Facebook
youtube
Home
What's new
New posts
New display videos
New media
New media comments
Latest activity
Forums
New posts
Search forums
Wiki
Search wiki pages
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Display videos
New display videos
Search display videos
Display locations
Displays by region
Members
Current visitors
Latest activity
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
New posts
Search forums
Menu
Log in
Register
Navigation
Install the app
Install
More options
Close Menu
New to Christmas lighting?
Get started with the
AusChristmasLighting 101 Manual
Home
Forums
Welcome
101 display basics
Why solder wires?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
[QUOTE="Wolfie, post: 82670, member: 24643"] There are a few considerations you might want to roll into your prospectus. Cons: 1. Wire nuts are big and bulky. 2. Wire nuts are generally 90 to wire travel so produce something that can and will grab and hold onto any other object within 1000' of it. 3. Wire nuts are not watertight unless you get the expensive silicone filled ones. 4. Wire nuts take a lot of storage space compared to alternatives. 5. Wire nuts are pretty visible and not easily hidden. 6. Wire nuts can come off and the most inopportune moment. (Nothing like hoisting your 20' megatree into place and feeling a wirenut hit you in the head and wonder where it came from). Pros: 1. Fast to apply 2. No tools past a basic set of wire strippers 3. Commonly stocked at home stores and hardware stores. 4. Reusable. 5. Can be temporary solution I don't use them. Well, except in AC boxes. In the past I stuck strictly with solder and rolls of glue lined heat shrink. I still use it for the most part. Its cheap. I have the tools. I have the skill. And its a habit. It produces a very weather tight seal because the glue eeks into the divots when soldering multiple round wires together. Non-glue lined heat shrink leaves a small gap there. This year I rebuilt my megatree. I had to add 10px to each 50px string to make the 24 60px strings for the tree. The only soldering I did on the tree was to splice the 3 wires at one location (no pigtails, I use a different method of connection to pixels now). I used nothing but self soldering (no-crimp) butt splices. You don't need a soldering iron, no solder, and only a small heat wand. They have a ring of solder inside heat shrink tubing. You seal and solder in a single process. They are fast, easy, and very convenient to do outdoors for emergency repairs. Just bring a small heat source (air gun, wand, torch, etc) and you are good to go. This is the tool I used at first. Feel free to laugh all you want. Its $20us. It does heat shrink like a maniac and will melt the solder in the no-crimp butt splices just fine. And, yes, it will also melt SMD solder paste too. It will warm and loosen hot glue as well. And outside, its a nice handwarmer in cold weather (something Aussies don't have issue with at Christmas but folks here in Wisconsin do). So, frankly its a good $20 piece of kit. Pink or not.: [IMG]http://img.hobbylobby.com/sys-master/root/h12/h5f/h00/8951486218270/506345%5B5%5D.jpg[/IMG] At the bench, I use my SMD air station for heat shrink butt splices. But on the go, this little heat wand is compact enough to fit in a jacket pocket so its handy out in the yard. The no-crimp butt splices are more expensive (150 for $30 off ebay) than the wire nuts. But the advantages, for me, outweigh the cost: 1. produce a completely watertight joint. 2. single operation of solder and heatshrink in one move 3. easily carried to the job location 4. no spools of solder nor solder iron needed 5. produce an inline splice that is easily hidden 6. joint does not snag on other wires or objects 7. rapidly deployed with a single simple tool Since I am using no pigtails on my megatree, I consumed about $14us of butt splices (3 wires * 24 strands). And saved hours of soldering and applying heat shrink. I found that with the square tip on my SMD air gun (and the wide tip on the pink air wand), I can easily solder and seal all three wires at the same time in about 15 seconds. [/QUOTE]
Verification
The title of our introductory lighting manual contains a three digit number. What is that number? Clue: Display basics forum
Post reply
Home
Forums
Welcome
101 display basics
Why solder wires?
Top