Thread: Joining electrical wire, solder, spades or blocks?

Originally Posted by rovercare

Scotch locks are the spawn of the devil, and should be disposed of promptly and NEVER EVER EVER used on anything

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Scotchlock connectors, I agree, should not be used - EVER.
John

Whoever fitted the tray to my Defender, presumably when it was new, obviously had not heard this sound advice.
Back in September I mentioned the problems I had tracking down the reason why my reversing light didn't work.
I traced it to a faulty earth and while a new earth fixed it, curiosity got the better of me and I investigated further to see what was wrong with the original earth wire.
No prizes for guessing what I found.
A Scotchlock!

these were the original scotchlocks which are worth their weight in gold

on the other hand, these later items colloqually known as scotchlocks by you philestiens look like this;-

and they are not much good to anyone for a permanent fix, only temporary and only away from moisture

Yes, mine was the second type.
How did those original ones work? It looks as if the red bit turned and forced the wires together.
Do they still exist?

BTW Your signature is a classic. Even better than, "There are 3 types of people in the world; those who are good at maths and those who aren't"
or
"There are 2 types of people in the world; those that divide the world in to 2 types of people and those who don't."

Originally Posted by Quiggers

Having been an installation techo in a past life...

if its permanent, then its a solder and heatshrink...

if it needs to be disconnected then I use various connectors for crimping, fortunately I still have a very expensive crimp tool

BTW, If anyone wants cable, I have many kilometres of varying types and grades... I really should catalog it all and put in the markets area shouldn't I?.......

GQ

Quiggers mate im with you on this one i like the solder sealed heatsrink way the stuff with the gluey stuff in it if its to be permant ...

Tho the crimps the good ones and good nitto brand tape works good for stuff that has to come apart ..

those first ones were filled with a moisture resistant gel, the wires (telephone) were shoved in from the squared off end, one per hole, then the orange or red bit was squashed into the clear bit with your pliers. they used to be the preferred connector used by telstra, before they started going all optical on us.
good to see another defender with a trayon, my mate has one on his blue 130 single cab 300tdi. the early mod with the aluminium steps

Originally Posted by barney

good to see another defender with a trayon, my mate has one on his blue 130 single cab 300tdi. the early mod with the aluminium steps

Mine also has the aluminium steps. It is No 247, made in 2003. I bought it 13 months ago.
As you might be able to see from the avatar, it is a dual cab model. When you are buying second hand, you sometimes just have to take what is available at the time.
However, it turned out to have one big advantage over the single cab model. I didn't have to find somewhere else to mount the spare tyre. There is room to leave it fixed to the headboard.

Crimps are are good cheap way for single wire connections if done correctly, but if you are after good quality waterproof connections for 2-8 wires you can't go past Deutsch type plugs to connect electrical cable. We use them on Caterpillar and Toro underground machinery where I work and they by far last the longest in the salt water enviroment in an underground gold mine. You do need a special pair of crimps to use them but ask any auto lekky and they will tell you they are the best to use.

regards matt

You've probably done the job by now,
Crimp connectors must be made with the right crimping tool. Let me explain, using pliers or the like does not get the crimp tight enough, the crimping pliers on the un-insulated crimps, put the start of a bend in the back of the connector, and there is springback effect, that tightens the crimp even more.
There sets of connector blocks at auto shops, and even the ubiquitous Dick that take the un-insulated connectors. have a look there.