[aprssig] 12V wiring ideas

[Curt, WE7U]

On Sat, 29 Oct 2011, Curt, WE7U wrote:

> On Sat, 29 Oct 2011, Bob Bruninga  wrote:
>
>>> I have seen PP's come apart many times with
>>> no tension on the wires.  So I know its possible.
>> 
>> Sure if the PP is not assembled right in the first place.  Anything not 
>> properly installed cannot be expected to work right.
>> 
>> If the PP contact is properly slid all the way in to where it hooks over 
>> the steel spring clip, then (and only then) will it be in the correct 
>> position and will properly do its job.  Sometimes people do not do that 
>> last little click and forget to look carefully to assure it is seated.
>> 
>> I use them all the time, and they never come apart.
>
> Those that solder them (I used to) can also get rosin on the contact surface 
> and/or get solder up onto the contact surface.  You can also end up not 
> having them seat properly or seat at an angle after soldering.
>
> Now that I use the cheap crimp tool (recommended on some web sites as doing 
> correct crimps) I've not had any trouble with them.
>
> The military uses crimps instead of soldering to get more reliable 
> connections.  If it's good enough for them, it's probably good enough for my 
> Jeep.
>
> BTW:  Forgetting to fuse the ground lead at the battery is a _very_ poor 
> idea.  Years ago I did my own radio installs that way.  You can burn up the 
> ground wire, or burn the insulation off it if the car has a bad return for 
> the starter motor.  I had that happen twice during high school.  The first 
> time the wire heated up during starting and burned all the insulation off, 
> then the wire burned in two.  The 2nd time (different car) the wire melted 
> its way into another wire bundle causing a lot of $$ in damage that had to be 
> repaired.  Didn't start a car fire in either case but easily could have. 
> Each time it happened was while starting the car.

I should have mentioned:  Each of these were each radio installations with a very short ground wire going directly to a tie point on the metal dashboard.  The only fuse was in the hot lead, going to the fuse block inside the passenger compartment under the dash.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.        http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
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