Need help with trailer wiring - Diesel Forum

I10haulR · 12-30-2005, 11:04 PM

Well after searching for an hour to find a short, I finally looked at the clippy (don't know what they're really called) and both the wires inside were melted together... I decided I need to get rid of the POS things and solder everything.

Now, I've never soldered anything more than two wires together. A lot of these clip things are tying in 3 into 1 and so forth. How do you go about tying these together? I've seen the 2 to 1 butt ends that are already made up but don't really know where to buy or the best way to install?

Thanks.

LongRider · 12-31-2005, 07:35 PM

Get yourself a good soldering gun and some light solder and practice a couple times on some old wire.

Just heat the wire joint until it is hot enough to suck the solder through the wire.

After a couple tries, you will be a pro.

Mike1000000 · 12-31-2005, 09:21 PM

I think you would be fine just to cut out the splice connectors you had and put some butt connectors in with heat shrink over them. I would do that instead of soldering them together.

John_G · 12-31-2005, 10:04 PM

Soldering wires on a vehicle is not the BEST of repairs as the solder makes the wires stiff and brittle. With age and vibration the soldered areas have an affinity for breaking unexpectedly.

A better solution is using bare butt connectors and installing heat-shrink over the connector and overlapping each wire end by about 1".

I10haulR · 01-01-2006, 12:49 AM

Thanks

But i still don't know where to find butt connecters that can ty into a line, or some two into one connecters.

Mike1000000 · 01-01-2006, 01:07 AM

use the large yellow butt connectors. There for 10 - 12 gauge wiring.
You can strip each wire and twist them together then put 2 wires in one end of the butt connector and the other wire in the other end. If the single wire doesn't fit tightly, strip it twice as far and fold it over.
Another option is the dead end connectors. There like a cap that goes over the wires and gets crimped in place. All the wires get twisted together and then that goes over it. Sometimes they wont work well when tapping in to a harness because you cant pull any more length out of the wires, if thats the case you will have to just use the butt connectors.
And like was said earlier, dont forget to put the heat shrink on the wires first. And use a heat gun to shrink it, not a lighter

I10haulR · 01-01-2006, 11:46 PM

Why didn't I think of that! Thanks a bunch!