Re: 18g wire good enough?

[sheridan@vanceandhines.com (Brad Sheridan)]

>On Wed, 19 Mar 1997, Brad Sheridan wrote:
>
>Of course, Brad's suggestion is the proper one, but for those who don't
>have solder-action close to their car, I can tell you that --for example,
>when connecting the new gauge lights to the existing one-- exposing part
>of the old wire, wrapping the end of the new wire 3-4 times around it
>tightly, and covering the exposed part with el. tape works just fine.

  I used to think this as well. One of the previous owners of my previous
scirocco had done a lot of wiring in the car this way. One of the things he
had done was install a new tape deck, and he simply used elec. tape to wrap
the end
of some of the unused wires. This worked OK for a few years, but after I
had it, I put in a CD player, soldering and using elec. tape to cover.
During the install, one of his wires got moved around enough so that the
tape loosened. A year or two after my install, I was driving down the
interstate doing maybe 80, when the dash lights started flickering, then
shut off. A few seconds later, smoke started pouring out from under the
dash. It turns out one of the unused wires he wrapped was the lead from the
dimmer to the stereo. Over time, the tape
came loose and that wire shorted, which drew massive current, crisping a
good part of the wiring from the dimmer, and several other underdash wires
as well because the insulation started melting, and everything shorted to
each other.
  Part of the problem may be that he used crappy elec. tape, but to be
safe, and also make sure that it can handle getting pulled without coming
apart, I try to solder where possible, and heat shrink over that. I've
never had a problem with that. You can get soldering irons for @ $10 from
Radio Shack. Sure, they're not the best ones to work with, but I get by
with one like that for simple stuff at home.

Brad


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