You can no longer post new replies to this discussion. If you have a question you can start a new discussion
Conductor repair
Former Community Member
I have come across an socket outlet which has had the insulation on a neutral wire repaired with heat shrink, it looks like the socket screw has damaged it previously. Would this be an acceptable repair?
if the heatshrink is just making good scuff damage to the core insulation, in a place where single insulation would be expected - i.e in the back box, then that is fine. If the damage is so bad that it is hiding a badly mangled copper core then it would not be OK.
In short the technique is perfectly OK, but it needs to have been properly done. If it feels lumpy like a core has come out or has a limp 'broken bone' feel to it, the wire needs to be cut and joined .
As many as you want Ebee. The solder should be only holding the wires together and protecting the joint. If you saw one on a spacecraft, there is almost no solder, just enough to hold the joint together. They worry about weight to the milligram!
The room temperature current rating of a properly made soldered joint between wires is limited by the rating of the wires. Only for joints where the overlap area is less than the cross-sections of the wires would you need to consider it at all. Normally the wires would but overlapping for several wire diameters - so for example a pair of 1mm2 cores would normally have a twisted overlap length of 5mm or more. In such case the solder is not the dominant influence.
It does however matter when connecting to devices that are designed to run very hot, say 150C or more, as at running temperatures approaching the 200C or so of the solder melting point, as this reduces the reserve of heating permitted to allow for current rating. In such cases we use special high temp solders or braze, and special high temperature semiconductors are in ceramic packages. The number of cases this applies to are limited to things like down well instrumentation of some oil fields, and a few things that get fired from a launcher. light reading
As many as you want Ebee. The solder should be only holding the wires together and protecting the joint. If you saw one on a spacecraft, there is almost no solder, just enough to hold the joint together. They worry about weight to the milligram!
Now that’s something new. The question is why would anyone do that to meter tails. Lots of inner insulation showing and the seal missing on the fuse carrier is well.
