Ask a Shiter

[cobblers]

All this talk that soldering is bad and crimps are better is a load of tosh when you're using chinese Red/Blue/Yellow insulated crimps and a £20 tool. They're crap. I still use them because they're convenient, but they are absolute crap when compared to any kind of professionally used terminal.

It's impossible to get a reliable crimp because there's so many variables. The plastic coating means the tool has basically fuck all chance of properly crimping the metal round the wire so even with the best will in the world, you'll have a fairly high resistance joint.

 

Yes they can work and last for years, etc, but mostly they are shit and there's a good chance the wire will fall out, or get hot, melt then fall out, or get wet, get hot, melt then fall out.

 

When people say "The military won't allow soldering" its because the military use proper crimps, where the crimp tool itself costs a few grand and has to be calibrated.

For our purposes with the tools we have it's absolutely best to just solder the bastard and then cover it in adhesive lined heatshrink which will act as a strain relief to stop the wire snapping, and also keep out any moisture.

 

I have a ratchet crimper and an assortment cheapo terminals and I do use them fairly often, but they are quite convenient and work OK in certain situations.

[JeeExEll]

All this talk that soldering is bad and crimps are better is a load of tosh when you're using chinese Red/Blue/Yellow insulated crimps and a £20 tool. They're crap. I still use them because they're convenient, but they are absolute crap when compared to any kind of professionally used terminal.

It's impossible to get a reliable crimp because there's so many variables. The plastic coating means the tool has basically fuck all chance of properly crimping the metal round the wire so even with the best will in the world, you'll have a fairly high resistance joint.

 

Yes they can work and last for years, etc, but mostly they are shit and there's a good chance the wire will fall out, or get hot, melt then fall out, or get wet, get hot, melt then fall out.

 

When people say "The military won't allow soldering" its because the military use proper crimps, where the crimp tool itself costs a few grand and has to be calibrated.

For our purposes with the tools we have it's absolutely best to just solder the bastard and then cover it in adhesive lined heatshrink which will act as a strain relief to stop the wire snapping, and also keep out any moisture.

 

I have a ratchet crimper and an assortment cheapo terminals and I do use them fairly often, but they are quite convenient and work OK in certain situations.

So well-made-off sprung-ratchet crimp connections are fine then. Who said anything about using cheapo Chinese crimps? Use proper crimps, a bit more expensive at first buying by the 100 if you only need 6 immediately but your wires won't fall out.

[Matt]

piggyback-spades

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Hadn't come across those before, looks like exactly what I need.

[JeeExEll]

Ding ding ding, we have a winner! Hadn't come across those before, looks like exactly what I need.

Cool. They are useful. Some uninsulated metal there there so be careful.

[Matt]

Cool. They are useful. Some uninsulated metal there there so be careful.

 

It'll likely find it'self inside some plastic conduit so shouldn't be an issue. Thanks!

[Guest Hooli]

I'd forgot about them.

[Bucketeer]

Why do buses vibrate so harshly at idle?

 

I don't have a definitive answer for this (if pushed I would mumble summat about resonant frequencies, large shaky windows and body panels, etc) but it did dredge up a memory from about 25 years ago of reading a newspaper problem page. Probably Dear Diedre or similar. The problemee was suffering random unpredictable erections whilst riding buses and this was diagnosed as Diesel Penis, apparently a medically recognised malady caused by the particular vibrations of bus engines. HTH.

[tinribs]

I always end up with a bleeding arsehole when I ride a bus. No idea why. So I asked Viz readers for advice on this problem.

Apparently I am Terry Fuckwitt and it's actually the bus that rides me.

I'm as thick as pigshit, me!

[andy18s]

I don't have a definitive answer for this (if pushed I would mumble summat about resonant frequencies, large shaky windows and body panels, etc) but it did dredge up a memory from about 25 years ago of reading a newspaper problem page. Probably Dear Diedre or similar. The problemee was suffering random unpredictable erections whilst riding buses and this was diagnosed as Diesel Penis, apparently a medically recognised malady caused by the particular vibrations of bus engines. HTH.

fecking lol at that!

[Paul Dupart]

Why, on some engine cooling fans, are the fan blades not all spaced apart equally?  Noticeable in danthecaprimans current thread pictures with the engine out.  Wouldn't this cause balance problems?  Ta..

[cobblers]

It's to make them quieter.

In free air you'd be fine with equally spaced blades, but a car engine bay has all kinds of things in the way causing disturbances.

Let's say for example that there's a coolant hose that runs close to the fan. When each blade passes this, you'll get a "chop" noise. 

If all the blades are equally spaced, at a certain RPM you'll set up a resonance and it'll sound really loud and awful.

Unequal spacing of the blades prevents this. They'll still balance up either through smart placement of the blades or just some of them being heavier/lighter to compensate.

