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What size solder sleeve

lr172

Well Known Member
I would like to use solder sleeves for attaching pigtails to shielding, but have no experience with them. Can anyone tell me which size sleeves to order for 2 and 3 conductor shielded tefzel?

Larry
 
Hi Larry,

I find they come in 4 colours:

White are very thin and useful for joining 2 thin wires (AWG 24 to 20)

Red are bigger and for joining 2 thicker wires (20 AWG to 14 AWG)

Blue I use for joining shielding wires in 2 / 3 / 4 cables

Yellow are too large for most things but occasionally I use them when I have lots of wires bunched together

I would get blue ones for shielding and reds for general purpose wire joining.

Happy soldering !!

Amer
 
Solder sleeve with integral pigtail

Take a look at Steinair. He has the solder sleeves in different sizes for shielded wire with the pigtail already built-in to the the sleeve (also without the pigtail).

They work very well to terminate the shielded wire.

https://www.steinair.com/?search_category=&s=solder+sleeve&search_posttype=product

Also see the solder sleeve video on this page for installation instructions. A lot of great wiring videos/tips on this page.

https://www.steinair.com/documents-and-support/videos/

Andy
 
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My opinion so take with a grain of salt. I view solder sleeves as a waste of money and clunky. Soldering a pigtail to a braided shield wire and covering with a piece of heat shrink is a very simple task.

Carl
 
My opinion so take with a grain of salt. I view solder sleeves as a waste of money and clunky. Soldering a pigtail to a braided shield wire and covering with a piece of heat shrink is a very simple task.

Carl

That is what I did on the 6, but this G3X system wants a LOT of shielded wire (many terminated on both ends) and I thought this would save the hassle of soldering in place in the plane.

Larry
 
Take a look at Steinair. He has the solder sleeves in different sizes for shielded wire with the pigtail already built-in to the the sleeve (also without the pigtail).

They work very well to terminate the shielded wire.

https://www.steinair.com/?search_category=&s=solder+sleeve&search_posttype=product

Also see the solder sleeve video on this page for installation instructions. A lot of great wiring videos/tips on this page.

https://www.steinair.com/documents-and-support/videos/

Andy

Looking at the stein site, each of the different sizes is blue :confused: Do you know the fractional size of the "blue" sleeve that you recommended 2-3 conductor?

The blue TE connectivity one's that I had identified at Digikey were .180" Does that sound right?

Larry
 
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That is what I did on the 6, but this G3X system wants a LOT of shielded wire (many terminated on both ends) and I thought this would save the hassle of soldering in place in the plane.

Larry

When your laying on your back, feet up in the air over your seat backs, under the panel, it is a viable option.
I agree with Carl otherwise, but I have a couple sleeves where putting a heat gun on it was much easier than trying to solder.
 
Steinair’s website lists the recommended wire size the solder sleeves fit in the item description. I just ordered a few today to finish up my wiring on the RV-9A. I just soldered and shrink wrapped my shield grounds on the RV-10 and although it did the job just fine, when I started the 9A I decided to try the solder sleeves. The results are much more professional looking and the sleeves have a built in ring of hot melt glue to help secure the shrunk sleeve and pigtail wire. Yeah it builds the cost of your avionics wiring,,,,,maybe even by $60 or so, but when your spending around $30K plus for your avionics and wiring, that’s a small amount for the simplicity and professional results you get! It’s much faster also.
 
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Pigtail

To each their own. I love solder sleeves on shielded cables.....
Me too. About the pigtails on some solder sleeve, on the ones I bought, the pigtail is just a bit of wire that's been melted into the solder ring, so making your own is exactly equivalent. I assume it's this way for other brands, so basically, it's a very minor convenience. You can use your own bit of wire in there as a pigtail and it's exactly the same.

hero-product-master.jpg
 
To each their own. I love solder sleeves on shielded cables.....

PLUS 1

Until last year, I had agreed with Carl. But then I tried the sleeves. Fantastic. High confidence in a solid joint, fast, easy, no muss, no fuss. I'm a convert.
 
Me too. About the pigtails on some solder sleeve, on the ones I bought, the pigtail is just a bit of wire that's been melted into the solder ring, so making your own is exactly equivalent. I assume it's this way for other brands, so basically, it's a very minor convenience. You can use your own bit of wire in there as a pigtail and it's exactly the same.

.....

I agree, but the problem I had was holding everything in place and using the heat gun at the same time - simply not enough hands. :)

I found this type of tool pretty much essential -

5203325.jpg
 
extra hands

I agree, but the problem I had was holding everything in place and using the heat gun at the same time - simply not enough hands. :)

I found this type of tool pretty much essential -

5203325.jpg
Yes, these extra hands are very helpful. I got one with a magnifying glass but it fell out. Still useful.

img_4526-e1539852225269-1024x1024.jpg
 
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