Wire Splicing Basics - Hemmings Article & Recommenditon with Video

[Jason Edge]

I have to say that Hemmings has some great Help Topics and thought I might incorporate a few on our Help Topic Page. I thought I would start off with a very basic topic -- Wire Splicing.  I will also include a video with my recommendation - the "Lineman's Splice".

Click on this link for a run down of the basic wire splice methods and a comparison:
Hemmings Daily: Which Wire Splicing Method is Strongest?

If you read through the article you will note that the Lineman's Splice (often called the Western Union Splice) is very strong and provides a lot of contact between the wires and lays flat.   Add some solder and heat shrink to it and you have a nice strong connection and is my splicing method of choice.   If you have to splice wires in a moving or exposed area, or where the wires may be strssed, such as those in the door wire rubber conduit, this is a great splice.  

With that, here is a good YouTube Video illustrating the Lineman's Splice. 

[Jason Edge]

Tony, did you watch the video? It recommends soldering at about 4:09 in the video to make it stronger. 

[Jason Edge]

Also noted in the video.

[Jason Edge]

Tony, The Hemmings article evaluates the added strength with solder. Go to article and scroll down to "Adding Solder for Strength".  It also looks at impedance (Resistance) without and with solder. Did you check out the article?

[Jason Edge]

Tony, The resistence went down slightly. It did not stay exactly the same for the Lineman's splice after the solder. 

[Jason Edge]

The point of this post was to show the different wire splicing method.  If it helps someone out.. that is fantastic. If someone is looking for more of an indepth and exacting study of the characteristics of electrons across a splice this is probably not it. 

With that said, thinking about the resistance, I can see resistance going down after splice and again after the the solder. The spliced joint potentially makes a "larger pipe" for electrons to flow, and the solder again adds volume (area) for electrons to flow.   

So, like the author of the Hemmings article I decided to do a crude quick test, and clamp two ends of a wire to my multi-tester, get a reading for resistance, and leaving the leads connect exactly the same, cut the wire and do Lineman's splice and note the reading. For me it dropped from 7.3 ohms to 7.2 ohms. Perhaps my meter is defective.. but doubt it as I tested against some 15 and 30 ohm resistors and it was dead on.

Honestly I didn't expect any change.  Perhaps my breathing on it reduced it by 0.1 ohm! LOL  Maybe shortening the wire that 1" or so for the splice made a tad difference. (Yes, the overall wire length is shortened!) I can definitely see solder improving (ie. reducing) impedance vs spliced with no solder. It's more conductive material for the electrons to flow.  I guess it would have been better if the author of the Hemmings article had just left out the simplistic, unscientific resistance test. I do think the illustration & description of the wire splicing techniques was worth sharing.  I also think, the wire splice strength tests, albeit also crude, was spot on from my experience. 

Again, just trying to share ways to splice wire. Maybe someone will get something out of it.

[Jason Edge]

I'm a heat gun junkie.. 9 times out of 10 I use the heat gun for heat shrink.