Self solder heat shrink butt connectors

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umidkusername

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What do you think about ‘em? I was with a buddy today that used these while wiring up some lights on his 5 gen. They seem rather nifty and quite honestly I’m seeing good and bad all over the place. Everyone is an expert though lol.

What have been your experiences? Thoughts?

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I just got done using those wiring up some Rigid lights.
They work great! Use a heat gun, not a lighter!
 
I’ve been using them lately. Make sure you twist the wires together in-line before melting the solder. They seem to make good strong, waterproof connections. I use a heat gun for them.

I like them.
 
umidkusername said:
What do you think about ‘em? I was with a buddy today that used these while wiring up some lights on his 5 gen. They seem rather nifty and quite honestly I’m seeing good and bad all over the place. Everyone is an expert though lol.

What have been your experiences? Thoughts?

435ea7b9a92342381d9bdadc8bbbd05e.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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NAPA has some made in the USA. I used a couple without issue.
 
I've used them and had some not work very well. Some worked great. It's hard to use them in areas where you can't get good even heat to them (like in tight spaces with other wires, etc.). My experience is that you cannot heat from one side and get a good joint that you can't pull apart pretty easily. I have gone back to mostly using crimp and then heat shrink ones. Or sometimes old fashion soldering and then heat shrink tube over top. I can get a soldering iron just about anywhere.

Also I've found that they're not all created equal. Buy the better quality ones.
 
Par02 said:
Gosh darnit it was in the thread title. Thanks though.. feeling a bit dumb.
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It happens. As others have mentioned, they aren't a universal application and quality varies between vendors significantly. When it comes to electrical, I try to open the wallet a bit more. FWIW my dad is an industrial electrician in a state pen. and he won't touch these.
 
Jarods7920 said:
I have used them in the past. Not my favorite though. I still prefer solder and normal heat shrink.
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Agreed, I've never been a fan of butt connectors to begin with. I've been wiring car stereos for 20 years, I'm old school and prefer solder and heat shrink as well
 
Buy good quality ones, not the amazon special.

Friend exclusively uses them for marine outfitting. Soldering + waterproof heatshrink would be better, but takes way longer. He's never had an issue with them and uses them on his personal projects a lot as well.
 
Cool concept but it seems a lot of variation of solder quality between brands. I'd prefer to solder myself and heat shrink with known quality products. I mostly use PosiLok products now.
 
Those solder band connectors don't really make a very good connection. You can better things by tinning the wires first; but they still leave a lot to be desired. Solder band heat shrink bands are usually used to attach a ground wire to a shielded wire or twisted pair - not to make connections between conductors. It's much better to use a crimp splice or a good clinched soldered connection - and then cover with heat shrink.
 
I'm old school. Crimp them or solder them or both. Stuff falls out eventually.

Use a heat gun not a lighter on heat shrink.
 
The low temperature melting point solder used in these butt connectors is probably a tin/bismuth alloy. It works, but there are known problems with it such as being brittle and low electrical conductivity among others.
Why bother using it? Just use good old tin/lead or tin/silver solder and heat shrink tubing. Or crimp and heat shrink. Your truck is a vibration machine, don’t create possible intermittent connections.
 
Whippersnapper02 said:
Cool concept but it seems a lot of variation of solder quality between brands. I'd prefer to solder myself and heat shrink with known quality products. I mostly use PosiLok products now.
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+1 for Posi-Lock connectors. I used several on the handlebar electrical wiring in my Harley over a decade ago. I've never had an issue with any of them, despite the massive amount of vibration and abuse they take.

I've also used these self-solder heat shrinks in my 4Runner. The solder inside a few of them didn't flow evenly because they were in a difficult spot under the dash when applying heat. They worked, but they're not my favorite. I went back to traditional solder and heat shrink for my last project.
 
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