If you have a trailer - sooner or later you're going to have to fix a bad wire, no matter what kind of a trailer it is.

As far as I know, I'm the only one who solders wires this way, and now you'll know the method too. Everyone I have ever shown this to has done a double take and got a huge grin on their face - it really does make your joints stronger and a whole lot easier to do. I do it this way for a lot of reasons, and came up with this method after many years of soldering all sorts of connections.

1) It secures the wires so you don't have to hold them as you solder.
2) It makes the connection a considerable amount stronger.
3) It prevents cold solder joins.
4) It prevents or reduces sharp edges or corners in the joint that might pierce the insulation.
5) It makes a join that is smoother and more precise.
6) The ribs formed by the wire wrap help prevent the shrink fit tubing from slipping off the joint.
7) A smoother join means the shrink fit tubing slides over it easier.
8) It's a big help when you don't have much slack in the wires to work with.
9) You don't need any specialized fixtures to hold the work.
10) You can use scrap wire as a filament source, or even strip back one of the wires you are joining and use one of the filaments of conductor in it - so that the "WRAP" strand is part of one of the wires you are wrapping.

HERE'S HOW:

 

Thanks for posting that. I'll have to try that sometime.

 

One of the things about it that helps is that a single strand of wire like that doesn't add a lot of extra metal to heat up with the iron. Also, unlike adding a crimp and soldering it - you can see how well the solder flowed into the joint, it doesn't hide the join.

 

Heat shrink ?--No, Cold Shrink tubing .Just came across this , 3M has Cold Shrink Tubing !! For those applications where heat would be a problem .Supposed to be water tight .

 

Sounds like the wrap they use for well pump wiring. Water tight, a bear to remove.

 

I use a similar solder method I learned in an electronic class in the 80's. Tin , wrap, solder. Shrink wrap or tape wrap. Strong union. Just did it on a MAF connector Friday.

 

Cold shrink? What makes it shrink? A catalyst? Water?

Do you like - get it wet, slide it on, and then let it dry?

 

http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/1/78-8141-5459-3 Rev C-9326.pdf

Apparently it's expanded .You then take out the core and it shrinks down to proper size.
I'm not an electrician and don't play one on TV !!
I do know to put the tubing on one side of the joint before you solder !LOL

 

Nothing sucks worse than laying down a beautiful solder joint and then realizing:

"Oh crap - I forgot to put the insulation down the wire first..."

I think that's one of the biggest fails that you NEVER tell anyone about!!!

Never ever, and you pray NO ONE saw you do it.....

Shhhhhhhh.........

"I can't believe I did that, well (F)..."




You know - what is funny about these things is that we all do it sooner or later and it feels the same no matter who we are

In German the saying is:

"Scheiße geschieht" (or something like that) and the translation is "poop HAPPENS"

What can we do?

From my perspective the comical aspect of it is the most important, but if you intend to make money that is not quite so funny...

Just saying

 

Thanks Wolf for sharing. We have all done that "oh crap" where's the shrink wrap now that the solder joint is perfect!