Cable Joins on the Trailer

[PeterInSA]

Had some brass fittings on the trailer, to join the plug cable to the lights. The joints/lights go under water to retrieve the boat. When taking the boat in for a service, the brake light would not go. Cut out the joint and soldered the connection. To me should do the same for all connections because its just a matter of time B4 other lights fail.

Friend suggested I use a spray to help the conductivity/ keep water out.

Comments appreciated.

Peter

[Moonlighter]

I you have to make simple wire to wire joins, solder then heat shrink with the glue-lined double wall heat shrink, and do 2 layers.

That does the job perfectly.

[scottar]

I you have to make simple wire to wire joins, solder then heat shrink with the glue-lined double wall heat shrink, and do 2 layers.

That does the job perfectly.

And then wrap it up in self amalgamating tape. The best option is to get lights that have cables long enough to reach the front of the trailer. It doesn't seem to matter how well a cable in a wet area is sealed, eventually water gets in but if you put a few layers of waterproofing in it will definitely last longer. I wouldn't worry about spray products - they will stop any waterproofing from sticking properly and pretty much wash off anyway.

[VictorOscar]

Both my boats in the last 8 years have had fully sealed LED lights and they were connected using the method outlined by Moonlighter.

Never had any problems.

[Robwhi]

Readily available are heat shrinkable Butt Spices in the following sizes they work a treat and have good adhesive

Red Suits .5 to 1.5 sqmm 2- 3mm Auto Cable Sizes
Blue Suits 1.5 to 2.5sqmm 4 and sometimes 5mm Auto cable
Yellow Suits up to usually 6 sqmm and 6MM Auto (4.59sqmm)


Soldering is not really a good way to go unless you ensure you clean all the flux away as it can be as or more aggressive than salt water and if you seal the joint
the flux will continue to attack the joint. If you do solder make sure you clean all the residue away with a good cleaner that is not corrosive.

[PixieAU]

Butt spices?

Sounds nasty

[PeterInSA]

Hi Rob,
Today, went to pick up friends boat and trailer after a motor service and would you believe lights on one side of the trailer would not work ( had the sealed LED light fittings and 2 separate leads from the front socket) and had what appeared to be the heat shrink items below heavily wrapped up inside plastic tape.
http://au.rs-online.com/web/p/crimp-butt-splice-terminals/0533673/

[brett62]

I have just wired my trailer and have 5 side lights each side which had me having to join wires. I looked at all sorts of so call waterproof connectors and plugs and got very confused which would be the best. This is what I did and I don't know if it will last but it's what I have done. First I used all tinned wire and soldered all the joints. I then got out the hot glue gun and put glue over the joins then placed heat shrink over that and put the heat gun on and heated the join up until the glue was pushed out at the ends of the join and then I put more heat shrink over that. I then wrapped in pvc tape.

If that doesn't last a while I give up. One thing I did notice on the LED lights is they have a small hole in the bottom of the lens. I will be interested how they pan out.

Just did a repair on a trailer which had me rewiring the rear lights on his trailer and the 7 core trailer main harness was pretty rotten but the tinned wire from the LED lights was in good shape. Certainly shows the tinned wire last much better. A bit off the subject but wanted to share it.

[Robwhi]

Hi Pixie

I could not agree more about but splices we do not use them in our factory. We use proper Splice style terminals and depends
on the application how we insulate them. If used in a aggressive environment we usually overmold them . Heat shrinkable
butt splices are not too bad in a service type situation but they have there limitations.

But saying that Horses for courses we have semi automatic and fully automatic crimping equipment but we cannot take that out
to a trailer to work on or in the back shed at home and cost of tooling is also a issue .

I will try and throw up some more info and maybe a video on options including connectors if anyone is interested ?

Peter some people use std butt spices and put Dual wall heat shrink over the top.
The problem with Dual wall heat shrink adhesive it is not flexible and cable moves and than it lets in the Water etc .

Cheers

[PixieAU]

Nah you missed my joke.

You wrote 'Butt spices'. Instead of splices. That's all.

[scottar]

The LED lights with the holes in them are interesting. My Redco had a set originally. The funny thing was that on one side of the trailer to get the correct orientation they turned the light over - putting the holes at the top. This meant that the light then filled with and retained water. Strangely enough though, the one filled with water - was the one that still functioned perfectly. The other was shot - full of corrosion. The joins in the cables had also let water in so the entire wiring was u.s.

