Cosolder - heatsrink Waterproof but splices... The easy way?

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Apr 21, 2008
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Location
San Diego, CA. USA
Aircraft
Airgyro AG915 Centurian, Aviomania G1sb
Total Flight Time
Gyroplane 70Hrs, not sure over 10,000+ logged FW, 260+ ultralights, sailplane, hang-gliders
What are your thoughts?
Has anyone used them?

Hint skip the intro, go to 2:15 to start.

 
I ordered some for S.D. Rotorcraft club!
 
Not my choice
I know Boddy. I cannot help it. Always the first adapter of all technologies.
I've just been really burnt following that 1st adapters road on websites!!! Think I would learn from that. Buttttttttt...

Most of the time they are keepers once you master the new technology.
 
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They are equal in the test to butt splices. On Certified aircraft, you cannot legally solder wires! Have to use butt splices. Experimental you can do what you wish.
 
PS: Not sure the FAA or DAR would sign you off with twisted connections??

So probably you cannot do anything you wish.
 
Soldered connections are fine as long as they are secured on both sides of the joint. I question the connection integrity of the cigarette lighter splice.
 
Bobby, once again we agree my friend. I did not like it not being waterproof as with the heat gun.

That's is why I like this guy's videos. He is not biased and tests everything so I do not have to.


I bought a heat gun for the club 8 years ago Dave Bacon and I are rewiring what the owner paid 5K for a week (5 days) of A&P's time.
It was a spaghetti mess. The fuel pumps had no fuses or independent breakers. The most difficult problem we just discovered a day or so ago. The front what I believe now must be strobe lights come on as soon as you turn on the main switch. But they are mostly on. Only notice that they actually blink off then back on for a very LONG time then blink off. But it has no timing pattern in minutes. Might be 30 seconds or a few minutes and when no one is in it or near it we are not touching any wires unless it is a ghost.


I first thought it was a loose or shorted wire but after pulling on the actual wiring it made no difference.

The clue that they are a strobe that has lost its resistor pack timing but not its capacitor is that Dave got shocked through the conductive carbon fiber body while working under the fuselage on a 12-volt system. (Better him than me) HahahahahahHehehehehehe. Craked me up, Dave did not see the humor.

This reminds me to ask the experts here.
Does anyone know on an ARGON 915 if she has always on strobe lights in her nose next to the spot landing lights?
They look like long LED bars.
Somewhere there is a capacitor that is being charged to a higher voltage than 12 volts??? Help Wizards... Need input?
 
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Jeff my brother an IA for 40 years passed away in 2014 but retired in 1995.
I did much of the wiring for him and wanted to solder he always quoted the regs and that the test shows the solder join held together it was the wire that fails from vibration, flexing just behind the solder join. I've seen that in dune buggies and off-road motorcycles too.

That was not a legal connection for certified aircraft back them.

Is it now legal to solder?
 
A lot of the avionics installation are being soldered connections as noted in the video I posted.

Just to throw out an instance I was involved with regarding a pair of Garmin G5's that I installed. I wired two wires into a single pin which is the way it is recommended from the Garmin GNS-430 days. The avionics shop removed that pin and soldered the two wires into a single lead and then installed it onto the the single pin and reinstalled it.

Soldering on aircraft has been around a long time and a Navy Avionics guy said they solder everything.

Like all things, there is a place and time. The capacitor on the alternator is soldered and usually break unless we support the wire by typing the wire to the capacitor to prevent vibration.

The solder joint can make for a better connection electrically and with some of the new connectors that are installed properly can be strong mechanically. If you go back your to video and look at the yellow wire being soldered with the solder sleeve, and look close, you will notice that the solder is not fully melted.
 
Thank you Bro!
 
From my boat business days, soldered joints are fine as long as the wires are properly supported on both sides of the joint.
 
From my boat business days, soldered joints are fine as long as the wires are properly supported on both sides of the joint.
Yes I soldered all my other boats and rides that stay on the surface of the earh if I had to wire them
 
I've used them many times on my gyro John. It uses an extremely low temperature solder and you get both a soldered joint as well as the heat shrink. I don't know much about the solder itself but suspect it is similar to woods metal but maybe with a higher temp melting point. I used it for the connections to the new engine monitor. So far so good. You really can pull very hard on the joint without it coming loose. the heat shrink isn't super stiff so there isn't a big load on the wire at the joint. It takes a minute to get the heat to melt the solder with a heat gun, using a lighter is faster but it can blacken the plastic. I haven't used it on any high current wiring.
 
I am in no way close to being a wiring expert... but I personally trusted my solder joints on all my gyros and my Helicycle. I would put 2 lengths of shrink wrap on both sides of the solder joint. After the soldering was done, I would slide up one shrink wrap on each side and heat it so it collapsed tightly around the joint. The next shrink wrap would be slid on but stair stepped back a little ...and then it too was heated as it collapsed tightly around the joint. The shrink wrap spreads the flex point instead of making a stress riser.
 
Thank you all for sharing with our community!!!
 
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