Crimping teeny tiny wires

[svinvictus2]

Go on to Ebay or something like that....there are butt connectors exactly for that purpose and make you life much easier. Basically they come in two ways: the standard tube where you strip the wire and then crimp and now they have a strip less crimp where you just insert the two ends and use a pliers to crimp.
I've used them both and they work well.

[skipmac]

Had the same question a couple of years ago and started a thread on this. Here's a link to five pages of comments.

How to Crimp Little, Tiny Wires

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by guyfromiowa

I saw this article at panbo.com.



Panbo: The Marine Electronics Hub: 3M Scotchloks, is my love so wrong?

I got mine from Amazon

I recall them as jell caps. the phone companies used then for small gauge wire.

[MarkSF]

As for why the antenna is not working, my money would be on an error wiring it to the GPS. If you could tell us what devices you have, and what wires you connected to what wires, I should be able to help.

My NMEA0183 goes through a connector block, and works just fine. But it took several permutations of connections to get it to do so. One reason why a screwed terminal block with ring terminals is so handy - you can keep trying.

The most common error is connecting signal + and - but not the ground (people think that - is ground but it is frequently not. It is often an inverted signal). There must be ground continuity between the two devices.

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Take your GPS antenna thingy to a knowledgeable friend, or to a marine electronics shop. Anyone with a bench supply and an oscilloscope should be able to tell you whether the unit is working or not. And could replace the wire if necessary.

Embarassingly enough, I'm actually an electrical engineer. But figuring out what "gave" when I yanked on that wire, and reattaching it, making sure it was all weathertight again, etc, was a more irritating prospect then shelling out for a new GPS antenna.

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

Without furthering the debate (I hope) the ABYC rules and guidelines are intended mainly for wire carrying more than trivial current, or at risk of carrying heavy current. In the case of something like the GPS unit, which connects directly to an instrument or processor (which also provides fused power to the GPS unit), and only requires thin wire to carry signal or a small current, carefully-made soldered splices covered in heatshrink would be acceptable in my opinion. (disclaimer. YMMV )

I think in this case, with a wire that can see some wiggling, the idea that a wire will be more likely to fatigue and break at a solder joint than at a crimp prevailed. Do I know for certain that this is true? No. It was just my rationale, and didn't have anything to do with current or heat, just mechanical resilience.

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

But anyways, what are you connecting to? It sounds like you're just splicing one line to another? For a permanent connection I might choose something like a cap splice (twist the wires together then crunch the cap onto that)


...or take any red lug (#18 to #22), crimp that over the twisted wires, cut the lug blade off, then put some heatshrink over all that

... or those phone "button" splices already described.

If there's any chance you want to disconnect at the splice, you could put a 3-pin connector of some type there. Check automotive or electronic stores for options (eg Molex, Panduit, Amplok).

Thanks for this... I'll look into some of these options down the road. But now the question is simply: What's the best way to attach a fork terminal to a tiny wire?

(But to answer your question about what's being connected to what... The antenna is supposed to be wired to a terminal block in the boat. This allows disconnection of the antenna when the mast it is placed on is removed from the boat. Last year I forgot to disconnect the antenna from the terminal block, so the yard was pleasant enough to just cut the wire where it exits the boat. First attempt was trying to fix that snip with butt connectors. In doing so, I likely broke the antenna when I yanked on the wire. Next attempt will be to replace the whole run of wire, and the antenna, and properly attach the ends to fork terminals attached to the terminal block in the boat.)

[MarkSF]

Did you connect cable sheath to cable sheath (ground continuity)?

[MarkSF]

"But now the question is simply: What's the best way to attach a fork terminal to a tiny wire?"

If you have proper crimper, and use the correct size terminals, they crimp just fine. At that size of wire, I think the strain relief from adhesive heat shrink is important, so either use the terminals with adhesive heat shrink built in, or add some of your own.

BTW, fork terminals are not recommended by ABYC unless they are the "flanged fork" type which retain themselves. Or just use ring terminals.

[thinwater]

I assume we are going to a larger wire, probably #16. I did some testing on this for an article (fatugie machine), and the simplest + strongest method for most folks is is this:

• Slide a 16/14 butt connector up the #16 wire.
• twist the 22 and 16 wires together parallel.
• Slide the connector back over and crimp on the large side only.
• Heat shrink. Many of the suggest methods do not allow this, and small wires really need it.

Since the combination is about #14 it fits and is nice and tight. Easy, takes only seconds, and nothing you don't already have. Outlasts solder, both fatigue and corrosion (I tested both).

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

Did you connect cable sheath to cable sheath (ground continuity)?

Arg!!! Now that you mention it, I don't think I did. There is an unshielded wire in the bundle that I connected, and I'd assume that makes contact with the cable sheath, but that's not necessarily the case...

[hellosailor]

I would say the "phone company" button-type connectors are best for this job. If only because they normally are filled with a silicon jelly, which keeps out all moisture, prevents oxidation, and ensures a good electrical connection far longer than any "dry" crimp or splice will do on a boat. Fairly cheap and doesn't require any special tool, making it a real no-brainer, too.

[MarkSF]

Sometimes they include a ground wire, sometimes they don't, it's all guesswork without knowing more about the devices and the wiring. I can't see it hurting to connect the cable sheaths together, though.

Here is the manual for the 19x :

http://static.garmin.com/pumac/GPS19x_HVS_INST_ML.pdf

It shows the black wires as being the grounds, so black to black should complete the ground circuit.

Edit : the interesting bit about the diagrams on page 4 is that one contradicts the other, as far as wire colours go! All I can say is good luck.

[Lepke]

I've been crimping wire for about 50 years. I have an expensive pair of crimping pliers. Yet I still have the ends come loose occasionally. I have no idea what I am doing wrong.
For some time I soldier everything. I think in an environment where corrosion is common, soldier solves many problems before they start.

[noelex 77]

A good method of joining wires, especially conductors with multiple thin wires, is to stagger the connections. This reduces any hard inflexible spots caused by all the wires joining at the same point (although the cable should still be supported either side of the joint).

It also eliminates the bulk of most other joining methods. With care and if you solder the connections the wire is almost no thicker over the joint despite multiple layers of heat shrink.

The staggering of the connections also ensures that even if the internal insulation (heat shrink) is compromised the connection will not short out. The bare connectors cannot touch each other even with no insulation, because they are physically separated.

Note the connections are staggered which means cutting each of the individual wire a slightly different length.

[chris95040]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

A good method of joining wires, especially conductors with multiple thin wires, is to stagger the connections. This reduces any hard inflexible spots especially when combined with heat shrink (although the wire should still be supported either side of the joint). It also reduces the bulk. With care and if you solder the connections the wire is almost no thicker over the joint despite multiple layers of heat shrink.

The staggering of the connections also ensures that even if the internal insulation (heat shrink) is compromised the connection will not short out. The bare connectors cannot touch because they are physically separated.

Note the connections are staggered which means cutting each of the individual wire a slightly different length.

This is an awesome idea.

[foufou]

I strip double the length I need the double the wire back on itself and twist it on itself. usually works with a good crimper