijack the thread but some good info on here. I need to sort my wiring out - its a bit of a nightmare with loads of spare ends, odd connectors and no logic to wiring colour or size.

I must remember this thread.

[FridgeFreezer]

You may find this useful too: BS-AU7a Wiring Colour Standards they apply for most LR stuff, I try to use them when I'm wiring in new things so that in future there's at least a clue what the wire does.

[MogLite]

I've just been flipped a link to The ToolBox Shop

They seem to have a resonable range of stuff, and some different stuff to VWP.

Never used them and haven't compared prices

[madmatt]

try here for lights http://www.dun-bri.com/?gclid=CM2e4OqHz4oCFSYSQgodixBXgw look at the links page to go to their sister site for workshop consumables.

[western]

Try these for a catologue Beal UK a friend uses them for connectors/cable for vehicles.