While there are a lot of board folks who don't do much more than basic maintenance, there seems to be an increasing number who are stepping out and trying new things. That's good 'cause from my experience, the riders who get more involved mechanically with their bikes, seem to hang longer. That's just an unscientific observation, and I know there are plenty of exceptions, so don't get in a snit about it!

Anyway, to da point!

Was taliking with a guy about wiring his bike. It was an older Shovel and was on its way back from rat-hood. He wanted to simplify the wiring, and basically redo the whole bike. Since I've (mis)spent my life in the electrical/electronics/instrumentation world he wanted me to teach him to solder. I asked why he needed to learn that and he said he wanted to do the best possible job on his bike. Seemed flustercated when I told him that to do the best and most reliable wiring job he surely wouldn't want to solder anything.

I know the "builders" on the boob-tube are usually shown soldering handfuls of wires on their customs. I don't know why, though! Soldering isn't used on shipboard (lots of vibration) for general wiring. It isn't used on aircraft (vibration, again) for general wiring. It isn't used on nuc subs (guess what? yep, vibration!) for general wiring. So why would you want to use it on a muttersickle that, uh, vibrates?

If you are wiring a bike invest in some quality crimpers, strippers, and terminal lugs designed for use with the crimpers. Don't use the gee-whiz all-in-one strippers/crimpers/cutters/smallscrew cutters. Get to an electrical supply joint and buy some Thomas & Betts (T&B) crimpers. There are several types, so choose the ones for the style of terminal lug you are using. Get a good Klein angled wire cutter, at least 7 inches long. Get a stripper that has the spring loaded handles, and automatically strips the wire as you squeeze the handles.

There are more styles of terminal lugs than you can imagine. I like to use the ones with insulation covering the area where you crimp. That means I use the T&B crimpers designed for insulated lugs. I also make sure the insulated area is designed to support the wire after you've assembled and crimped it. Make sure you strip the insulation the the exact length needed to fully insert the bare wire into the lug. Too much and you'll have bare wire getting in the way of the stud or nut, or you'll have bare wire at the back end of the lug insulation, and that will eventually result in it breaking at that point. Too little and you might not get enough bare wire inserted into the lug, and the crimp will not engage enough of the wire. That can result in the wire pulling out of the crimp when under a little stress.

Others use lugs that have no insulation on the crimp area. They will slide a piece of heat shrink on the wire first, crimp the lug, then slide the heat shrink over the crimp and shrink it in place. This helps seal the joint, and also supports the wire at the exit from the lug. Lugs without insulation use a different crimping tool, and again, the best is available from T&B, IMHO.

Soldering is more of an art than the average person realizes. Having attended several gooberment schools on soldering and coming away with better skills than I had before, I am amazed at what passes for OK soldering. Example: When you "tin" leads on a wire did you know you should be able to see the individual strands after tinning is completed? If you see a smooth coating of solder on the wire, that means too much solder. Other really common oopses: Don't blow on a solder joint to cool it. That will result in a cold solder joint, usually (but not always) evidenced by a frosty appearance. Leaving the iron on the wire too long can result in the solder wicking up under the insulation too far. That can result in the wire breaking eventually. Also the extended heat application can melt and otherwise da

 

Skip,

Some good and interesting advice.

I use both crimp terminals and I like to solder where I need to. Sometimes if I have a lot of wires to extend and have a small area to feed them through, I stagger solder all the connections and use shrink tube, especially where I won't be able to get to them easily at a later time. I have not had any trouble with any solder joints so far, and I have had some trouble with people using crimped connectors improperly and corroded terminals as well.

John TN