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With car audio comes many many wires. And what do we do with wires class?
CONNECT THEM, that’s right. There are a few ways of connecting wires.
Certain ways are better depending on the use of that wire. This paper will
discuss some of those methods, with emphasis on the two most correct ways,
soldering and crimping.
"Strip back the
insulation and twist them up"
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This is a very good
way to make sparks and ruin the CD player you just spent all your rent
money on. Twisting up wires is a poor electrical connection with
excessive resistance and can short to any of the 11 or so other deck
wires or to the chassis. The connection is also mechanically poor due to
the fact that it may be pulled or vibrate loose at any second.
DO NOT do this. |
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"Strip back the
insulation, twist, and electrical tape"
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Although this adds a
little insulation to the above first option, it often falls off the
second you put the deck in. This then suffers from all the negatives of
the 1st connection.
Again do NOT do this. |
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"Wire Nuts"
| Wire nuts are
acceptable for home applications where the wire is not moving in a wall.
But in cars they tend to vibrate off the wire. These also have a higher
added resistance than other methods. |
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"Butt Soldering"
| Some shops swear by
this method while others curse it for taking up too much install time.
This connection is physically and electrically sound while being cheap
as well. This connection also needs some form of insulation such as
electrical tape or heat shrink.
Over all, soldering is the best
connection method. |
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How
To Solder
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Strip back about an inch of insulation
off of all of the wires to be butt-soldered. |
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| Holding the wires at a
90 degree angle to each other in the middle of the stripped end, start
twisting the wires around each other along the wires length. This type
of connection is called a "Western Union" splice. |
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| Prime the tip of the
soldering iron with a little solder. (That is the magic smoke that
makes electronics work. Do not let this smoke out or the stuff will
fail to operate. : ) This is called "tinning", and it allows the heat
from the soldering iron to get out, and protect the tip from corrosion
and burning up. |
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| Hold the iron on the
wire until a little solder flows into the wire. Now apply the solder to
the point where wire and iron meet letting solder be drawn into the
whole connection.
Less is more here, if you can’t see
the outline of the wire when you are done, yet you see a blob of solder,
you used way too much. |
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| When the joint cools,
run your fingers over the entire length of the solder and make sure no
wires are sticking out that might pierce the insulation. If you find
any, use your pliers to smooth them out.
Now either insulate with quality
electrical tape or heat shrink.
To tape the connection, make sure your
hands are first clean and dry. Even the slightest oils will foul the
adhesive on the tape. Take about an inch of tape, and tightly wrap the
tape in a helical fashion from about 1/4 inch of the insulation on one
side to 1/4 inch on the other.
Heat shrink, on the other hand comes in
tubing. Cut an appropriate length of tubing and slide it over one of the
wires before twisting them together. Then, after soldering the joint,
wait a second for the joint to cool, and then slide the tubing over the
connection. Use a torch or a heat gun to shrink the tubing. Be careful
not to scorch the heat shrink or you'll end up having to tape over it
anyway. |
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"Tap Soldering"
| This method is used
when tapping into other wires. For instance installing alarms or remote
starters where the factory wiring needs to be tapped into but not lose
its original strength. |
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"How to Solder"
| Strip back about an
inch of insulation from the middle of the wire being tapped. Use some
type of probe (a dental pick or a small flat head screwdriver) to
separate the wire. |
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| Strip back an inch of
insulation from the tapping wire, insert in the middle of the original
wire, then twist them all together. |
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| Prime the tip of the
soldering iron with a little solder. |
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| Hold the the iron on
wire until a little solder is drawn into the wire. Now apply the solder
to the point where wire and iron meet letting solder be drawn into the
whole connection.
Again, less is more here, if you
can’t see the outline of the wire when you are done, yet see a blob of
solder, you used way too much. |
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| Run your fingers over
the entire length of the solder and make sure no wires are sticking out
that might pierce the insulation.
Now either wrap tightly with
quality electrical tape or apply heat shrink. Be careful not to scorch
the heat shrink or you'll end up having to tape over it anyway. |
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"Butt/Barrel Crimp
Connectors"
| Again, some shops
swear by this method for its speed, while others enforce soldering only.
There are insulated and non-insulated barrel (butt) connectors both
being either seamed or seamless. |
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The differences between seamed and
seamless are mainly price (seamless cost more) and crimping methods. With
seamed barrels there is a split running the length of the barrel. If
crimping is done on both sides of the seam, the barrel will flatten out and
not hold the wire tightly. When crimping is done on the seam and the
opposite wall, the barrel tends to concave digging into the wire holding it
more securely. With the more expensive seamless barrels you can crimp on it
all around the barrel and it closes the same way. This saves time since you
don't have to check the position of your crimp. Now with insulated and
non-insulated barrels its more of a user preference. There are also
different crimpers for both types. Insulated barrel crimpers look like a
pair of pliers with 2 crescent shape groves on each side. While the
non-insulated barrel crimpers have a groove and a spike on the other side.
It is not recommended to use non-insulated crimpers on insulated barrels as
it pierces the insulation leaving bare metal to cause problems.
"How To Crimp"
| To crimp 2 wires,
first determine the proper barrel size for wire gauge. Now strip back
both wires so that when inserted into the barrel they will not extend
past the middle while also keeping all stripped wire inside the barrel. |
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| Insert wires into
barrel while twisting to prevent frayed wires from sticking out of the
connector. Line up crimpers over the metal on each side and crimp (Put
spike on flat part for seamed connectors). DO NOT crimp on the ends
where only nylon is or the connection will not hold. |
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