I swear I saw a cord on the heat gun in the video, but your link is to the cordless one :-).

I might have to order one of the kits.

The clamps on the helping hands are jewelry welding clamps. Hope that helps. Find them really good for precise smaller work.

Hi Tested team, the Solder Seal wire connectors are very durable to the point that they are approved for military aircraft use. I was instructed on their use over 20 years ago and it good that they are very readily available now days

@@nottinghamboardandwargames1558 I posted an Amazon link for them. They're expensive, but Adam probably got the knock off versions in China.

This is a great idea, thanks! I’ve had to do a lot of heat shrink and crimp connectors in tight spaces where at least one end of the cable is already installed, having a reflector for the heat gun would have made the process a ton easier versus trying to awkwardly twist the wire around to get the back side.

More so when you cant get to the other side of the wires also.

I usually just put kapton tape on the stuff I don't want to melt

Yup! Works for me!

I'm using a dremel versatip, it got a special "hook shape reflector" tip for this.

Good call man Thanks. The one he listed is stupid expensive.

I have his wire marker. I keep it on a retractable lanyard on my belt loop. Worth the money if you’re pulling a lot of wire.

I'm guessing if it's expensive at lowes / home depot, you can usually find them for less somewhere online (but not amazon, because lowes and HD match their prices to the penny of what you can find the same product for on amazon - or the amazon sellers match lowes/hd - whatever, either way). I used to print strips of numbers like the tape, but just on regular paper, and then put them on a piece of packing tape, or scotch tape, and wrap it around the cable. If you really want it to be durable, put a piece of clear heatshrink over it. Then I got one of those dispensers with the 3M number tape in it as part of a bunch of stuff I bought from a commercial cable installation shop that was cleaning out their warehouse - total gamechanger! So much nicer than hand cut number strips, but for a small job where you have just a few cables and can't justify the expense of the real deal, just print number strips on regular paper and use tape and or heatshrink.

The other thing I've discovered recently is the little crimp on "bootlace" ferrules for stranded wire. I know whether people like them or not seems to be a really contentious issue, but I got a 4 sided crimper so the ferules come out square after they're crimped - I don't have any issue with them not holding into terminals that are designed for stranded wire. When you tighten the clamps down well, it actually squeezes the ferules down a bit too - they hold in a lot better than I thought they would actually.

@@gorak9000 Those things come in clutch in high vibration areas at my industrial worksite. Untouched stranded wire in terminals will barely last a week before breaking. The bootlaces last years. Everywhere else on site though is a big meh.

This! It is important interlacing the wires gives you the best possible joint with the lowest resistance

Yep. I always pull one wire all the way through, spin them together, then bring the connector back to solder and seal. It's strong enough that tugging on it is more likely to break a different part of the cable after that

Yaaas! That is the most failure proof way. No need for the extra arms too.

Good point. Otherwise, the connection is through the solder only. Solder is a terrible conductor. It has about 1/10th of the conductance of copper.

@@thedman1696 it's less resistance when you don't twist but it strengthens the joint if you do

Semi trucks? 5 years? Even with grit and salt and vibration? I'll take it! *adds to shopping cart*

Thanks for the testimonial. I have been considering these for while, and seeing this video and your comment pretty much answered my questions.

@@corey6393 Real-world testimonials always help.

I should add 5 years in Michigan home of the rust belt

A helicopter avionics tech put me on to these solder splices 10 years ago. they're fully aerospace rated so that was enough for me. I don't think I've ever done a solder butt splice since.

But if you really think about it it was also a curse! I always get nervous when something (SW or HW) appears to work on the first try, it oftens means that whatever the bug you left in it is subtle and probably intermittent... On wire labeling the only sane aproach in a lab is to create unique pairs of labels,, one for each end. We use 3 letters/3 digit, CAT345 DOG135 . Brady sells sheets of wire label stock, one sheet is good for ~30 pairs. Any attempt to label wires by function or destination is almost immediately wrong and out of date. My favorite on a patch panel was "Nancy's old office", as if anyone would remember where that was, especially since she left 2 years ago.

Wow, I also forgot about these from using it decades ago.

@@davidmccarthy6061 likewise. I even still have them in a drawer and as soon as I saw the container in the video I was like oh yeah!

That sounds great also! My country's amazon only sells numbered one for 300 USD lmao I can't find knock-offs neither so I guess I'll stay the way it were

Should check out the partex system. Numbers and colours that follow the usual electrical system you'll know from resistors (e.g. 37/orange purple), use them for wiring control panels. Just push them onto the wire.

I saw that video by ElementalMaker too 👍

That's pretty amazing. It reminds me of the thermite train rail welding systems.

