Advice on crimping from true leccy experts please

Use a heat shrink solder sleeve. Like a pice of heat shrink, but with a ring of solder inside. Overlap the wires, put the sleeve over, heat and a watch the solder flow and the sleeve shrink. Best if the wires are made the same thickness.
 
An ordinary butt connector can be used for wires of different size if you can feed both wires in from opposite ends so they overlap. ie extend out the opposite end. Hence you get a bulk of wire suitable for crimping and 2 points of crimping on each wire. Yes it is dismaying that cheap lights from China go for minimum wire size. Quite OK electrically but very flimsy and not robust enough for long life on a boat. ol'will
 
rszemeti said:
Tinned (as in all the wires stuck together with solder, rather than individual wires coated in solder) is a no-no as it almost always fractures just where the wire transitions from "tinned" to "free" ... you won't find it on planes, and you won't find me doing it on boats.

If your crimp will not effectively hold on the wire, or a "doubled up" wire, then you are using the wrong size crimp!
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Absolutely right.
Glue lined shrink crimps put on with the proper ratchet tool are a forever job.
 
PaulRainbow said:
No need to spend that much ;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ratchet-...-Heavy-Duty-/251557131981?hash=item3a91f936cd

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heatshri...ectors-/261507747262?var=&hash=item8279a017d7

The same vendor stocks all of the terminals you'd need onboard and more.
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Thats the WRONG TOOL.

They don't seem to sell a tool for heat shrink connectors even though they sell heat shrink connectors.
As I'm sure you know, heat shrink sleeving is thinner than the halfords style red, blue or yellow hard insulation and so the die is a smaller size on the correct tool. Also it is smooth to not damage the un shrunk insulation.
 
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Elessar said:
Thats the WRONG TOOL.

They don't seem to sell a tool for heat shrink connectors even though they sell heat shrink connectors.
As I'm sure you know, heat shrink sleeving is thinner than the halfords style red, blue or yellow hard insulation and so the die is a smaller size on the correct tool. Also it is smooth to not damage the un shrunk insulation.
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I'm aware of the slight difference in the jaws, but a decent pair of normal crimpers will work fine. It hardly seems reasonable for the OP to spend £65 to connect two wires to a nav light.
 
PaulRainbow said:
I'm aware of the slight difference in the jaws, but a decent pair of normal crimpers will work fine. It hardly seems reasonable for the OP to spend £65 to connect two wires to a nav light.
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You're very experienced Paul and I've learned loads from what you say but I do disagree with you on this one. The crimps suggested will not squeeze the crimp as tight as they should be. OK you'll probably get away with it as the glue will hold it together, but it a job's worth doing........

I have a pair of both and if I pick the wrong one up by mistake then sometimes the crimp slips off the wire before the shrinking is done. That's not good in my book.

Also it's £65 to to do every joint he ever does in the future properly, and the difference in the cost of the tool itself is only £25.
A good investment IMO.
 
Whatever crimp tool you have, crimp a spare bit of similar wire and do a pull test.
Even posh crimpers can be wrong!
 
Stemar said:
Why is that? Not disagreeing, just curious.
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The contacts on the jelly blob are a pair of facing knife edges, they are designed to cut into but not through a solid conductor. If a stranded conductor is used then there is a fair chance that the knives will sever individual strands and not even touch what is left.
 
Thanks for all the input, very useful! This nav light is on the side of the cabin (motor cruiser not yacht) so the join will be inside in the dry. The problem is access - soldering will be very tricky so I would rather not put heat in a confined space and crimping feels safer. There are some good simple ideas here. I'm well used to crimping standard red butt connectors so I have couple if options I can use - easiest is probably overlapping the bared wires inside the connector. Thank again all.
 
Wago snap connectors? If you've got room to loose them and if inside and dry. Snap them and treat with ACF50 to keep any damp out?

salar said:
Thanks for all the input, very useful! This nav light is on the side of the cabin (motor cruiser not yacht) so the join will be inside in the dry. The problem is access - soldering will be very tricky so I would rather not put heat in a confined space and crimping feels safer. There are some good simple ideas here. I'm well used to crimping standard red butt connectors so I have couple if options I can use - easiest is probably overlapping the bared wires inside the connector. Thank again all.
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matthewriches said:
Wago snap connectors? If you've got room to loose them and if inside and dry. Snap them and treat with ACF50 to keep any damp out?
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My thought too - many types available of course, but I have found this type of 'press and release' sprung connector block very convenient in awkward to reach but dry spaces for fine instrument wires, and they will handle a wide range of sizes and are available from 3 ways upwards. https://ae.rsdelivers.com/product/w...used-terminal-block-3-way-pole-008-25/0815880
 
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