1.
DO NOT EVER, EVER, EVER cut a wiring harness plug out of your car for any reason!
It is so frustrating to fix these hacked up install attempts almost weekly, that the store's owner actually tells people up front that it is "minimum of $80 repair just for stupidity." Spend an extra $9 at WalMart and get yourself the appropriate wiring harness to install the stereo. Don't let your
buddy, who knows how to do this stuff" cut your plug out of your vehicle (without even enough wire left on the end to splice the plug back together) and then realize the wire colors in the car don't match the colors out of the radio. "Uh-oh what do we do now?"
1a. Use solder and heatshrink. Crimps/scotch-locks/solderless connectors can cause problems down the road. Not next month, but maybe in a year, or two years you will likely experience a problem of some kind. This is especially prevelent on remote starters; which I have repaired whole ignition switches, parking light modules, etc. as a result of those items being used.
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HAHA, the funny thing is that i was bored and i wanted my cd player in and me being an idiot cut the harness and i had to go to best buy and get it fixed LOLs thats probly my most stupid mistake sence i have had my fire they only charged me like 70 bucks but that was to install new harness and to hook up my cd player so in the end i learned my lesson.... good day!
5 seconds to find another street...
I cut the plug off of my old grand am when i installed my radio...nothing but headaches installing the radio...i didn't know the plug adapters existed. but as a joke when i sold the car, i redid the wiring and used all red wiring for the new wire runs
bet the new owner was pissed
but i have to disagree on the solder and heatshrink. Ive worked on aircraft wiring for 5 years in the military and am going to school now for aircraft electrical repair, and aviation has all but done away with soldering wires because vibration makes the solder joints break. aircraft use 99% of the time, solderless connectors. if installed right, they are more vibration resistant than solder. and don't tell me cavaliers don't vibrate
chances are the problems youve seen with solderless connectors stem from people using those cheap ass worthless crimpers from walmart. those things are useless for anything but paperweights. the proper tool for solderless connectors is about 190 dollars
https://www.dmctools.com/store/catalog.asp?KEYWORD=M22520%2F5-01&x=3&y=8
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
mikec2003 wrote:
but i have to disagree on the solder and heatshrink. Ive worked on aircraft wiring for 5 years in the military and am going to school now for aircraft electrical repair, and aviation has all but done away with soldering wires because vibration makes the solder joints break. aircraft use 99% of the time, solderless connectors. if installed right, they are more vibration resistant than solder. and don't tell me cavaliers don't vibrate chances are the problems youve seen with solderless connectors stem from people using those cheap ass worthless crimpers from walmart. those things are useless for anything but paperweights. the proper tool for solderless connectors is about 190 dollars https://www.dmctools.com/store/catalog.asp?KEYWORD=M22520%2F5-01&x=3&y=8
I work for VW, when wiring needs to be done they want solderless connections made, and under no circumstances what-so-ever do you ever use solder on air bag systems. They always require us to use butt connectors with the built in heat shrink.... although I do somewhat agree with you, regular off the shelf butt connectors suck but I would always rather use the quality ones over solder
That is actually scary to think about. Loose connections produce heat, heat warps plastic, it is a never-ending cycle until the scotch-locks or t-taps are shorting instead of making full time contact. At least in a car if something is not working you don't fall 30,000 feet. I would have thought this was more of a time/efficiency choice as opposed to soldering - which yields the least resistance and heat.
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yeah i agree that the butt connectors that you find at wal mart and stuff do suck. i always use aircraft grade solderless connectors in my car, those types you cut the wire, slide the heat shrinkable wire over the cover, install and crimp the metal solderless connector, slide the heat shrink cover over the metal barrel, and heat shrink the cover. the cover extends out past the barrel about 1/4 inch and provides elemental protection as well as bending and breakage protection at the splice joint
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
Mennitti wrote:That is actually scary to think about. Loose connections produce heat, heat warps plastic, it is a never-ending cycle until the scotch-locks or t-taps are shorting instead of making full time contact. At least in a car if something is not working you don't fall 30,000 feet. I would have thought this was more of a time/efficiency choice as opposed to soldering - which yields the least resistance and heat.
if you use a proper crimp tool, solderless connectors are not loose at all. the problem with soldering is that as you heat the wire and apply the solder it will wick up under the insulation and the wire will become stiff as a board, over time (a few years) the vibration of the car or plane will cause this stiff section of wire to break. basically its a fact that when applied properly, solderless connectors are superior to soldering wires. now, for something like installing a radio in a car, im sure a decent solder joint will outlast the ownership of the car, but for something like an airplane that is kept in service for 20+ years, you'll find the solder joints breaking down before the solderless connectors
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
yeah, your absolutely right, if you use those crappy off the shelf butt connectors from autozone you'll have troulbe. if you use the good high end ones, they are the best thing for joining wires.
