High Strength Soldered Wire Splice Method

[Greywolf]

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 when installing it.
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:

I highly recommend this method in any area where there might be high temperatures and/or a lot of vibration - or if there is any chance something might cause the wires to stretch. For racing applications I think it goes without saying that this is the most bulletproof way you can join wiring.

[bravekozak]

I always use open barrel splices. They curl down and dig into the wire.
The proper way is to wrap around and surl around each wire separately (nit like in the picture)
They are much better than closed barrel splices.
All of the factory terminals are open barrel.
Adding solder would make it super strong.

I make pigtails for things such as horns using this method.
They would be the ones with two wires using the same terminal, avoiding the need for a splice.
I want a softer sound for power locks.

[Greywolf]

You're prolly gonna disagree with this one too then - but that's okay, if we all liked the same things we'd all be trying to sleep with the same people! The problem I see with any kind of mechanical splice is that yes, they may be fast. But vibration and wear can make them loosen up. They are also a lot more vulnerable to corrosion. The final bell on them is that you have to have a bag of them around and a crimper tool, especially if you end up doing them over when they get old.

I like to do things like this ONE TIME and be confident that what I have done will last indefinitely.

* I should have mentioned that option three is to use spiral wrap on the wires INSIDE the split tube sheathing. You can also use spiral wrap in real short sections just to keep things halfway together, much like zip-ties, but easier to undo and move.

[william]

We were taught this method in school minus the extra wire wrapping.
When I do this without the wire rap I strip a bit more .
In school they called it the braiding method we would separate each strange and slide the wire together give it a twist and solder.
I like using heat shrink that has the glue. I'll have to try the extra wire I bet it's even stronger. We had to pass a test in school where they would pull the wire and it had to break and not separate the solder joint.

[Eaglefreek]

I've used that method a few times.

[sketchman]

I mean the factory used crimped terminals with no solder, and they last decades before they ever have issues.

So I guess technically OP is correct, but really a crimp is faster, will work just fine, and surely a crimp tool is more convenient than a soldering iron, no? A crimp thing is built in to my stripper, so hooking up a soldering iron is another step and tool I don't need to use.

As was said, everyone has their opinion.

[shorestiva]

Gm wants us to do all wiring repairs with a splice crimp and solder or a heat shrink butt connector with solder in it. Which one you use depends on where the wire is. If I have to replaced terminals in a connector I crimp them on then put a very tiny dab of solder on the crimp. They say some people can crimp some can solder so if you do both at least one part should be done correctly.

[shorestiva]

Also newer vehicles are getting to be so sensitive to resistance in electrical circuits in a lot of cases it's better to replace the entire wire and terminals than to repair the wire. Any wire repair you do creates extra resistance in the circuit. For example on certain trucks the electric throttle bodys tend to set a lot of throttle body correlation codes. (e throttles have 2 tps sensors that the computer constantly compares and if the 2 voltages vary by a certain amount it sets a code) Most of the time it's because the throttle body goes bad. The new throttle body will come with a new wiring connector and butt splices. When you install the new connector with the splices a lot of times it will keep setting the same code because the splices will cause the 2 tps circuits to have slightly different resistances and therefore the computer will read incorrect throttle positions. The only way to keep this from happening again is to replace the entire wire and crimp/solder new terminals on.