Looking for for budget tools and supply's to wire dynamo light set ups.

Bark-eater

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Feb 12, 2018
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I think this is my first post here, so Hello!
As is my habit I have a number of projects moving slowly ahead at the same time. Right now I am working on wiring 3 bikes for dynamo lighting. Its a mixture of B+M and SON lights and a 1 SON dynamo, 1 Shimano dynamo and a B+M bottle generator. I also have a couple bottom bracket generators that will find homes eventually. So that's enough work to warrant purchasing a couple tools. The B+M lights all use a 2.8mm open "K" crimp.

Looking at whats available on Amazon its not clear which ratcheting crimpers will work with these connectors and 22 AWG wire. I think the standard B+M wire is actual a smaller gauge, but I'm not clear on all the terminology and designations. I was hoping to get a recommendation for a decent hobby grade tool that will work. I will also need a decent set of wire strippers. The hardware store set I have do not work on small wires, as I discovered battling with a broken thermostat wire one frozen morning. A soldering iron is also on the list. I haven't seen the one I had when I built a heath kit alarm clock back in the day.

Should I just go to ace hardware and Grab a Weller soldering pen? It there anything else I need? I have a multi meter to check continuity, and a mini torch for heat shrink. I spent some time looking for alternative wires and cables, rather than purchasing OEM stuff at $1 a foot, but I haven't found much on line that I'm sure enough to buy a roll of and any savings would get wiped out by buying a roll of something off spec. Its the same puzzle with buying Chinese connectors off of ebay and amazon. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I would appreciate hearing any recommendations.

Thanks, Woody
 
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scout24

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Hello and welcome! I deleted your duplicate post after seeing this one had been approved. Sometimes it takes a couple of hours. Your next two will also require manual vetting, but we'll get them posted as quick as we can. Thanks for your understanding, and Welcome to CPF! :grin2:
 

Alaric Darconville

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I think this is my first post here, so Hello!
:welcome:

I fixed a lot of formatting-- I saw a few   (non-breaking space) and <br><br> (breaks) in the text. You might want to compose in Notepad or something, or if you're copy/pasting from another forum post, it might carry some odd formatting with it, so you might want to clean it up before submitting the post.

A soldering station with heat control is nice to have, and you can spend a lot of money on them. Mine's a cheap RadioShack one that I got at 60% off when the local store was closing. A pair of "helping hands" with the magnifier and alligator clips is also good to have.
 

jdp298

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Mar 22, 2011
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With your sister, somewhere you wouldn't like
I'm of the opinion that provided the elctrons get round and you don't have to be repairing it every week, job's done. My aesthetic probably would outrage the public decency if they took the time to inspect my work, but it's never come apart in years and thousands of miles.

Solder the ends of the wires together. For this you need no more than a $5 soldering iron and electrical solder dispenser. Wire? Anything multi-strand preferred as solid core only has a certain number of flexions in it before it breaks. Once soldered (flying joint the correct term), don't admit to it and avoid telling the internet you did it. After that, 3 short pieces of electrical tape, 1 round each joint, and then one to bind both together. Finish with 3 small zip-ties nice and tight. Doesn't take too long either.

Cue 'proper' and more expensive ways to do the same thing. :poke:
 

Alaric Darconville

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It just occurred to me that rather than soldering, there are mechanical connectors that work quite well, much better than the "fold-and-crimp" connectors and the various other crimp connectors. We recommend them frequently in the Automotive forum, since they are extremely reliable and are reusable. These are the Posi-Products connectors in various sizes and types, and they're sold there directly or on Amazon, like this bulk pack of 20. Yes, they're a little more expensive than the crimp-style connectors but they are seriously worth it.
 

-Virgil-

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Mar 26, 2004
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Good rundown of crimp versus solder here and here (tldr: crimping is better).

But as usual, the devil is in the details. The cheesy $6.99 crimper-stripper you can buy at the auto parts store is not going to produce very durable/dependable crimps. You don't have to spend hundreds of dollars, but get something decent like this (or comparable for whatever gauge size of wire you're working with).
 
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