these kinds are real similar to what i use
http://www.wicksaircraft.com/catalog/product_cat.php/subid=1159/index.html
except that these ones you crimp the metal part on and slide the cover over, and the ones I use have heat shrinkable covers
so in the end, if you use the crappy connectors and the crappy crimpers, yes soldering is much better. if you use the proper hardware and tools, then solderless is better. all depends on the availability of tools and equipment. solder is easier to get than quality connectors and tools
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
Back to the original rule, it's not too much work to just strip back some of the wire insulation right behind the factory plug and tap your wires on there. Still have a factory harness, and you also get to not buy any extra adapters... if only people know which wires do what...
i cut my plug out but i also know what wires do what. you try fitting all the junk i have in my dash in there with the plug there stil. plus i hvae the plug with enough wire to reattach in my box owire.
I cut the plug out to since it was nothing but in the way and i ran all new wiring for every speaker and the power cables
Whats up people?
javis hildebrand wrote:I cut the plug out to since it was nothing but in the way and i ran all new wiring for every speaker and the power cables
well...i suppose that works, but damn man, wasn't that a major PITA?
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
I always run new power and speaker wires in my installs, some times I leave the stock harness, some times I don't
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to be honest, i would prefer a solderd connection over a crimped connection any day of the week, even if it was aircraft grade butt connector.
i trust my soldering skills over butts because i have a lot of practice with soldering. im not saying im a pro at it, but im better than average. solder, when applied in the right lengths and amounts, can be stronger than just about any other type of connection possible.
yes i understand that if you use too much solder, tin too long of a length of wire, or dont heat it up enough or worse heat it too much, it can cause problems. soldering is the most cost effective way to get a good connection.
Injection is nice but id rather be BLOWN!
solder is NOTto be used as a mechanical connection. (don't foget that)
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solder may be cost effective, but it is not a good way to connect wires. if soldering was a good way, why did the FAA ban the practice on aircraft? it causes a higher resistance joint, makes the wire hard, leads to corrosion problems, and is too vunerable to human error.
now for a typical car stereo install, you can get away with solder, but i wouldn't reccommend it. solder is one step up from wrapping wires together and using tape on it
You'll never touch God's hand
You'll never taste God's breath
Because you'll never see the second coming
Life's too short to be focused on insanity
I've seen the ways of God
I'll take the devil any day
Hail Satan
(slayer, skeleton christ, 2006)
the main reason i can see why they would reject it is your third point, human error.
soldering is an art and a great skill, but most people cant consitantly make a good solder connection. with butt connections, and a $190 tool like you said you use, you can make connections a little bit more consistant than with solder.
Injection is nice but id rather be BLOWN!
I'm cheap. I use butt connectors (free = good, and they are "aircraft grade", even... relatives that work for Boeing FTW). Never had a problem w/ 'em.
Solder is the best connection. Period.
-SQ purests will agree with me as well on this one.
My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"
mikec2003 wrote:it causes a higher resistance joint, makes the wire hard, leads to corrosion problems, and is too vunerable to human error.
I disagree 100%. Soldering is the least resistant way of making a connection, a connector is only squashing a piece of metal against your two wires, whereas soldering them turns both wires into one piece of metal which is more conductive.
Scotch-locks and T-taps lead to corrosion problems if installed anywhere outside the cab or under the carpet where there is moisture, they then corrode the wire. Not to mention anytime one is used it severs strands of the wire. Like I said before, "Loose connections produce heat, heat warps plastic, it is a never-ending cycle until the scotch-locks or t-taps are shorting instead of making full time contact."
This discussion on "aircraft grade" connectors is basically irrelevant, because virtually no one is going to use them on a jbody radio installation. I have never used or seen how they work so I can not intelligently argue yes or no to their usage.
Back to the original statement; if you cut a plug out of a car
you are a HACK. There is no valid reason to justify doing so.
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Mennitti wrote:
Back to the original statement; if you cut a plug out of a car you are a HACK.
Priceless
I always run new speaker cable when I install a stereo in something I just bought. Sure it's a PITA to fish the wire through the doors, but the other interior panels are off anyway (for power/ground cables) so it's no big deal. At least that way I know exactly what I have. When I sell the vehicle it's easy to pull everything out and hook up the stock speakers. Since the factory wiring wasn't touched, I never have any issues with getting the stereo to work (which is nice since the stereo usually comes out hours before I sell the car).
J.J. Lecznar wrote:... bring ur @!#$ over here and i wil blow what u have to hell.... ill put @!#$in 200 dollars on it...
*wipes tears from eyes*
I think some of us are allowed to hack and chop since we know what we're doing