I sourced a pair of rear lights with 8 metre cables, ran in separate wires that were joined to the existing clearance lamps on the guards. These were soldered, taped, heatshrunk, amalgamating taped and then vinyl taped again (possibly overkill as apart from wash down these will never see water). all cables were then run to a junction box with waterproof glands mounted on the winch post. 5 year warranty on the lights so fingers crossed I shouldn't be touching any of it any time soon

[Noelm]

For good marine connectors, give Pete (peterbo3) a call, he supplies a range of very good quality connectors to suit almost any application.

[wags on the water]

www.superiorterminals.com.au

[brett62]

Hi Scott,

Funny thing is a ant family has already moved into the lights.

Understand the holes are in to stop the lights fogging up and allow drying of any moisture. Sounds interesting and only time will tell. If the holes were at the top I can't see that being real handy. I have not had the trailer in the water as yet and I may evict the ants and may be close the holes with a small self tapper with a little sealant.

We all go to some much trouble to seal our wires only to find the water gets in through the lights, be it through the lens or as you have said through the wires into the unit.

[ranmar850]

The best way I have found to keep even underwater joins perfectly waterproofed is to use non-glued type heatshrink, , at least 12mm in diameter. Do your soldered joins, heatshrink them with ordinary or glued, doesn't matter, but have a long sleeve of non-glued slid back up the cable, large enough to go over the finished joins. Slide it into place over the joins, then insert the fine end of a silastic nozzle into the tube and fill it up with silastic. Then start shrinking the tube from end, forcing the silastic along. As it comes out the other end, start shrinking from that end. This will force the silastic into every pocket, and seal the joint completely. I first used this when I was a commercial fisherman, and got sick of seeing boats full of water when the +ve wire would corrode off. I have used this for trailers with perfect results, works much better than glued heatshrink as it stays flexible.

[PeterInSA]

Re Friends Trailer, replaced the 7 pin socket on the trailer, ( old unit had very rusty screws into brass terminals, new unit has brass coated screws but are magnetic) got power down to the LED light wires past the joins ( checked with a sharp needle test light thru the cable) so now have to replace the LED light as per below.....

http://www.supercheapauto.com.au/online-store/products/NARVA-Trailer-Lamp-Slimline-Rectangle-LED-Combination-Single.aspx?pid=287166#Recommendations

[Noelm]

Gee, they come with a big half a metre of cable.......

[TheRealAndy]

The best way I have found to keep even underwater joins perfectly waterproofed is to use non-glued type heatshrink, , at least 12mm in diameter. Do your soldered joins, heatshrink them with ordinary or glued, doesn't matter, but have a long sleeve of non-glued slid back up the cable, large enough to go over the finished joins. Slide it into place over the joins, then insert the fine end of a silastic nozzle into the tube and fill it up with silastic. Then start shrinking the tube from end, forcing the silastic along. As it comes out the other end, start shrinking from that end. This will force the silastic into every pocket, and seal the joint completely. I first used this when I was a commercial fisherman, and got sick of seeing boats full of water when the +ve wire would corrode off. I have used this for trailers with perfect results, works much better than glued heatshrink as it stays flexible.


This is the way to do. The glue in that dual wall heatshrink goes hard after time and eventually lets water in.

Do solder though, the flux is not that aggressive.

[tunaticer]

I solder each joint, then liquid insulate it, then shrinkwrap that wire over the liquid insulation. I do that for all joints in that area then liquid insulate all the joints together ahd heatshink over the entire cable and splices.

[PeterInSA]

Am only replacing one side, SC has only 1 unit in SA in the city, Sprint locally has a unit so will buy that. Next time I have a problem on my trailer will buy this with 9m of cable ie 93620TP

http://www.narva.com.au/sitebuilder/products/large/557/93620tp.png

[shaungonemad]

Am only replacing one side, SC has only 1 unit in SA in the city, Sprint locally has a unit so will buy that. Next time I have a problem on my trailer will buy this with 9m of cable ie 93620TP

http://www.narva.com.au/sitebuilder/products/large/557/93620tp.png


These are ones that I use but I ended up with water in the left not sure how, I think maybe the mounting holes but anyway I like the setup of these so I am replacing it with the same.