From: fortner@hal.eng.ufl.edu (Dave Fortner)
Subject: Re: TIP: Soldering Wire
Organization: University of Florida
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 92 12:49:49 GMT

In article <1992Dec17.193318.6639@cs.brown.edu> jfh@cs.brown.edu (John F. Hughes) writes:
>In article <1992Dec17.182040.8285@eng.ufl.edu> fortner@hal.eel.ufl.edu (Dave Fortner) writes:
>>
>>for a long distance up into the insulation. The corroded
>>wire will not take solder. TIP: Get a gallon of Muratic (sp?)
>
>Muriatic acid is basically low-grade Hydrochloric acid, I believe.

Your probably write, but I use Muriatic acid because you can get
it at any hardware store, in fact my local grocery store carries it.

>
>But here's a question: Why are you trying to re-use wire that's 
>corroded? If you want to "do things right," I'd recommend the following:
>replace the wire, and at the two ends, just short of the attachment point,
>put in a couple of loops, so that the wire runs around about a 1" circle
>twice. 

When I first thought of the idea I was replacing a broken bilge pump and
didn't want to run new wire all the way from the dash (in this boat
it would have been a nightmare). I have used this method for cleaning
wire before soldering for other similar tasks like replacing bow light
and trailer lights (my dog loves to chew on trailer lights until the 
"submersible" lights arn't submersible anymore). I strongly agree
with you that splicing the boats wiring hardness is not a good idea.

>
>One more thing about soldering: it's not so clear that solder's a good
>idea in areas that might get salt water on them, since you're just begging
>for electrolytic corrosion of the joint. This has been argued back 
>and forth a lot by various folks...
>
>I personally really love the Ancor marine fittings. They have a piece of
>heat-shrink tube where most crimp fittings have rigid plastic. So...
>you stick the wire in, crimp, and then heat shrink, so that the entire
>connectiong is encased in a littel watertight seal. They cost a bit
>more, but I believe they are worth it.

I HATE crimp connectors, IMO unless you have the proper equipment
(which I don't) you will not get a permanent connection. I prefer to
solder, what I used to use is an appliance rated "poly cap" used
in building appliance motors, they are heat shrink cap (closed at one
end) with "heat melt" glue inside. You solder the wires, slip this
over the end and heat shrink it down. The "hot melt" melts and
completely seals out air and water. I have never had a joint go bad
using this stuff. My problem is that I have run out of poly caps
and I don't work for the motor company any more so that I can get
some more. Does anyone know where I can get these things?

This is NOT intended to be a flame, I have not seen the connectors
that you are refering to. They sound pretty neat, I'll probably
pick some up to keep on the boat. But back when I work for the 
motor manufacturing company (name withheld) we tried to switch from
soldering the connections on the appliance motors to using a crimp
connection. This was finally abandoned due to high failure rates
during the life cycle testing. We went back to soldering dispite
the higher cost.

>
>By the way, if you're doing some re-wiring, consider getting a copy of
>the ABYC's list of colors to use for various tasks. If you *know*
>that everything's properly color-coded, it makes your job a lot
>easier later on. 
>
>-John
>
Thanks for the tip on the book, The before mentioned boat is now
gone but I have a friend with a Grady-White that is going to 
re-wire his boat in a couple of months.

Dave Fortner
Fortner-D@3mail.ksc.nasa.gov

Disclaimer: I AIN'T RESPONSIBLE FOR NOTHIN'

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