Tapping into existing wiring

[kartaphilos]

Hi,

I want to tap into some signals from my engines ECU and want to find out the best way to tap into the wires.

1. How do I physically connect to the wires. I assume a scotch-lock would be poor. I've heard of posi-lock taps are they ok? Is cutting and crimping some bullet connectors the way to go?

2. Do I need to shield the wires?

3. Will the DL1 affect the signal on the wire? How can I stop/minimise this?

4. Anyone have tips on hooking up to ECU & sensors on a Honda S2000?

Cheers,
Matt

[nigelayres]

Hi,

I want to tap into some signals from my engines ECU and want to find out the best way to tap into the wires.

1. How do I physically connect to the wires. I assume a scotch-lock would be poor. I've heard of posi-lock taps are they ok? Is cutting and crimping some bullet connectors the way to go?

2. Do I need to shield the wires?

3. Will the DL1 affect the signal on the wire? How can I stop/minimise this?

4. Anyone have tips on hooking up to ECU & sensors on a Honda S2000?

Cheers,
Matt

I was going to ask this very same question. I'd be very interested to hear what others' recommendations are.

Nigel

[DavidRowley]

cut into the wire put heat shrink over the cable prior to soldering in the new cables and always make sure of a good joint.

secondly i was told always use teh same cable type and colour this saves time when your looking for faults as people dont question why theres 6 red wires connected to the loom in odd places .. (wink)

anyways i think most people solder there looms rather than scotch (commonly know as Botch locks.) if it helps.

the Honda s2000 engine wiring diagram shows the ECU connection but only in Schematics not cable colours or numbers that i could find dont know if Hayes do a manuel thats more comprehensive

[nigelayres]

cut into the wire put heat shrink over the cable prior to soldering in the new cables and always make sure of a good joint.

secondly i was told always use teh same cable type and colour this saves time when your looking for faults as people dont question why theres 6 red wires connected to the loom in odd places .. (wink)

anyways i think most people solder there looms rather than scotch (commonly know as Botch locks.) if it helps.

the Honda s2000 engine wiring diagram shows the ECU connection but only in Schematics not cable colours or numbers that i could find dont know if Hayes do a manuel thats more comprehensive

Mmmmm, I'm not sure that I'd like soldering. It's a bit permanent. A nice beesting-type tap would be much friendlier - and removable!
Moreover, to get heatshrink over a cable assumes that you can get to both ends cleanly to slide it over. That's seldom going to be possible, is it?

Soldering's also not very good with vibration, IME.

I'm more than happy to be disproved of all of these points, however.


Nigel

[DavidRowley]

to get heatshrink over a cable assumes that you can get to both ends cleanly to slide it over

Lol your going to CUT it you have acces to both ends.

anyways you didnt say you didnt want the instaltion Perminent

Perminent is Propper use Botch locks then and make it look really rough

was only my opinion

Ps ive never seen a soldered conection Vibrate loose when you solder two cables together. soldering to a fixed PCB with a wire you always make a loop at the cable so the joint is never under stress but there we go thats the wisdom of a clean tidy engineered installation thanks.


Dave

[nigelayres]

to get heatshrink over a cable assumes that you can get to both ends cleanly to slide it over

Lol your going to CUT it you have acces to both ends.

anyways you didnt say you didnt want the instaltion Perminent

Perminent is Propper use Botch locks then and make it look really rough

was only my opinion

Ps ive never seen a soldered conection Vibrate loose when you solder two cables together. soldering to a fixed PCB with a wire you always make a loop at the cable so the joint is never under stress but there we go thats the wisdom of a clean tidy engineered installation thanks.


Dave

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply any criticism and you're quite right in that I didn't say that it shouldn't be permanent. I'm not sure either way, but I would have thought than many people might want a removable installation. I think I'd certainly prefer it

I agree entirely that Scotch locks don't look good at all. A nice beesting connector might well be possible, though. This is especially true for monitoring as there's no requirement for high current.

I would like to see a tap which didn't require cutting existing cabling; which looks neat and is resilient. Ideally, if this could be removed without compromising the integrity of the existing cabling, then so much the better. Something with a pin which penetrates the insulation would be ideal, I would say.

Nigel

[markv]

When I want to tap into existing wiring I usually parallel solder. So I strip a bit of the isolation of the existing wire, put tin on that and solder the new wire parallel to it. Isolation with good isolation tape, relatively easy to remove, easy to restore in almost original state and no cut in original wire.

Mark

[jlucas]

When I want to tap into existing wiring I usually parallel solder. So I strip a bit of the isolation of the existing wire, put tin on that and solder the new wire parallel to it. Isolation with good isolation tape, relatively easy to remove, easy to restore in almost original state and no cut in original wire.

Mark

Ditto here.