How do you guys feels about liquid electrical tape???

I just soldered up my first cable using GAC-7 and a Binder 691 female connector.  Everything looks good but everything is in such close proximity that I am concerned about the cable somehow getting twisted and 120vDC someday shorting to the other leads. The Binder's cable clamp seems to minimize any chance of movement but I'm still concerned.

I have general wariness of products such as liquid electrical tape and I usually prefer to leave contacts clean so that I can perform maintenance conveniently but I am thinking about encasing the cluster of wires at the Binder's solder tabs.

What do you think? Is there a good product for doing this? Is there a product that can be cleaned up without having to cut off the connector and using a replacement should I need to work on the solder connections again?

I'm wondering what you all think or do with your cable assemblies.

Thank You.

RTV can work great just make sure it is not conductive

For a search and rescue product we actually epoxied the solder cup ends of the connectors, but there was absolutely no reworking these cables.

I've had no problem with the Binder  ;D

Thanks for the info.

I am glad I didn't goober it up yet as I just figured out that I soldered the female plug with the male pin out and the male plug with the female pin out.

Tomorrow will be another day.

I've got a big utility light and magnifier but I am finding that wiring these 7 pin connectors reminds me that I used to be able to see very well and now I can not.

Heat shrink!

tmuikku said:

Heat shrink!

Click to expand...

Heat shrink is the way to do this.  Unfortunately it's a little tough to work with because heating the solder joint is usually enough to get some shrinkage on the tubing.  If you are quick enough though you can use tweezers or a small screwdriver to stretch the tubing back out until it cools, then slide it over the joint.

You can also slide the outer jacket down temporarily to allow enough length in the wires to get the shrink tube far enough away from the joint that it doesn't shrink, but I keep the wires short enough that they don't bunch when I put the shell on so the tubing ridges right next to the terminal.  It definitely takes a little practice, but once you get a workflow you can have perfectly insulated joints inside your connectors and you'll never have to worry about B+ shorting to the other terminals.

I use small zip tie (or something else small enough) stuck through the heat shrink while soldering. This keeps the heat shrink out of the way and also prevents it to shrink too much upon soldering. see illustration

I don't see how I can use heat shrink in this situation.

In my power supply chassis and in the microphone body, I am able to use heat shrink because there is no outer insulation jacket to contend with.

Inside the inline connector the spacing is very tight. The 7 individual leads only extend about 1/2" (12.7mm) past the cable assemblies outer insulation jacket. I can not slide heat shrink back far enough to prevent it from shrinking while soldering.

Thank You.

For heatshrink, you could strip more of the cables outer jacket to expose more of each conductor which would give more headroom to keep the heatshrink tubing back... however then you run into not enough cable jacket for the jacket capture of the connector to grab correctly, or you end up stuffing it so far up the connectors butt you jumble a mess of wires risking stress on these conductors....

lots of ways to do it really 

Stripping the outer jacket further back is extremely tempting as it would also make it easier to position the wires.

The only one that is causing concern is the female in line connector. the two chassis connectors and the male in line connector are much easier to work with.

Thanks to you and Category 5 for for the detailed suggestions.

To get the same effect as stripping the insulation back further, cut a small slot in it instead. That will allow you to fold back as much as you need to get the heatshrink on, and once you're done with all the soldering, you can fold the insulation back over.

Then use a piece of heatshrink to cover the part of the insulation you cut into.

Let me know if that makes sense, as can post a picture instead!

Hi Banzai, Yes that makes very good sense. Thanks for the tip. I'd still have to unwind the shielding but I can see how this can work well.

The thing is, I got so much practice by wiring the pinout backwards, twice, that on my final attempt it all went together really clean and I am not as concerned about shorting as I was at first.

I had a nice drawing showing the pinouts and the color code I was going for, but I got a phone call each time I commenced and wired the male plug as the female and the female as the male. When I did the second time I added really big Male and Female labels on my drawing and I finally was able to keep my attention span long enough to get it right.

I'll keep your idea in mind the next time around.

Yeah, the space constraints make these things a nightmare to keep focused on... Absolutely hate them, so I set aside a weekend a month where I try and make as many as possible in two days without going mad. Knowing I won't have to do them again for another month helps me get through it...

Another important trick for anyone starting out on their first cable, is to strip as little insulation as possible off the conductors to start with (just barely enough so you can tin the wires).

That makes up for the sleeving shrinking back too much if for some reason you can't make a quick connection, and the tinned wires won't unravel or spread out when you solder them to the connector pins, as they could if you had stripped too much.