Great wire connectors

[Grandpot]

I just tried a new style wire connector to tap into an existing wire.  It's made by Posi-Lock, http://www.posi-lock.com/index.html.  They are very heavy duty and you can remove them and re-install again.  You will need to order for the exact size wire you will be working with.  They come in packages of 30 and 6.

I found them to be much better than the old styles taps.

[jimmytee]

  yes they work very well, but do take up a lot more space if room is at a premium

[Ricky-D]

A lot of those parasitic wire taps have been proven to be unreliable in the long stretch.

Using them for temporary installation might be Ok.

I would not recommend them for permanent use.

***

[Valkpilot]

A lot of those parasitic wire taps have been proven to be unreliable in the long stretch.

Using them for temporary installation might be Ok.

I would not recommend them for permanent use.

***

I agree with Ricky that the 3-M style vampire taps are death in the long term.  I've had to repair lots of cut-through wires on friends' bikes because of them.

The Posi-Loks are better, but still rely on cutting through the insulation to contact the copper, and so have the risk of cutting the copper as well, if you don't size them properly.

I prefer to not use taps at all.  I try to put a pigtail into the factory bullet connection points.

[pancho]

And on top of the problems already mentioned, the area where the insulation is cut is now prone to corrosion and an intermittent connection. Don't use them if you have a choice, crimp connectors are better, and a soldered and shrink wrapped connection is permanent. 

[ptgb]

I have used Posi-Locks and Posi-Taps for about four or five years now... on the Valks, on my trailers (both small MC trailers and large utility trailers), and around the house (of course 12V stuff only).

I have not had one problem with any of them, ever.

I would recommend them to anyone. Next best thing to a solder/shrink wrap connection.

[MarkT]

I looked at the Posi-* line of products online - haven't used them or seen them in person. It may be that my rant following against the Scotch-block style connector doesn't apply - I'll reserve commenting on the Posi stuff until I get a good look at how it connects to the supply wire.  Meanwhile - here's my rant against those connectors that tap into a wire by damaging it with a blade. (Since I already wrote it before I looked at the Posi design)

Tap connectors that use a blade to cut through insulation and contact the conductor are perfect propagators of galvanic corrosion.  Besides putting dissimilar metals together and passing electricity through them - where one becomes an anode and the other a cathode resulting in the DEFINITION of galvanic corrosion - they also break the moisture / oxygen seal at that very spot to accelerate the corrosion.  While they nick the conductor reducing it's amp capacity and if the wire is carrying close to capacity already - and now with your tap you are going to increase it - you can add impedance-induced heat to the mix, and deliver less than optimum voltage to every load on that circuit.

BAD idea.  Nearly every connection failure of other's bikes I've had to fix, has been caused by the use of this type of connector, and there have been MANY.  Don't use them unless your wiring is not intended to be permanent.  Say you have an enemy, do all the circuits with these parasitic connectors, and sell him the bike.  The guy who invented these should be strung up by his balls.  I caught a U-Haul guy using them on my truck to connect the trailer I rented - he was aghast at my chewing him out for damaging my wires - but he didn't know any better, and for sure was doing what his boss told him to.  Bless his heart.

If you don't think this is good advice -  google "galvanic corrosion" with "wiring" and read what you find.

But then it also depends on your work standards.  Are you comfortable with saving a couple minutes here and there weighed against what you know isn't a good connection. When it's done, and you have installed wire taps all over your bike, how comfortable are you riding at night on the Al-Can highway 200 miles from nowhere?  Install enough unreliable connectors and your MTF (Mean Time to Failure) approaches zero.  This problem was demonstrated very well with the first big computer, the ENIAC.  Before solid state circuits, it was all vacuum tubes and hand wiring - extremely complex, with unreliable vacuum tubes, and broken literally half the time.

From wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC

"ENIAC contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. It weighed more than 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 8 by 3 by 100 feet (2.4 m × 0.9 m × 30 m), took up 1800 square feet (167 m2), and consumed 150 kW of power."
"Several tubes burned out almost every day, leaving it nonfunctional about half the time. Special high-reliability tubes were not available until 1948. Most of these failures, however, occurred during the warm-up and cool-down periods, when the tube heaters and cathodes were under the most thermal stress. Engineers reduced ENIAC's tube failures to the more acceptable rate of one tube every two days. According to a 1989 interview with Eckert, "We had a tube fail about every two days and we could locate the problem within 15 minutes."[15] In 1954, the longest continuous period of operation without a failure was 116 hours - close to five days."


I ALWAYS do it right just because it's my work ethic - even when it's for someone else and the customer will never see this connection / weld / fastener.

Do it right.  Solder the wires and shrink-wrap them.  That will never fail.

[Grandpot]

Mark T:

Holy Corrosion, Batman.  I'm not sure what you said, but I liked the way you said it.  I'll give the wire taps a 2nd thought.

[jimmytee]

I solder all my splices on my bike. Just got done adding a light bar and LEDs,with switches and relays. I can't speak about the posi wire tap deals . Never heard of them and I inherited a rather large kit with various sizes with eyelet and ring terminals of various sizes , plus butt splices. A pretty comprehensive assortment. My wife's late husband was a mechanic and his tools came with our marriage. I've tried them in a couple places and was impressed by the quality ,but they are bulky.The Posi comperssion splices and terminals don't cut wires and are very solid, but like I mentioned, they are bulky and take up a lot more space than more conventional methods.

[flsix]

+1 Mark

[97Valk_CT_Euless]

I agree with everything said regarding IDC (Insulation displacement) connectors and soldering.  I would like to add though, that only GOOD soldering is permanent.  Cold solder joints will fail as easily as a crimp connection.  Making sure the joint stays STILL while the solder cools and solidifies is critical. 
In the panel business, IDC connectors got very popular because of the labor saving (in terminals, not connectors like the current discussion) but are starting to fall out of favor because they fail.  The theory of the IDC making a gas-tight connection apparently doesn't hold up under much-if-any vibration.

[R J]

When I was in business with my son, when we hired a tech, they were informed and asked to sigh a paper that those snip terminals were not to be used.

If you used them the 1st time you are caught, just go clock out, get a trailer to haul your box on and you is out the door.

No if's an's or buts.

I bought a trailer from a trailer manufacture, don't ask who as I won't tell ya, as he had those pinch terminals all over that trailer.    Had lights fail on the 300 mile home with it, and every time it was a pinch blue snapper.

I was headed for Alaska in 2 weeks, thank God I'd serviced the bike.    I had one of our Techs work with me on the trailer, it was a slow day, and I figured if he was getting paid anyway, he might a well help on the trailer.   From the trailer hitch connector, to 2 front side markers, 2 rear side markers, we pulled out about 70' of wire.    All the grounds went to a bolt in the floor of the trailer and in time it would have worn a hole in the mat.

Got it done, pulled it to Alaska and back, it got the crap bounced out of it on those gravel roads.     I had NO light or wiring failures on the trip.

[jimmytee]

I agree with everything said regarding IDC (Insulation displacement) connectors and soldering.  I would like to add though, that only GOOD soldering is permanent.  Cold solder joints will fail as easily as a crimp connection.  Making sure the joint stays STILL while the solder cools and solidifies is critical. 
In the panel business, IDC connectors got very popular because of the labor saving (in terminals, not connectors like the current discussion) but are starting to fall out of favor because they fail.  The theory of the IDC making a gas-tight connection apparently doesn't hold up under much-if-any vibration.

If you first tin your wire it helps. Also, proper techniques in soldering, understanding how solder flows in relationship to heat applied.

[JaysGone]

Im using them in the rear for a brake light change.
They seem to be holding up well.
But I still prefer to solder and shrink wrap any harness work.

[97BLKVALK]

+1 MarkT

Yeah what you said..... :cooldude:must be a rocket scientist

[Dorkman]

In addtion to galvanic corrosion and wire piercing problems, consider that much of the wiring on the Valk is stranded wire of very small wire gauge.  Solder it and shrink wrap it for a much better connection.