Why you should never use liquid tape

[CMCOFFEY]

So I finished redoing all of the electrical work on my first gen. Took some before and after pictures. Before the pictures I would like to teach a little about electrical work.

1. When using zip ties, do not pull them too tight, and do not kink or bend the wires

2. If you use solider, file down the sharp edges if there are any. They will cut through and contact other wires.

3. Try to make everything water proof.

4. Lastly don't use liquid tape on anything.

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j169/coffeyR6/Mobile%20Uploads/E60E3816-8B6A-48DB-9967-A88EE40E56C3_1.jpg

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j169/coffeyR6/Mobile%20Uploads/9793811D-CAA1-44DA-9042-7FD91956EE0B_2.jpg

 

This is after the fix. I was lazy and used butt connectors and electrical tape. I can guarantee nothing will short out in here.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j169/coffeyR6/Mobile%20Uploads/AB37FFEA-D077-4C81-92C5-694FAC261B4B.jpg

I took her out for a ride today and got back and still had a tail light.

[cowpuc]

Looks like ya got her under control - GOOD ON YA COFF!! Congrats on the outcome - looks like it coulda been worse!!

Speaking electrically,, when you have some time you might wanna check with,,, dog gone it - forgot his name,, the guy you got it from and ask if he knows whether or not the Stator has been updated... There was an update with an oil splash plate and crank end bolt with an oil hole offered that you will want if yours doesnt have one..

Also, take a peek under the left side cover (plastic body), locate the three wire terminal with the stator leads (all white wires), remove that terminal and hard wire it.. That little sucker has caused many many 1st Gen charging issues!!

 

Like you dont have anything else to do:rotf:

 

Thanks for the pics!

Puc

[syscrusher]

My Trail Tech Vapor came with a few connectors wired up with very light fragile wire. The connectors had very small pins, too small to take the spindly wires out of the connector and bolster them with shrink tubing. The Liquid Tape came in real handy for making tiny little wires into more substantial ones, down to the point where shrink tubing had been added to the assembly. Never say never.

[ACE50]

There are times where liquid tape works perfect.

+1 on never say never!

[djh3]

Yea I was going to say something like that. There are times when thats all that may work, and there is a place and time for certain things. I hate with a passion scotch locks. But sometimes thats what you have to use to get up and going and come back and fix it by soldering or at least a posi tap.

[dacheedah]

soldered connections followed by liquid tape topped off with dielectric grease and heat shrink

[videoarizona]

I always use liquid tape on my crimped connections on the boat...and on the bikes. Solder doesn't handle vibrations well. Covered with heat shrink or electrical tape. Prefer heat shrink to seal the connection.

 

You know..I think it really depends upon the connection type, load and area of connection that determines the degree of vibration and corrosion.

[djh3]

You are correct on the wire tie thing though. If you can keep from bending them over to tie up, try to loop back and forth but put the tie in the middle more not on the ends to flatten them out.

[Dragonslayer]

I would almost always use anything, including liquid tape than electrical tape. I only use electrical tape in an emergency. the next time you need to go into those wires you will find a gooey, sticky mess under that tape.

[PGunn]

I use crimp and heat shrink only but I use the marine heat shrink and a crimping tool that punches a square into the lug squeezing it down tight and have not had one come loose yet. The heat shrink has an heat activated epoxy in it seals around the wire and everything else. Now I did find a problem with the marine heat shrink, when you doing splicing (wire end to wire end) it works great and never had an issue but when it comes to the lugs here is where your better off using non-marine type. I did some work on mine (installed the relay on the ignition switch) and what happened was when I heated it up to shrink it the epoxy did flow out and filled the nooks and crannies. Well that caused the connection to lose some of its contact which caused it to heat up (lessened contact surface will result in resistance to go up causing heat) releasing and softening the epoxy to flow more and it just got worse. Now this whole issue took a year+ to happen but it resulted in the bike not being able to be turned off and I had to disconnect the battery.

So in the process of fixing the mess I created by trying to keep things dry I ended up losing 2 - 3 inches of wire to remove the burned insulation on the wire. When I spliced in the replacement wires I covered the spade connectors with the non-epoxy heat shrink then covered them with the epoxy type to seal it up.

Now with liquid tape I have used it to rubberise steel parts that would have rusted otherwise and to keep the covering from chip away over time. One example was the oil pressure sending unit I installed I covered it in liquid tape (3 coats) and it is still nice and black and no rust.