How to Make a Butt Electrical Connection

The standard way to repair a broken wire is to twist the broken wire ends together and secure the connection with a wire nut and black tape. Although this type of repair is reliable, it is bulky and takes up extra room. A clean and reliable way to connect two broken wires is to form a butt splice connection with the two wire ends. You do this by splicing the two wires together with solder and covering the splice with heat-shrink tubing. Repair your broken wires in this manner and you will have a strong and lasting repair.

Instructions

1




Solder the broken wires together for a permanent fix.

Cut a piece of heat-shrink tubing 2 inches long and slide it over one piece of wire.

2

Strip 1 inch of insulation from each wire. Twist the copper strands of each wire in a clockwise direction. Place the wires across each other to form an "X". Wrap the right-hand wire around the left-hand wire. Tightly twist the wire towards the left-hand wire's insulation. Wrap the left-hand wire around the right-hand wire. Tightly twist the wire towards the right-hand wire's insulation.

3

Turn the soldering iron on and allow it to come to temperature. Clean the tip of the soldering iron by rubbing the tip of the iron on a damp sponge. Momentarily touch the solder to the soldering iron tip.

4

Place the soldering iron tip on the wire splice for 3 to 5 seconds. Leave the soldering iron on the copper as you push the solder into the copper strands. Remove the soldering iron and the solder once the solder completely wicks into the copper strands. Allow the solder joint to cool naturally.

5

Slide the heat-shrink tubing over the wire splice. Turn the hot air gun on and wave it over the heat-shrink tubing. The tubing will shrink around the wire splice and the adhesive will begin to flow out of the tubing. Remove the hot air gun. Allow the heat-shrink tubing to cool naturally.