The best way to splice several thin wires (from mouse damage)?

[Emission]

A few mice got into my engine compartment and chewed through a few critical wires. It is hard to access, but I was able to get to the spot with a little difficulty. The good news is that one end is a plug, so I can do most of the work on that end on the workbench, and then contort my hands to "connect" to the other end still in the engine compartment.

That said, what is the best/easiest way to splice these thin wires? Twist? Twist/electrical tape? Solder? Butt crimp connectors? Any other easy options?

- Mike

[nick325i]

Solder and heat shrink is the best but good splice connectors would work.

[DW SD]

I'd solder. This is good technique: http://www.instructables.com/id/Master_a_perfect_inline_wire_splice_everytime/

Another option - can you remove the individual connectors and add them to the other end of your wire and reinsert them into the plastic housing?

[fastfredracing]

+1 for solder and heat shrink. You can also add a couple of inchesof wire to the pigtail harness side on the bench to make the tough connections a littler easier in the engine compartment

[Emission]

Originally Posted by DW SD

I'd solder. This is good technique: http://www.instructables.com/id/Master_a_perfect_inline_wire_splice_everytime/

Another option - can you remove the individual connectors and add them to the other end of your wire and reinsert them into the plastic housing?

I know what you are talking about... but these seem permanently in there (sometimes they are just metal connectors held in place by the plastic housing).

I am going to try solder, after adding a few inches of wire to make it a bit easier.

- Mike

[Targa Me]

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

We went through this on another thread a week or two ago. Soldering is fine for hi-fi equipment but lousy for cars (and for the same reason forbidden on airplanes). It has to do with vibration and the stiff/flexible point of failure that soldering creates. You need to crimp, but you need to do it using good crimp connectors and a high-quality crimper, which I'm told these days costs about $150. (Bought mine during a different era, when I was wiring an airplane.)

[Canada Kev]

I'm fairly certain you wouldn't splice wires on an aircraft, either. With connectors and terminals, I would agree with you, but in this application, I suspect that a good solder splice and heat shrink would be more than adequate.

[T77911S]

here is one way. you can do it like this if you want to try to make it blend in as best as posible.

i would solder before i would crimp if i want it permanent. i have seen many electrical problems from crimped wires. you can argue that the solder makes the wire stiff and could break, (a lot of wiggling would be required) at the solder point, but with a crimp, you could also wiggle and break it, but with solder, it is a better connection that will not come lose as i have seen with crimps.
if i crimp a wire, i solder it too. also, the heat shrink is stiff and provides for a nice buffer between the solder and the the rest of the wire.



What is the Solenoid?

[javadog]

I'm going to add my 2 cents. Steve is right. Soldering is a bad idea in a car wire harness, for the reasons he stated. Porsche crimped the connectors in your wiring harness.

You have to have good connectors, the proper tools and a little knowledge about how to do it correctly. Almost all failures in a crimped joint are caused by poor quality work.

I have a friend who works for a company that supplies wiring harnesses to military aircraft, missiles, navy ships, etc. They solder nothing at all.

JR

[sailchef]

I use the little crimping connectors that look like a small tube. Available at any auto parts store. You put one cut/stripped wire in each end so they meet in the middle. Then you crush it to hold it together. I use a Vice-grip. Done. Never had a problem. I guess shrink wrap would make the whole deal waterproof.

[Targa Me]

Steve Wilkinson, soldering is used in aircraft all the time.
Check MIL-STD-202G, ASNI/J-STD-004 and MIL-DTL-8834G.

[Winter]

Originally Posted by sailchef

I use the little crimping connectors that look like a small tube. Available at any auto parts store. You put one cut/stripped wire in each end so they meet in the middle. Then you crush it to hold it together. I use a Vice-grip. Done. Never had a problem. I guess shrink wrap would make the whole deal waterproof.

+1, I've used this technique with the heat-shrink tubing and had no issues two years (and two very wet, snowy winters) down the road on the Audi S6.

---

Tom '75 targa

[James Brown]

Yes soldering is used in aircraft, around electronic parts. Most all of the electrical connections are crimped with a ratcheting type of crimper to assure there tight. kinda expensive if you only have to attach 3-4 wires but this type of crimper should be in everyones tool box along with quality crimps like the ones AMP makes. (soldering wires is still on the A&P test but I can't remember the last time I did that). that goes along with wire ties, when was the last time you saw string wire ties on a aircraft! it's all zip ties now

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Solder an avionics terminal and try to get it signed off. Good luck with that. Oh, and I did use waxed-cord wire ties when I built my Falco. Makes a much neater bundle.

[javadog]

Originally Posted by Targa Me

Steve Wilkinson, soldering is used in aircraft all the time.

I rather doubt you'll find a soldered splice in the middle of an unsupported wire run, which is what we were talking about.

Circuit boards, switches and other unrelated stuff aren't relevant.

It's up to the original poster what he wants to do. He can wrap the spilces with slivers from a used beer can, for all the difference it will make to me. I'm just advocating what I feel, based upon too many instances of having to correct some previous hack job in a wiring harness.

JR

[real550A]

Sounds like the best fix would be to clamp a mouse jaw on the two wires and wrap it
with mouse hide.

[jcge]

[TechnoViking]

This is an interesting thread. I'd never heard of solder causing problems till now. Shows you what I know.

Anyway, my race car is filled with solder splices and patches. I have had problems with the crimp stuff, presumably 'cause I don't have the fancy $150 tool. I never trust those things and I had an intermittent contact I finally chased down and soldered this year.

Anyway, my car isn't the space shuttle, and I find soldering works better on my low budget (currently very low budget) car. At least better than the cheap Home Depot crimp stuff.

[Emission]

Wow. Some great information here!

The car is my Boxster Spec Racer that I used to park covered in the driveway (until I noticed the mouse issue last week). Thankfully, my 911 sleeps in the garage away from the varmits.

The wiring is for the "idle air valve." Hardly mission-critical, it just helps the car idle. If it fails (my solder or crimp comes undone), the car will still run as long as my foot is on the throttle to prevent it from stalling.

While crimping is easiest, I don't have the tool handly and I race in four days (someone post a link to the crimp tool so I can order a good one). I think I'm going to use solder, and heat-shrink wrap. I am 95 percent sure it will hold. Plus, I don't carry paying passengers or fly over any populated areas.

- Mike