I have a couple of lamps with soldered in twin flex that isn?t long enough. While I could desolder and solder in new flex, I?d rather add something on the end, but all the flex connectors I?ve found so far are capable of handling much more current than I need and consequently clumsily large. Is there anything out there that is slim and tidy?
Compact connector for lighting flex?
Feb 23, 2016
14 Replies
choc block in a plastic box?
This sort is about as slim as you'll get - rated 2 amp I think
formatting link
Owain
Use a miniature inline lamp switch?
Neatest way might be crimps and heat shrink sleeving.
Slimmest is solder & adhesive heatshrink.
NT
Agreed.
Do the regs for flex require double insulation? In which case is a second layer of heatshrink good enough? It occurred to me I don't actually know the answer. Years ago many things used xmas light like cabling but I've never been sure if it was outlawed or just fell out of favour.
banned from mains use in the 70s
NT
I was going to say that. Stagger the crimps, and use "sticky" heat-shrink for the outer layer. If you can solder neatly, you can make it a bit slimmer with staggered soldered joints, individually heat shrinked, with sticky heat shrink over the lot.
Nothing like as robust when walked on IMO.
Makes a lot more sense to just replace the flex IMO.
I've done both of these (crimped and soldered) and the joints have survived several years out of doors. For a small wire the soldered method is better really.
Solder is much neater. They're weak alloys, but if you twist the conductors together first and use a decent length of join, solder lasts fine.
NT
Solder and heat shrink.
Bill
Thanks to everyone who suggested this and the crimp version. I have all of those things and cannot for the life of me understand why I didn?t think of it myself! Particularly since I have done that in the past. Duh.
Join the Discussion
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Didn't find your answer?
Ask the community — no account required