Electrical Jointing

I dislike crimped joints - a lot. Getting the Morgan hasn't really changed my mind on this point, either. The contrary, in fact. Yes, I know that many cars and aircraft are wired with crimp joints but, whenever I have had to deal with them, they are often corroded and / or loose leading to high resistances, arcing and, worst of all, intermittent faults. For example, right now (until I get around to rewiring the head) I know exactly which wire to wiggle to make the electric toilet work if I press the button and nothing happens. That's just another crimp joint and I'll be very happy to see the back of it.

An alternative, then. I have devised (well, stolen, plagiarised and adapted) a soldering system based on crimp terminals...

There are two types of joint I want to make; those that are exposed to the elements, and the others that sit inside the boat in a dry, clean environment.

The example will be to joint this LED lamp to longer 4mm tails. As this lamp will be going in the bilge, the joint will need potting.
First for the clean-environment joints. I use:

• Crimp connectors of this type - with the plastic insulation removed.
• Heat shrink insulation.

These are quite easy to joint:

• Cut the cable to length.
• Strip the end.
• Feed the wire into the connector.
• Clamp the connector down (or, if you want, crimp it!). You don't HAVE to do this but it helps keep the joint still while you solder it.
  
• Solder this joint.
• Push the heat shrink over the joint and heat to close it.
  

Soldered to crimp connectors ready for the heat shrink.

That will do for most clean applications. Cut the cable a little longer than strictly required and leave a bit of a loop near the connector - this will allow for vibration.

If the environment is more extreme (outside, bilge, etc) then, in addition to the above:

• Before slipping the heat shrink over the joint, heat some glue from a 'hot glue gun' over the joint. Make sure that this covers the full length of the heat shrink.
• Now when the insulation is heated, as it shrinks, the glue heats up and melts. This becomes quite liquid and it readily flows throughout the insides of the joint (try this with clear insulation, if you don't believe me) sealing the whole joint and especially the ends of the heat-shrink.

Both joints are covered in hot glue (which has cooled so that the heat shrink will slip over it without sticking). The little butane blow-torch is great for heating the insulation and re-melting the glue.
This is a little like potting the whole joint and it should easily keep the elements out and eliminate corrosion, shorts, etc.

Finished joints - completely sealed from the elements.