Splicing wires

Wago 2 way (0.5mm^2 to 6mm^2)

- the other only takes a maximum of 4mm^2 The wago part number of the 6mm^2 maximum size is Wago 221-612

Perhaps heat shrink over the whole assembly

Many thanks. My hope was not to cut the 6mm^2 cable and leave intact, and at the most strip some insulation for contact. Your suggestion was pretty much my plan-B.

Not sure how I would sleeve the assembly with heat-shrink though.

I don't see how that would let you add a T-junction onto an otherwise straight wire, without cutting the existing wire?

I suppose what you could do is:

1. Patch up the insulation hole with tape etc
2. Fit a new splice further down the 6mm2 cable
3. Attach to it a new piece of 6mm2 cable to form the tee
4. Butt join the new 6mm2 onto the 1.5mm2 - either using the above Wago, soldering, chock block, whatever

Theo

Solder, then insulate with heat shrink tape - or self-amalgamating tape at a push. Make a good mechanical joint and remember to provide some mechanical restraint. You could put the joint in a Wago Box if you thought it worthwhile.

I hoped might be a means of clamping a cable within connector, the same as you might clamp a cable for strain relief with a removable saddle.

At the moment I'm favouring the Wagos and cutting the cable.

Soldering is fraught as there is no convenient power source. It's a narrowboat that doesn't currently have 240V.

Many thanks.

I had envisaged soldering even though it goes against the rules in a narrowboat setting. There is also no convenient power nearby for a soldering iron. I don't have a gas one.

USB iron and power bank?

There are neat little irons now:

Power from USB-C, so either use a USB-C power brick or a USB-C battery powerbank, which you may already have.

There are also models with a lithium cell that you recharge.

Theo

I was hoping for a cable clamp style based on this type of setup:

Many thanks to Andy and Theo for the suggestions.

I'm not confident that portable soldering irons are man enough for 6mm cable.

He is talking about soldering 6mm2 to 1.5mm2, not a cat in hells chance with anything less than 40W and even then you might struggle without a suitably large iron point.

USB irons are available that take 75W or 150W JBC cartridges, maybe better to run them from an 18V tool battery than a USB power bank.

I'm not sure why. The Pinecil takes 48W, and some of the beefier versions use their own lithium batteries. A typical 18650 might be rated at 25A @

No idea if any good, but this kind of thing:

Theo

You don't need a soldering *iron* - search for "mini gas torch"

One of the joys of a 3D printer is that knocking up a little plastic box to contain such a splice and insulate it is a piece of piss, especially if you just fill it with hotsnot and pop a lid on

Oops, I replied to the wrong sub-thread ... use a mini gas torch such as:

Something like that?

Then you need a 3 way wago and covered in heatshrink if vibration could be a problem.

There are other wires in very close proximity. And the wire is taut so difficult to separate. I suppose I could put a mix of foil and card around the cable to stop heating the other cables.