[Bfg]

.

I'm intrigued by the voiced objections and prejudice against screw-block connectors..

 

My father was an electronics / communications technician for 25 years in the RAF., and it was he who first introduced me to chocolate-block screw connectors.  It struck me that almost all their equipment had a screw block for wires coming into the piece of kit, and then other blocks were screwed to the equipment's chassis for common feeds and earths. 

 

I see it as no coincidence that most household and commercial electrical sockets worldwide use screw block connectors in the buildings fittings, within the appliance or equipment, and again on the end of the appliances' lead.

 

Personally unless factory fitted (when the connection is made before the insulator is fitted over it) I cannot abide crimped connections.  The 'point pinching' of loose wire strands is never as good as the folded crimping of a machine.  In my professional experience (in both classic car and motorcycles restoration) - home-crimped are responsible for more loose and fraying, corrosion &/or oil-grime compromised connections - than all other types added together.  Even when physically secure - the conductivity of electricity through most hand-crimped wire-strand joints is questionable, and thereafter open to atmospheric moisture issues for the long term.  Even those which at first appear to be physically secure are so often and easily loosened ..simply by twisting the connection..

 

Hand crimped connectors, are useful as a temporary fix (crimping pliers and a few connectors in a touring tool kit are handy enough)  but imo unless replaced / done properly ..they are just a nuisance problem for a dark, cold wet n' windy night, when I'm in a hurry to get somewhere nice ..waiting to happen.  

 

But then we all have 'an opinion' don't we ! ?

[Pillock]

What was the last car officially sold in the UK which did not have any onboard computer/ECU?

Define computer.

 

Yeah, everything now has something that could be used to land a Lunar Rover controlling the hazard lights... And back in the 50s you'd have no computers.

 

Or would you?

 

A computer just takes two or more inputs and "computes" an output. A relay is a very basic computer, as it's doing the same job as a transistor bit mechanically. And then you start with clever relays like VAG intermittent wipers, that was used all the way back to the early 80s. Or the timer for a heated rear screen, even older.

[cort16]

I think choc blocks are fine when they're screwed to something and can't move. If you've got them free float (like I totally don;t have in the coil wire of my cortina*) there's a chance the wire will fatigue.

[Guest Hooli]

I think choc blocks are fine when they're screwed to something and can't move. If you've got them free float (like I totally don;t have in the coil wire of my cortina*) there's a chance the wire with fatigue.

 

That's my thinking too.

[Richard]

.

[Mally]

And dry.

 

Or full of vaseline.

[gm]

is a knackered domestic hot water cylinder worth anything or should I just take it to the top ? it appears to be made of copper under the insulation

[jonathan_dyane]

Copper is always worth weighing in

[Guest Hooli]

yes weigh copper in, it's worth it's weight in well copper!

[cobblers]

They must be worth a decent bit by the way my (plumber) mates face lit up when I said he could have mine.

[gm]

sounds promising - the replacement cost me plenty so anything I can get back is a bonus. cheers all

[DodgeRover]

is a knackered domestic hot water cylinder worth anything or should I just take it to the top ? it appears to be made of copper under the insulation

About £3.20 a kilo

[hairymel]

 The problemee was suffering random unpredictable erections whilst riding buses and this was diagnosed as Diesel Penis, apparently a medically recognised malady caused by the particular vibrations of bus engines. HTH.

 

this happened to a friend* almost every day on the school bus. very embarrassing at the time.

[DodgeRover]

this happened to a friend* almost every day on the school bus. very embarrassing at the time.

Bus Drivers Log is the medical term I believe

[greengartside]

Just saying, hypothetically....

 

....if a friend* of mine had a car with a knackered turbo at his home, would it be possible to ring the breakdown service and say the incident happened about half a mile from his* house after driving it back the distance home (the friend* has cover for any car, not specific to just one vehicle) and that he* would want it transported to his nearest garage of choice?

 

Or isn't there a loophole for this kind of stuff? I've got a feeling I think there isn't...

[cobblers]

People do that stuff all the time.

[bunglebus]

What was the last car officially sold in the UK which did not have any onboard computer/ECU?

Don't know, but at must be around 1992 because everything with a cat must have some sort of ECU to adjust fueling using a lambada sensor. My '93 Reno 5 has an ECU somewhere (never found it), single point injection with just a lambda, MAP and a temp. sensor. No throttle position or air flow metering, even though the carb injector body is drilled and tapped for a throttle pot.

I have no idea how it works it all out from so little info, but it does.

[Lacquer Peel]

Some diesels did without ECUs into the new millennium, I'm going to take a stab at the TATA Safari for the last mechanically controlled diesel.

[Lacquer Peel]

Oh and the microcars with garden tractor engines.