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Fuse taps, wire locks and crimp type joiners, fall into the category of fire starters. The wire locks and crimp joiners are purely mechanical and will fail over time. Twisting then solder and heat shrink is the proper way to splice cables. The issue with fuse taps especially is that the orientation is important, which you cover, but don't explain the consequence of not orienting properly - smoke and fire. Also being mechanically retained, they will work loose and you also run the risk of back-feeding +ve volts into other circuits, which a fuse won't protect, and the consequences will range from a a flat battery, to intermittent fault codes, to damaging those other circuits. Then you have the test light - only ever use these for very basic voltage checking - probe the wrong circuit accidently or use it incorrectly, you can destroy electronics and even deploy airbags and seat belt tensioners - dangerous. A digital multi-meter is a better option for this and can be had for not a lot more money. Suffice to say, and not mentioned here, is that probing around an EV with a cheap 12v test light, where 400v+ is present and the batteries can supply 1,500 amps of instantaneous current (250amp is required to weld metal). Potential for serious injury here.
Thanks for sharing your input. Are you a professional installer? For the fuse tap section, I did mention that the fuses won't protect the circuit properly as designed if the fuse taps are oriented incorrectly. I am not so convinced that if oriented improperly, there would by default be smoke and fire, just like that. When used incorrectly, the power draw from both circuits would go through the first/bottom fuse. If the current exceeds the rating of the fuse, it should blow as designed to prevent a fire. It is just that you are more likely to blow the first/bottom fuse in such a scenario because you are likely getting closer to the rating of the fuse with both circuits pulling from it. For the test light, I only use it to probe the fuses and the fuse slot terminals. I am not using it to probe around at anything else and would not recommend doing that. I could see how probing around randomly elsewhere could cause problems as you mentioned, but I do have a question for you. If a test light could destroy electronics and potentially deploy airbags, why wouldn't a multimeter be capable of causing this too when probing around the wrong circuits? In my video, I am only working on a typical 12V ICE (Internal combustion engine) vehicle and am not saying this will work for EV vehicles. I haven't worked on an EV vehicle so I cannot say anything on that front.
Great video!
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Amazing !!
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Fuse taps, wire locks and crimp type joiners, fall into the category of fire starters.
The wire locks and crimp joiners are purely mechanical and will fail over time. Twisting then solder and heat shrink is the proper way to splice cables.
The issue with fuse taps especially is that the orientation is important, which you cover, but don't explain the consequence of not orienting properly - smoke and fire. Also being mechanically retained, they will work loose and you also run the risk of back-feeding +ve volts into other circuits, which a fuse won't protect, and the consequences will range from a a flat battery, to intermittent fault codes, to damaging those other circuits.
Then you have the test light - only ever use these for very basic voltage checking - probe the wrong circuit accidently or use it incorrectly, you can destroy electronics and even deploy airbags and seat belt tensioners - dangerous. A digital multi-meter is a better option for this and can be had for not a lot more money.
Suffice to say, and not mentioned here, is that probing around an EV with a cheap 12v test light, where 400v+ is present and the batteries can supply 1,500 amps of instantaneous current (250amp is required to weld metal). Potential for serious injury here.
Most splice connections in cars are crimped rather than soldered by OEM. Crimps are fine provided the right type are used, as in this video.
Thanks for sharing your input. Are you a professional installer?
For the fuse tap section, I did mention that the fuses won't protect the circuit properly as designed if the fuse taps are oriented incorrectly.
I am not so convinced that if oriented improperly, there would by default be smoke and fire, just like that. When used incorrectly, the power draw from both circuits would go through the first/bottom fuse. If the current exceeds the rating of the fuse, it should blow as designed to prevent a fire. It is just that you are more likely to blow the first/bottom fuse in such a scenario because you are likely getting closer to the rating of the fuse with both circuits pulling from it.
For the test light, I only use it to probe the fuses and the fuse slot terminals. I am not using it to probe around at anything else and would not recommend doing that. I could see how probing around randomly elsewhere could cause problems as you mentioned, but I do have a question for you. If a test light could destroy electronics and potentially deploy airbags, why wouldn't a multimeter be capable of causing this too when probing around the wrong circuits?
In my video, I am only working on a typical 12V ICE (Internal combustion engine) vehicle and am not saying this will work for EV vehicles. I haven't worked on an EV vehicle so I cannot say anything on that front.