I agree - bought some by accident years ago and haven't looked back

You beat me to it. Yes it was great ! I cared it in my tool bag instead of a soldering iron and solder it was great. I fixed a clear com headset right before a performance. It was very cool.

Ah, my RadioShack brothers!

Bless you kind soul

Been looking too. These seem to be the best , there are cheaper. Trying just to find the heads

@@danielbot3602 me too. Kinda expensive for me but they seem really good.

@@zoopmamajuju let us know if you find any

@@danielbot3602 will do

We'll pass your message along! We hear it a lot; you're not alone (and the Tested crew isn't immune, either!)

@@tested haha, that's very kind from you! Don't forget to mention that this was meant as a funny comment, i love learning about cool tools and stuff! Many regards from Germany 👋😊

Wow!

You, sir, are the hero we don't deserve

You only made 100s in a day? No wonder they're so expensive :-P

@gorak9000 It was more than a decade ago so I can not remember how many I made a day. But simple math is 8 hr per day. 60 min per hr is 480 min. That would be hundreds. If It's 2 per min that would be 960 theoretically. I say theoretically because you have to consider the time to do paperwork, restock supplies, move finished product to stock etc... So whats involved in making them, 1) grab new shell. 2) open all 10 slots. 3-13) insert rolls. 14) close covers. 15) add product label. 16) place in shipping box. 60 sec / 2 per min = 30 sec each. /16 steps = 1.875 sec average per step. Inserting the rolls is the fastest action and placing the product label (and getting it right) is the longest action. Oh and the rolls don't just drop in you have to snap them into place so they don't pop out when used. As for labor cost, I was making about $10/hr so if I made 100/ hr that would only be 10 cents per unit. And that sill leaves us at 100s per shift. Even if I made twice as much or was half as fast that would still only be 20 cents per unit. and if both 40 cents. Still only a small percent of the $25 (0.4%) to $60 (0.16%) price. So, why so expensive? Ask the molding department, the empty dispenser alone cost $20 to $40... In conclusion, as usual, the blame for prices goes to the slaves (err... employees) and not the corporate greed.

@@RobR99 I wasn't blaming you, I was just saying in China, they would expect each person to make thousands of them per day, and pay less to boot! I can see that the holder is quite a complex molding (I have a bunch of those dispensers and refill rolls that I got basically for free from a place that did commercial cabling installation and was clearing out a warehouse), but I don't think $20 to $40 was their cost to mold it - that's the cost that the market will pay for an empty dispenser. Compared to all the other tools that each cable installer crew would need (full set of "basic" tools, a whole selection of specialized crimpers, strippers, fiber optic tools, etc) $20 - $40 is a drop in the bucket, and a no brainer to pay to have "the best" and the quickest solution to not waste time. I get it - it's a niche product targeted at a limited audience, so they can charge more - it's fine - there's nothing wrong with that. As a hobbyist, what I used to do was just print number strips on regular paper, cut a section of paper number off and stick it to some tape, and then wrap the tape around the wires - that works fine, and basically costs nothing, but is really slow, but that doesn't matter for the handful of times I'm pulling cables that need to be labeled. That waste of time wouldn't be acceptable on a commercial job, and even if they charged $100 for the dispenser, it would pay for itself on the first job. But now that I have the real tool, even as a hobbyist, I won't ever be printing paper number strips and using tape anymore :)

For automotive use I'd recommend un-insulated crimp connectors and marine grade heatshink 👍 no worries about brittle connections from over wicking the solder, completely idiot/fail proof, super strong and 100% waterproof... big name automotive stores have finally begun to stock the non-insulated connectors, although they are much cheaper online and honestly after trying many brands the harborfreight marine grade heatshink is hard to beat if you are doing low volume work and don't need a 50 or 100ft roll of one certain diameter 👍 ask any racing team or off-roader, solder is only attaching wires to circuit boards or fixed hard points! 😁

@@berryreading4809 I agree...i use the stock style crimp-on bullet connectors with heat shrink and the rubber covers that come with them for most of the electrical work on my vintage motorcycles. I like to keep things as stock as possible for myself and for the next owner. I had two brake light wires fray and come apart a few months ago...because of the placement and where they broke, I used the solder connectors Adam showed in this video and they've held up nicely.

Solder the ends first, then solder the wires together. Don't forget the shrinking sleeve.

Two things make great solder joints. 1. 60/40 Lead/tin solder. 2. Good quality heat shrink tubing. Especially one with internal adhesive for moisture sealed joints. Electrical tape is a bad joke and a total waste of time. Even Gaffa tape has a short lifespan, especially when exposed to heat.

