had a frustrating comeback today

This was actually an Audio deal, but I seldom post in that forum, and could pertain to anything we do in Security/RS, so I'll put it here where I'm better-known. I replaced the speakers in my Super Duty a few months ago. I spliced the speaker pigtail to the truck's wiring, and called it done. I seldom drive it, and today, the RF speaker didn't work. The last thing I suspected was the wiring, of course. Took awhile to narrow it down to a broken wire in the speaker pigtail. Here's the splices. I've been doing them this way for 30 years. I know, I don't always get the heat-shrink centered. Here's the pigtail. I think I pulled too hard when I stripped the wire during the install, and it eventually separated. The pigtail wiring is very fragile. Because the speaker has to be removed to access the inner workings of the door for maintenance, I decided to install a metripack 150 inline connector, and hard-solder to the speaker. The final result. It works, and can be removed for future maintenance. Watch out when stripping tiny wires. I obviously broke the conductor during the install, and it worked for 6 months. Then it didn't. Fortunately, it only took an hour or so to figure out, and another hour to fix. But I did tear the truck apart figuring it out. Note to IAAI: The 9851 in the pic is the one with the "Inop CD" you told me turn upside down to "fix". It's still working! That was a hell of a tip. Thanks

I agree with you Dave, I use the exact same method. The problem is the wiring on modern cars, too thin. I'm now very careful when soldering to CAN wires after one incident cost me 4 hours of fault finding.

Who solders anymore ?? T-Taps Howie !! Unfortunately, newer vehicles are down sizing the wire gauge significantly. I remember the first time I worked on an 06-11 civic... super thin wires in the kick for locks; I used a little too much force and cut through the wire, and spent 20 minutes fixing it. Now I just use an olfa knife and graze the wire, just enough to peel the insulation with my finger nail. Only one manufacture so far has switched from copper to aluminum from my knowledge. I encountered it when my aunt picked up the 2014/2015 Rouge. Couldn't solder any of the wires, so poke and twist + SuperScotch 33+ had to do. Btw Dave, would you happen to be David P from DEI? Ted

2nd Year Tier 1 Medical School

Still installing as a hobby...pays for groceries

Compustar Expert

OMG - Al OEM wiring. More fatigue failures... plus interconnection issues (electrolysis etc). If only OEMs were like forum audiophiles where it was easy to convince them NOT to use Al because of how much their domains (crystals etc) would effect power and hence sound. (That was back in the days when OFC cable meant better sound because the +12V DC supply did not undergo across-domain molecular distortions...) But good to see the speaker wiring mods. The number of times I'd have to do the same, or add connectors for convenience (eg - don't have to remove the speaker for testing etc) or to avoid eventual breakage of onboard spade mounting trying to remove or fit tight spades etc. Hmmm - an Alpine. Geez Dave, why use them? FYI - my Alpine is probably my biggest motivation for getting another vehicle on the road. (My recent vehicle recently lammed retired up north...)

tedmond wrote: Unfortunately, newer vehicles are down sizing the wire gauge significantly.

Weight and mass reduction. Shows up in the window sticker economy numbers, which are used for CAFE calculation.....

tedmond wrote: Only one manufacture so far has switched from copper to aluminum from my knowledge...... 2014/2015 Rouge. Couldn't solder any of the wires, ....

I doubt the Rouge was the first use of aluminum or solid wire. I worked on a mid-70's Nova ( I think it was a 1975) in about 1978. I don't remember the particulars, but I remember having to splice the rear light harness back together. This was a theft-recovery repair, and the wiring had been cut. It was a solid construction, very difficult to strip, and couldn't be spliced using my wester-union technique. I believe the conductors may have been aluminum as well, but I'm not positive about this aspect. I remember that only the rear harness in this car had these characteristics. I resorted to blue butt splices and covered it with the carpet. I'm sure that car has long since been sent to the breaker for scrapping....

tedmond wrote: Btw Dave, would you happen to be David P from DEI?

Negative, Ghostrider. I'm not associated with DEI, other than DEI is my preferred brand for my installs. Only my mother gets away with calling me "David". I prefer "Dave". I use the screen name "DaveP" or sometimes "DaveP." on several car forums. I prefer to use a real name rather than an alias. Regards, All...