People who love their bikes are often than not caught up in the dilemma of whether to install a new accessory to their bike which would require some splicing of wires to be done or refrain from it as the splicing task can be a little tricky. This is a genuine problem too as splicing can be really tricky and if not done right can cause the wires to loose strength and resistance to build up.
But worry no more. There are many ways that it can be done in and we are here to help! One of the most common connectors used is crimp on wire tap that is easily available. It works in a pretty simple way but at the same time not very effective. The right piece make cut in the insulation of wire and thus there is always a chance of the individual wire strands to get damaged. This can lead to connection failures among st other problems such as higher resistance and more, hence this is not very much recommended. Obviously one will not want anything to happen to the wires and so enters the Posi-Lock.
Posi-Lock, as compared to wire tap are a bit expensive but way more reliable. You can use these when there is not much space for soldering to be done or when you don’t need a permanent connected joints. For using this, strip about inch of the insulation on wire and simply slide the plastic collar over the wire. Now screw the collar and the wire in the Post-lock to have a strong bond.
Further, you can also use a butt splice to connect wires. This method is used to join wires that are going in the same direction. For this, just remove half inch of insulation from both the wires are them twist the metallic part slowly with each other. The strength of this connection is moderate and can be made stronger using soldering. Another one is pigtail splice which is used for wires that are next to each other.
Talking about soldering, this is also one of the things that people refrain from doing. But this is a skill that everyone must learn. Once you are done splicing and joining the wires, soldering can make the bond stronger. Practise is definitely required for this but do not practise it on your bike wiring for obvious reasons. There are some precautions and things that you must keep in mind while doing soldering. Make sure the joint of the two wires is secured and strong. Melt a small amount of solder on the joint before bringing the soldering tip in contact with the wires. While melting the solder wire on the joint, do not touch it with iron but let the heat of do the work. For this, hold the iron below the joint and make the iron come in touch from above. This will make sure the solder comes down while melting giving a secured connection. Also, make sure there is no extra big globs of solder on joints as it will make it look bad and also make it difficult to cover.
The joints once cool can be covered using electric tape however, a better method will be to use a shrinking wrap. Before covering the joint, cut any lose wires and make the area clean. On one hand where using electric tape is simpler, a shrinking wrap is more preferred. The size you select of the latter should be done carefully both gauge as well as length wise as this will shrink to one-third of its size.
So now you know all about soldering and splicing. Do let us know any doubts and your suggestions below!
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