Question on extending fishhouse light wires

[hoggs222]

How are you extending the wires on these? I just bought a 96 LED waterproof strip to attach to the poles and was thinking of putting the thin wire in some vacuum tube or fuel line to keep it from bending, etc.

How are you extending the wire though? Solder, connectors, etc.

[DTro]

I spliced, soldered, then shrink wrapped to a larger gauge wire. I then stuffed all the thin wire and connections inside the same clear tubing I put the lights in and then sealed the tube up with elec tape.

[fishermatt]

The easiest is to use a Butt connector for splicing the wires. You need a certain kind of pliers to crimp them, but they would work. You could always use electrical tape or heat shrink to cover the connectors.

[marine_man]

I soldered mine to extend them, then put shrink tube over the top of the soldered connection and have not had issues in the last two years with them.

When I decide how much wire to add I add an additional 6" so I can make a s curve with the wire to strain relieve the connection - then put a zip tie over the s curve. If the wires get pulled it will pull on the loop of heavier gauge wire first instead of the connection.

If you use a butt to butt connector I would probably strip a fair amount of wire off the provided wire from the light and double the wire over once or twice to get a good crimp that won't pull out.

marine_man

[marine_man]

I finally got a picture of the S Curve that I put in the wires when I attach them to the poles on my house:

marine_man