craigslist welder smoked my main wiring harness

I worked with a guy at my dad's salvage yard that was an artist with a torch. He could melt the lug nuts off without damaging the wheel or the stud. He taught me some of that, but I was not 1/100th as good as him.

As to solder versus butt connectors, for splicing I always prefer solder and heat shrink. As others have noted, that takes up less space and is easier to bundle and put into the corrugated tubing. I use crimps at the ends, of course. By that I mean I crimp them and don't solder them on.

Most auto wiring for auto applications like radio power, speakers, tail lights is 18 or 20 gauge. They aren't carrying lot of current, so the resistance is minimal.

 

I would go with crimp connectors.
I work with LV crane gantries in my day job. Of the different manufactures we deal with, one cuts the good twist and flex cable 4" short and solders 2" colored sections on each end for their ID system. Guess where the wire fails, that's right the solder joints between the flex wire and the colored piece.
Stagger the splices so they are not all at the same place and use the heat shrink ones

 

You should have him come back and fix it

 

Truth. The problem is most people are fucking idiots that don't understand the difference between a correct repair and cobbled up mess. It's just fucking wire, it has one job - to conduct electricity. Do you think the electricity that flows to your home gets there without ever going through thousands of spliced connections? Yes, it is really that simple. https://youtu.be/vaQRjudSaS8

 

Oh now those are interesting.

 

I like the idea of using a color wire tha that's far from normal for repairs like this, I haven't had to deal with wires being the wrong color due to previouse repairs but that would be a pain in the ass.

 

9/10 times those will work for most jobs. However, if you wanna be technical about it then those aren’t a proper way to join wires. You really should cut about 1” of wire from each end. Take about a half inch of each exposed wire and fold it back 180 degrees. Then hook each end around each other and wrap the wires back onto themselves. Then solder and shrink wrap. I’ll see if I can find a video.

Here’s a quick link. I guess NASA may do it this way too...
https://www.instructables.com/id/Splice-Cable-Like-A-Rocket-Scientist/

 

For butt splices not in a sealed cabinet with potential exposure, techs use a quality heat shrink like Raychem. I've only heard of one butt splice failure in all my years in the industry, and that was a butt splice without heat shrink in an improperly sealed cabinet outside and it was about 35 years old. On the other hand, I've personally seen at least a half a dozen poor solder connections to terminals, circuit boards, etc that failed due to cold solder joints. For soldering its all about a persons ability to make a quality solder joint. Similarly, for butt splices, if you don't have a good quality ratcheting crimper you can make poor crimps. Cheap squeeze type crimpers do a terrible job. I have this ratcheting one, it makes crimps so well you're not able to pull the wires apart without breaking strands:

$20 TITAN 11477 Ratcheting Wire Terminal Crimper Tool for Insulated Terminals, Fixed Jaw Crimper

https://www.amazon.com/Titan-Tools-...87&sprefix=titan++crimper,aps,156&sr=8-3&th=1

Now about soldering those wires. Unless I could solder them on a bench, and doubt you can flip your truck to do that lol, I wouldn't do a regular solder job. Why? I just did some soldering a few weeks ago, you have to keep your face away from the fumes or run a fan, especially if you're soldering a lot. The other safety issue is solder splatter, if you're underneath your truck with your soldering iron, and it slips, you can splatter the hot solder, it could hit you right in the face if your not wearing a shield. I would rather use something like what @Fleischwagen suggested, Weatherpack butt splices or other brand with heat shrink already on it.

If I wanted to solder anyway, I would consider something like what @desmodue suggested, Sollder seal -heat shrink butt connectors (have not used them, so I would test first, they do have high ratings):

$20 Haisstronica 220PCS Solder Seal Wire Connectors - Waterproof & Heat Shrink Electrical Connectors Kit (20Yellow 40White 80Red 80Blue)

https://www.amazon.com/Haisstronica...633138000001&ref_=sbx_be_s_sparkle_mcd_asin_2

Of course I would stagger the splices to minimize bulk, and then wrap the bundle with a single wrap of a good fusing tape, and if I could find the right size split wire loom cover with that as well, and tie wrap it.
My two cents, everybody's got some change

 

Other ways aren't necessarily "improper", but I concur this looks like a good solid solder connection method - if you're doing it in a convenient place and only a few wires. Now crawl under a truck and do 20 - 30 wires, 40-60 different connections, and be careful not to splatter that solder on you while your upside down and run a fan to blow away the fumes.
I will see you in a day or two, I would be done with heat shrink type butt splices in a couple hours.

 

Once you get the groove you can have a bundle repaired properly in a couple hours or less. I use a butane soldering iron for remote work and it has yet to let me down. The same butane soldering iron also doubles as a torch for the heat shrink.

 

No matter what technique he uses, he's never going to be as fast as someone with extensive experience. Working under a truck or car is no picnic. Even with a lift, it's hard. Lyiing on a creeper under a truck is a major pain in the ass. I don't envy the OP one bit.

 

Yeah, I was thinking lift, but working above your head wears you out doesn't it, maybe on ramps with a creeper is best. Either way you're right, that's a tough job ahead for him.

 

Ouch!

 

Those will be much much better to work with than soldering with an iron especially if you are under the truck on the floor or an a creaper. I didn't know that product even existed that's pretty cool.
I didn't think of this but it will be difficult to do in that situation and likely the solder is going to drop on you in that situation when working with the iron. Crimps are ok but not the cheap ones at the auto parts store that are not water proof.
My Jeep heaps abs wires were repaired to a wheel by a mechanic who did one wire twist and tape and the other with a cheap crimp and then taped over his crappy crimp job. The crimped wires came apart. Now if you use a high quality way that's more secure and fool proof it should hold up as long as the truck lasts.

 

Premiums?

 

Yeah be careful how many claims you make. I got dropped by Erie insurance some years back. I had 2 comprehensive claims and a minor accident in 2 years, over 10k in claims because the one comp claim was from a tree falling on my vehicle over 6k for that.
I had to pay up with other companies and lost a multi policy discount on my home owners. Took 3 years to get zero claims that I could go back with auto. Would have saved money if I paid the first claim out of pocket.

 

You can totally stretch wires. They have wire stretch pliers at Home Depot and Lowe’s next to the shelf stretchers. Usually on the right hand side of the fantasy aisle. They are only about $35.

 

I'll have to remember to pick up a set next time I go shopping for a bucket of steam, left handed monkey wrench, and 100 yards of shore line. Oh, and a sky hook.

 

I STAY-AWAY from Craig's list, period.
The only time I used it was to sell a Jet Ski. Had several calls first day listed, scheduled an appointment for the next day at 7:00am as potential buyer wanted to see it before going to work.
I had cleaned the Jet Ski up and started it the day before to insure there were no issues however being I was going to be short on time the next morning and I left it outside. The potential buyer showed up on time however Jet Ski would not start, was completely dead. Upon checking it out found someone had stolen the computer control module out of it. The buyer did purchase it, however not until I replaced the $900 control module.

I'm sure someone needed a control module for their ski and just searched Craig's List for like make and model and just came over and removed mine. Police said the practice was more common then you would expect.

 

I've bought and sold some things on Craigslist and found lots of yard sales there as well. For all of the sales/purchase transactions I've been armed. Just in case.