@@daveco1270 another nice thing about the non-insulated connectors is that they are seamless unlike many of the insulated brands which are often hiding foil thin metal with poor plating 😡 but it makes it very nice for tight spaces where aligning the seem would be impossible... but they do require some leverage, a dedicated pin style crimp tool is nice, but for less than $20 you can get a nice "front of the pivot" commercial electrician crimper/wire cutter or the smaller automotive type which usually include a wire stripper, they kind of look like a pair of diagonal wire cutting pliers, but the head is completely flat, 3/16-5/16 thick depending on brand, but you can get airtight crimps without an enormous amount of hand strength 👍dorman (big name auto stores) and carlisle (from napa) are a nice compact design with the striper, but only for 16ga and under, bigger than that and you really need a longer electricians crimping plier for the leverage

What kind of label materials do they let you use inside junction boxes? (Fire concerns / code / etc)

@@marklundeberg7006 generally speaking we label the panel/circuit in sharpie, inside the box or on the cover if it's just a junction box. That or wire labels from a label maker. Generally I think those are a vinyl of some sort, I'd have to check haha. As for what all materials are allowed, I'm honestly not sure off hand.

If you want excellent penetration of the solder you need to slowly heat the component so the wires come up to temp as well. If it's something low voltage, low amperages then yeah you can just quick hit it and go.

We used them in high voltage / low amp connections in the military (aviation weapons systems) ... take what you will from that.

ukposts.info/have/v-deo/rZ6peZqwjm6DsWw.html

Sounds better than a crimped butt connector though.

The use case for this is not "as good as a hand soldered connection" it is "more robust and durable than crimped connectors"

We have a similar type of connection at my work and i use these whenever i know this wiring has to be able to be unplugged etc. Great option!

I've seen them, but wondered if they were any good.

@@videobeagle it seems there is no flux in there because the solder doesn't flow properly.

@@videobeagle They're pretty good for the most part. I use them from time to time myself on low-power low-importance connections but I also always make sure I twist my wires to make a Western Union splice first. I don't trust these for higher power connections or signal carrying connections though as I highly doubt the solder properly penetrates the splice, though I haven't done any major testing to check that. It's just better IMO to not have to ever wonder if your splice is the whole reason your circuit is failing.

Those are the ones. I just looked them up myself then found your comment.

Thanks for the info!

I looked it up also, there is an Etsy seller who makes this identical clip, nice setup, $46 for two.

Thanks!

@@TimFollick alfindingsltd out of merry England the one you found? In any case alfindingsltd has two for 30gbp for European buyers with arms and a base to match.

Dymo has the Rhino series that can also print heatshrink tubing. I use it a lot, really handy

@@diyfury Oh man yes I got a DYMO Rhino a few years ago, just for the purpose of being able to print on shrinkwrap. Fantastic product. It also has functions for making other wiring-specific label templates, which comes in handy.

The brother P-Touch pte550 has got to be my favourite of the ones I've used. Lots of functionality for both cables (heatshrink, wraps and flags) but also general and custom label printing. Won't replace the Cembre machine that cost 3 grand but it very nearly could which is beyond impressive. I'm sure in a few years the potable ones will be worth having instead of the bench style.

Torch or heat gun, the biggest headache is if the wire insulation turns out to be cheap and melts before the shrink sleeve does! 🙄

I've found the WAGO's work well in receptacle boxes and take up less room than then wire nuts.

They make a more compact single inline version, also the Chinese make some good Wago knockoffs that Wago don't (but should have) make. Wouldn't entirely trust the Chinese ones for commercial mains electrical work though but they're almost certainly fine for this sort of work.

I'm thinking about getting some WAGO connectors eventually, myself, whenever I start working on a computer storage and shop room in my dad's barn... Will only be something like 8x17ft of space, but still, that isn't half bad, for how much computer stuff I hope to store there...

@@mfx1 wago finally makes online splice connectors, the 221-2401 but the Chinese knockoffs work fairly well

@@Mitch3D Isn't that basically what I said?

Did you find the hands he's using here?

Can you give a link or word description of the helping hands? thanks.

@@jmurphy6011 Someone down the page found them. They're made by GRS, and they are pretty expensive. There are some knockoffs, though.

@@joshuamartin7756 cool, thanks. Just saw a set on Amazon that remind me of Doc Ock from Spiderman.

They've been around for 30+ years. Military equipment is full of them. LoL

My thought exactly!

Sounds interesting! Do you have a product name or a link?

@@chiphill4856 Doing some searching, it looks like we're using a bare butt connector under the heat shrink sleeve Adam posted. Most of them come with a hole to let the solder wick into the joint from the factory, since they're usually just stamped and rolled. You have the option of crimping, hot soldering, or just butting and heat-gunning the connection. Depending on what you need it to do. I'm a flux and solder kind of guy just because there's no kill like overkill.

@@Ivanovitch2885 Cool. Thx!