shrink wrap for wiing joints

[davidmh]

I have to put some wiring in an area which gets wet from salt spray and rainwater, I cannot avoid having joints in those areas. I thought I would use standard blue butt crimp connectors and cover the whole joint and the wire insulation with shrinkwrap. I have nevr used shrink wrapbegore so I need your help/.
What size shrink wrap do I need, o/d of cable 7mm crimp might be bigger than 7mm How do you heat it? Does it shrink llenghtwaysis so how much.
David MH

 

[justanothersailboat]

I think what you're looking for is "glue lined heatshrink tube". It shrinks quite a lot in diameter but not much in length. In my experience easily enough that a size which just slides over a crimp, can grip matching-sized wire (but not usually wire that's too thin for the crimp anyway).

You can also buy crimp connectors that have a glue lined insulating heatshrink cover. In my experience these are really good.Unfortunately your existing crimp tool may not be right for them depending on what it is.

Like you, I avoid connections exposed to saltwater wherever possible but was not able to perfectly avoid it in a few places. I used a "belt and braces" approach with gluelined heatshrink tube over gluelined heatshrink crimps.The idea being that the outer cover protects the inner from damage or lifting at the edges. No doubt it won't last forever but seems perfect so far. It wasn't costly.

 

[William_H]

I think what you want is not so much shrink wrap as shrink tubing. Pardon Our Interruption... You of course have to ahve the join apart to fit tubing over. Tubing can be shrunk with any flame or soldering iron. lovely stuff. ol'will