Adhesive lined heat shrink tubing

[CWret]

Re: test of heat shrink connectors with solder:

I’ve received and tried the (inexpensive from Amazon) electrical wire connectors that shrink + on have adhesive +solder all in one.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly of my test -
I connected: 14 gauge strand wire both with and without solder flux; 20 gauge strand wire; and 20 gauge solid wire. I used a heat gun designed to start charcoal as a heat source- likely a bit too agressive but it’s what i have and it’s less aggressive & more controllable than an open flame.
Note 1- It was hard to melt the solder without damaging the adjacent wire insulation.
Note 2 - maybe a less aggressive heat source would have been better, i monitored the temperature and tried to keep it below 200 F.
Results:
The good- the 14 gauge with the flux looks great and couldn’t be pulled apart. Also good was the connection with the 20 gauage wire.
The bad - the other 14 gauge connection without flux pulled apart easily (i think the failure had nothing to do with the flux)
The ugly - the 20 gauge solid wire pulled apart easily.

Bottom line:
- Maybe more practice and a better heat source would have given better results;
- commercial grade connectors likely better than sourcing from Amazon
- could have twisted the wires but i followed the instructions;
- didn’t think it is a worthwhile time saver considering how seldom I do this (vs solder the connection and then using a good heat shrink that has adhesive);
- failure rate was too high;
- this procedure is too sensitive;
- glad I didn’t spend more than $20 bucks to lean these connectors are not for me!!!

 

[PeterT]

Pretty much my exact same conclusion. I'll likely toss them & keep the divider box :/

I decided to throw the dice again & bought this system. Connectors are secured to wire with a mechanical crimp & include in-line style. They have a segment of integrated heat shrink on the ends vs the typical hard plastic shroud which I've never had great results with. The shrink is a thicker more siliconey feel vs normal shrink & seems to stick down pretty good with heat. What I also learned (as usual) you can get the same thing on Ali for quite a bit less.

 

[Upnorth]

Good point about the insulation not being up to standard when using solder sleeves. I should have mentioned it earlier in my comments. The aircraft wire I use has teflon insulation and is very heat tolerant. I use aircraft wire because I have miles of it that was left over from installations. I have had issues with some wiring insulation moving back when I was soldering while using wire from places like Princess Auto.

Point is if you want to use solder sleeves use good quality wire.

 

[thestelster]

I generally don't solder connectors anymore. Crimping and dual-wall adhesive shrink tubing.

 

[Larry_C9]

If you are going to solder a wire connection I would slide a piece of adhesive heat shrink down the wire, then twist the wires together and solder with a soldering gun so you can see what your doing. After it cools slide the heat shrink over the connection and shrink it on. A good strong connection and well sealed.