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With car audio comes many many wires. And
what do we do with wires class? CONNECT THEM, that’s right. There are a few ways of
connecting wires. Certain ways are better depending on the use of that wire. This paper
will discuss some of those methods, with emphasis on the two most correct ways, soldering
and crimping.
"Strip back the insulation and
twist them up"
This is a
very good way to make sparks and ruin the CD player you just spent all your rent money on.
Twisting up wires is a poor electrical connection with excessive resistance and can short
to any of the 11 or so other deck wires or to the chassis. The connection is also
mechanically poor due to the fact that it may be pulled or vibrate loose at any second.
DO NOT do this. |
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"Strip back the insulation, twist,
and electrical tape"
Although
this adds a little insulation to the above first option, it often falls off the second you
put the deck in. This then suffers from all the negatives of the 1st
connection.
Again do NOT do this. |
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"Wire Nuts"
| Wire nuts are acceptable for
home applications where the wire is not moving in a wall. But in cars they tend to vibrate
off the wire. These also have a higher added resistance than other methods. |
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"Butt Soldering"
| Some shops swear by this
method while others curse it for taking up too much install time. This connection is
physically and electrically sound while being cheap as well. This connection also needs
some form of insulation such as electrical tape or heat shrink. Over all, soldering is the best connection method. |
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How To Solder
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Strip back about an inch of insulation off of all of the wires to be butt-soldered. |
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| Holding the wires at a 90
degree angle to each other in the middle of the stripped end, start twisting the wires
around each other along the wires length. This type of connection is called a
"Western Union" splice. |
 
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| Prime the tip of the
soldering iron with a little solder. (That is the magic smoke that makes electronics
work. Do not let this smoke out or the stuff will fail to operate. : ) This is
called "tinning", and it allows the heat from the soldering iron to get out, and
protect the tip from corrosion and burning up. |
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| Hold the iron on the wire
until a little solder flows into the wire. Now apply the solder to the point where wire
and iron meet letting solder be drawn into the whole connection. Less is more here, if you can’t see the
outline of the wire when you are done, yet you see a blob of solder, you used way too
much. |
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| When the joint cools, run
your fingers over the entire length of the solder and make sure no wires are sticking out
that might pierce the insulation. If you find any, use your pliers to smooth them
out. Now either insulate with
quality electrical tape or heat shrink.
To tape the connection, make sure your hands are first clean and
dry. Even the slightest oils will foul the adhesive on the tape. Take about an inch of
tape, and tightly wrap the tape in a helical fashion from about 1/4 inch of the insulation
on one side to 1/4 inch on the other.
Heat shrink, on the other hand comes in tubing. Cut an appropriate
length of tubing and slide it over one of the wires before twisting them together. Then,
after soldering the joint, wait a second for the joint to cool, and then slide the tubing
over the connection. Use a torch or a heat gun to shrink the tubing. Be careful not to
scorch the heat shrink or you'll end up having to tape over it anyway. |
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"Tap Soldering"
| This method is used when
tapping into other wires. For instance installing alarms or remote starters where the
factory wiring needs to be tapped into but not lose its original strength. |
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"How to Solder"
| Strip back about an inch of
insulation from the middle of the wire being tapped. Use some type of probe (a dental pick
or a small flat head screwdriver) to separate the wire. |
 
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| Strip back an inch of
insulation from the tapping wire, insert in the middle of the original wire, then twist
them all together. |
 
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| Prime the tip of the
soldering iron with a little solder. |
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| Hold the the iron on wire
until a little solder is drawn into the wire. Now apply the solder to the point where wire
and iron meet letting solder be drawn into the whole connection. Again, less is more here, if you can’t see
the outline of the wire when you are done, yet see a blob of solder, you used way too
much. |
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| Run your fingers over the
entire length of the solder and make sure no wires are sticking out that might pierce the
insulation. Now either wrap
tightly with quality electrical tape or apply heat shrink. Be careful not to scorch
the heat shrink or you'll end up having to tape over it anyway. |
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"Butt/Barrel Crimp Connectors"
| Again, some shops swear by
this method for its speed, while others enforce soldering only. There are insulated and
non-insulated barrel (butt) connectors both being either seamed or seamless. |
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The differences between seamed and seamless are
mainly price (seamless cost more) and crimping methods. With seamed barrels there is a
split running the length of the barrel. If crimping is done on both sides of the seam, the
barrel will flatten out and not hold the wire tightly. When crimping is done on the seam
and the opposite wall, the barrel tends to concave digging into the wire holding it more
securely. With the more expensive seamless barrels you can crimp on it all around the
barrel and it closes the same way. This saves time since you don't have to check the
position of your crimp. Now with insulated and non-insulated barrels its more of a user
preference. There are also different crimpers for both types. Insulated barrel crimpers
look like a pair of pliers with 2 crescent shape groves on each side. While the
non-insulated barrel crimpers have a groove and a spike on the other side. It is not
recommended to use non-insulated crimpers on insulated barrels as it pierces the
insulation leaving bare metal to cause problems.
"How To Crimp"
| To crimp 2 wires, first
determine the proper barrel size for wire gauge. Now strip back both wires so that when
inserted into the barrel they will not extend past the middle while also keeping all
stripped wire inside the barrel. |
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| Insert wires into barrel
while twisting to prevent frayed wires from sticking out of the connector. Line up
crimpers over the metal on each side and crimp (Put spike on flat part for seamed
connectors). DO NOT crimp on the ends where only nylon is or the connection will not
hold. |
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