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When repairing or lengthening an instrument cable, making a proper wire
splice that is durable and weatherproof is easy
when you follow these instructions and use an Apogee Instruments wire splice
kit.
Before you begin
please gather these supplies:
wire cutters
wire strippers, a heat gun,
soldering iron, solder,
and an Apogee wire splice kit which includes solder sleeves and polyolefin
adhesive lined heat shrink.
In the following demonstration we'll be using twenty six gauge two-conductor
shielded cable.
For other kinds of wire the process is the same but you'll need an additional solder
sleeve for each conductor.
Step one: strip the outer cable insulation five-eighths of an inch while
stripping and tinning the individual wires one quarter of an inch
Note that tinning the individual lead wires helps to eliminate cold solder joints
by cleaning the individual strands and allowing solder to flow more freely.
Step two:
slide the solder sleeps onto the wires making sure the tinned ends are inside the
solder rings.
Step three:
Slide the outer heat shrink onto one of the cables to the side of the splice
Be sure to slide it far enough onto the cable away from the joint so the heat gun will
not heat it up before you're finished with the next steps.
Step four: slide the cable that is to be spliced into the other end of the solder sleeve
making sure the tinned ends are inside the solder rings.
Verify that the wires match-up for example red to red, black a black, and so on.
Step five:
Heat the solder sleeves using the heat gun until the solder flows.
Remove the heat and be careful not to pull on the cable on the individual wires
until the solder is set.
For step six, slide the polyolefin adhesive lined heat shrink over the junction
of the wires. This will seal the splice from the elements. Allow an extra one inch of
coverage by the heat shrink on the outer jacket of cable to ensure a good seal.
Use the heat gun and noticed that the heat shrink forming tightly to the cable
and splice.
The adhesive lined heat shrink will have a glossy look once the glue has flowed.
Be careful not to overheat the heat shrink...if overheated
it will start to warp and eventually melt away.
Allow all the parts to cool before moving.
Please note that the heat shrink will be flexible when warm, but will hold an angle
if left bent while it's cooling
there may be a small amount of adhesive coming from the heat shrink ends, this
is normal. When done properly a cable splice can be just as weatherproof as the jacket
itself.
In fact, we use Atum brand heat shrink and have conducted tests showing that it's
at least as impermeable to water ingress as the cable's Santoprene jacket.
Unless otherwise noted adhesive lined heat-shrink has a difficult time adhering
to Teflon cable,
also known as PTFE.