Thread: wire performance

first of all, dude why be an *******, im trying to be polite here. Obviously you dont have any mannors.
Second, it funny how all the rude comments allways come from people who arent even trying to answer any of the questions but only post to add smart *** comments.
You have no idea how my wires are put together and calling them shoddy and hacked together is somehing you wouldnt have any idea about unless you actually saw how my wires are put together. The simple act of using electrical tape is not a hack job.

If you dont have anything constructive and polite to say or add to the thread, then shut the **** up!

Having your wires twisted together means they are free to move around. Not much, with lots of electrical tape, but a little, and air can get in all through it. When you have high current through a twisted joint like that, you can end up with some corrosion on the wire surface building up over time, which increases the resistance of the connection, which causes it to heat up more, which degrades it further, etc. (vicious cycle) and depending on how much current the wire is carrying and what it's used for, it can lead to performance issues, or start a fire (depending on which you notice first, I guess).

If you have had your wire in place for years and you opened it up and it's not all corroded, then you are probably OK, but it would STILL be a much better idea to use decent crimp connectors or solder instead. You say you're noticing low voltage issues, well poor connections seems like a prime suspect (I would also verify how much of a voltage drop you are seeing from that switch, if I were you, usually it's negligible, but a poor switch might have some). The point of running a power wire to the battery in the first place is for a low-resistance, high power lead from the battery. If you are introducing extra resistance through poor connections, it kind of defeats the point. And after all, you can do it with crimp connectors or solder for just a couple of dollars, and it will take you significantly less time to do it right than it is taking to rationalize on this forum why you're not doing it

im not trying to rationalize it, im just trying to find out if it could be a source of the problem. Im not even sure the problem is low voltage,(likely though) just trying to rule out things.
This only happens mind you if im sitting in my car for an extended period of time without driveing. The Opus will send a shutdown command. I do understand what your saying about using crimps or solder. Ive never soldered anything so i prob wont go that route, but crimps sound good and prob easier than wrapping elect tape over and over. When i took everything out and replaced my wires i didnt notice any corrosion or wear or tear at all. The wires look just as they were the day I installed them 3 years ago.
Verifying how much of a drop im seeing from the switch is a good idea, and i think the switch is prob the source of the problem. Started around the same time i installed the switch. It prob cant handle the power load, i have another switch just like it but on much less load and it seems fine. But this one has an led thats supposed to light up and for some reason its not, at first i just thought the led was broken somehow, but that may also be causeing an issue with the switch.
Im gonna go pick up a new/better switch today (grab some crimps too) and see if that fixes it up.

also, thanks your coments and good explanation instead of just being an ******* like other people who, judgeing from there most recent posts, seems to be the only thing they are good at.

Originally Posted by iamfico

lol.... this was just proven to me last week... it didn't even work as a temporary fix cuz when my system stopped workin within 2 days, i opened up my dash and there were like TWO of the TWELVE connections still covered by electrical tape... there was a random mass of melted tape chunks at the bottom too lol.... apparently my head unit got f#$@ed somehow by this and now the cd player doesn't work =(

luckily: 1- it's within manufacturer's warranty
2- my computer is goin in like this weekend... just finishin up w/ software stuff

listen to them dude... they're tryin to help you... i was only using the tape as a temp ghetto rig and it STILL crapped out on me cuz its too hot out and it all melted off....

ive seen that happen before.

ahhh - grasshoppa - ye who is scared to learn to do something so simple as to learn how to solder has no room to talk

Originally Posted by Red GTi VR6

ahhh - grasshoppa - ye who is scared to learn to do something so simple as to learn how to solder has no room to talk

go find something constructive to do with your time.

Originally Posted by liquid_smoke

go find something constructive to do with your time.

Dude, you really need to lighten up.
We're trying to help you out and prevent you from hurting yourself or destroying your equipment.

Think about this. If you use slipshod conenctions and burn up the carpet in your car, how much is it going to cost to get that taken care of?

Now, if you go buy a cheap soldering iron, some solder and some heatshrink tubing, you've spend MAYBE $30. $75 if you get a really nice soldering iron and base station.