Best way to splice wires?

[gerg]

Originally Posted by HowardK

What you need is a package of "telephone crimps" from Radio Shack, of all people. They easily handle 24-26-28 gage wire similar to what you might find in many instruments. 28 guage might require doubling or a partner. Anyway, these crimps are a lifesaver. Multi conductor cables...5 or more can be staggered so the resulting splice is about the same diameter as the original cable. The perfect crimper is a surprise too...a Klein tool or Chinese look alike with the tiny diamond shaped "die" works perfectly.

I'm pretty sure those are called scotchlok connectors, or something very close. You can get them for stranded wire, and you can get them with a small charge of silicon gel to waterproof the connection.

I'd be leary about just crimping them on and letting them hang though. You probably want to mechanically secure them to something solid, maybe even use a piece of shrink tubing over the top to keep the wires secure.

[Chesapeake_Installers]

I've used the smaller butt connectors as mentioned for smaller than 22 gauge wire. They are perfect for splicing dsc connections, RS125, etc. I have not found them with heat shrink, but you can get adhesive lined heat shrink tubing in the smallest diameter and pinch down the tubing after heating. (sometimes needed if the wire is extremely small)

I think these are what I've purchased before, but they were clear/yellow colored connectors that I remember using.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...howFullReviews

I can't stress enough the importance of a quality crimping tool. I personally use an pair of Ancor crimpers. Lasted three years of hard abuse, and well worth the money invested.
http://www.marinco.com/product/stain...tripcrimp-tool

[gerg]

Woops, my bad. They are 3M scotchlock connectors.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...beDP16W8FB2Ngl

They work very well for small guage wore splicing, but again, I wouldn't simply crimp them and let them hang free.....

[baitkiller]

Just pull a new run of Romex. That way you can fasten it to the square D panel with wire nuts and grub screws. It lays nice and flat so your staples look neat.

[wingless]

When I needed to connect a plethora of small-gauge wires I started w/ a small section of Vector prototyping board and made wire-to-PCB solder connections.

The wires were then mechanically strain-relieved using nylon wire ties and the assembly was electrically insulated using adhesive shrink tubing.

There are dozens of Vector board styles available.

The completed assembly conforms to ABYC and IPC standards.

[wingless]

Originally Posted by gerg

They are 3M scotchlock connectors.

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...beDP16W8FB2Ngl

They work very well for small guage wore splicing, but again, I wouldn't simply crimp them and let them hang free.....

That is the typical solution.

[philgorp]

Originally Posted by baitkiller

Just pull a new run of Romex. That way you can fasten it to the square D panel with wire nuts and grub screws. It lays nice and flat so your staples look neat.

lmfao. thats great stuff

[cabokid]

Wow! a lot of info here . After looking at my options I decieded to soder with 60/40 and then use heat srink tubing with glue. I'm very good at sodering and besides the location will be bundled in the helm box where there is no stress on joints. I will have full access in the future if any problem arises. I dont see any advanage to crimp as have had them pull apart before . Thanks for all your input

[cabokid]

Well I just found a really cool set of crimp style union that has heat shrink with glue on each ends at my west marine . Worked really well as thats what I ended up doing