On Tue, 2 Feb 2010 15:26:21 +0000 (UTC), Elmo
wrote:
On Tue, 02 Feb 2010 08:39:31 -0500, PeterD wrote:
3M makes underground splice kits that may work
(used primarily for telco work).
Great idea! If it works for the telephone company, it should work here.
No. Soldering is better. The phone company doesn't want to spend the
time it takes to solder each connection, up to hundreds a day, and it
has a staff to go fix problems when they develop, as well as
electronic tools to find the break in a wire, by injecting a signal at
one end if necessary.
And if you plan to use the gel connectors they use, that might require
practice too to learn to do them right, and maybe also a special pair
of pliers. I'm not sure, but I know you've never done it before.
On the 3M web site, I found a splice kit for 3-conductor "armored" cable,
but not 4 conductor (and it was for 10-14 AWG, not 16AWG).
Here's the product information from: http://tinyurl.com/ybrgmlf
http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3...G CC8VFQJBCgl
- 3M™ 3/C Low Voltage Splice Kit 5730, 14-10 AWG (UPC 00054007431718).
- These kits are applicable for indoor and outdoor installations,
- including direct burial, aerial and submersible applications.
- This kit requires 1 roll of 3M™ Armorcast™ Structural Material.
I don't know what "3M™ Armorcast™ Structural Material" is, but it's
not for you. You also don't have armored cable.
Do you think I can find a 4-conductor shielded 16 AWG cable splice kit at
ACE, OSH, or Home Depot? (I'll try later today.)
I've never heard of a kit being designed for a certain number of
conductors, unless maybe they're talking about some special way to
splice all 3 conductors at the same time. There's no need to do that.
For one thing, you'd need some machine costing thousands to solder
more than one connection at the same time, and any other kind of
connection is inferior. Just solder and tape each connection
yourself, one at a time. By offsetting the splices, as I and one of
the links you gave suggested, you won't have to wrap insulation around
each separate solder joint. Just make sure that neither the soldered
area or any of the bared wire is at the same position as any bare
portion of any conductor. And make sure there are no sharp points in
the solder of any conection. They could pierce the insulation. I
think they only result when the solder isn't hot enough, (or maybe
when there wasn't enough flux???). At any rate, you probably won't
have that, or you can reheat, or cut them off with wire cutters, or
wrap them separately with enough layers so it can't pierce through.
Then just wrap the whole thing at one time. If it turns out that two
of the uninsulated parts could touch each other, wrap one of them
seaparately first.
You're making this too complicated, partly because of what they told
you when you first called. You need a soldering iron, solder, and
tape, not a kit.
BTW, when some of these sites talk about low voltage, they're talking
about 110 volts and 220 volts, as opposed to 10,000 volts, which is
high voltage. They're talking about currents in the range of 10 or 20
amps or more. No, much more. Look at the wire gauges they deal with
in the link you provide above. 14 to 10AWG, 8-4AWG, 2-1/0, 2-0. 14
gauge will carry 15 amps, 10 gauge will carry at least 25 amps. 8
gauge at least 30 amps (probably more but I don't recall) 2 gauge must
carry 100 amps and zero gauge even more. Imagine how big those wires
are. That's what these kits are for, not for little wires carrying
tiny currents, like a few thousandths of an amp.
You otoh are dealing with much lower voltalge and much lower currents,
and much lower maximum currents also. You can't even feel 12 volts
and maybe you can barely feel a tingle with 24 volts, but I don't
think so.