New Project: Push Button M-Series Light Switch

[slosurfer]

Okay, so I may be doing this project soon. My alarm is on the way and I want to clean up a lot of my wiring when I do the alarm, so it might be the perfect time to get this wired in.

I have never soldered wiring before, does anyone have a good "how to" site about it. I'm thinking I want to learn and do this right.

[Seanz0rz]

heh, i can show you my way of doing it, if you can wait till monday when i actually have a soldering iron handy.

basically, strip 1/2 -3/4 inch off each wire, put in line with eachother (end of one insulation to end of the other, with the wires overlapping in the middle) and twist tightly, then solder. cover with heatshrink tubing.

as for how to solder, this guide is not bad: http://www.allsands.com/howto/howtosolder_cc_gn.htm

soldering larger wire is very difficult, and ive only had marginal success on anything larger than 16. google has tons of results for "how to solder", id read up as much as you can. basically, you want to get the wire hot and then melt the solder into it. i use a 30W soldering iron, and ive found the guns to be too cumbersome to use most of the time.

[Seanz0rz]

actually, looking at that link, its more for PCB mount soldering. both google and youtube have extensive how to material on the subject

[slosurfer]

Thanks Sean! so it's pretty much like when I solder brass pieces together to make drawer pulls at my dad's shop, you have to heat the material (in this case, wires) up enough to melt the solder?

I'll google around some with it.

[Seanz0rz]

I'll put together a short "here's what you need to know" how to next week if I find time.

[slosurfer]

Cool sean!

What I plan on doing is soldering bullet connectors to the pigtail of wires coming off the plug. I'll probably have to add to some of the wires first so that all the connections are staggered. I would love to do it with the military bullet connectors with the big rubber boots, but all the one's I've seen are really expensive.

[Seanz0rz]

http://www.allelectronics.com/ might have them cheaper. they are typically about 1/4 the price of retail outlets like autozone, radioshack, etc. and have alot more selection. also look on ebay. you might have to buy 50, but they will be the same price as buying 8 at the store.

[reggie 00]

Cool sean!

What I plan on doing is soldering bullet connectors to the pigtail of wires coming off the plug. I'll probably have to add to some of the wires first so that all the connections are staggered. I would love to do it with the military bullet connectors with the big rubber boots, but all the one's I've seen are really expensive.

I think the proper name is cannon plugs?
I have put a few together. the pins are crimped onto the wires. Not soldered.

[slosurfer]

I think the proper name is cannon plugs?
I have put a few together. the pins are crimped onto the wires. Not soldered.

Reggie, the big plug pictured here is the cannon plug and it has a pigtail of wires. I'm going to put bullet connectors on the ends of those wires and still use the cannon plug. It will make wiring to the switch much easier. The military has these nice bullet connectors that have big rubber boots on them, but they are expensive, I'll probably just solder on regular bullet connectors.

Cannon plug


Military bullet connectors
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/WATER...mZ330329108339

[Crinale]

doesnt look too bad price wise if you can win that auction near the starting bid... as long as it doesnt get up to the $50 buy it now price... lol