02-07-2019, 09:50 AM
a little late to the show but i often mention going to a junk yard and buying a vehicle computer / engine bay harness will suffice for all the wire colors you need and sometimes the tracers on these are dots or dashes and sometimes the tracers are solid lines.
in all cases, automotive harness wiring will exceed all requirements when used on a radio especially when we speak to insulation ratings and abilities to mitigate affects of oils, temperature, water and UV..
sometimes if you are really in the know ,, you will run across "special wires" like resistance wires which act as shunts for ammeters (not the fuse link wiring), or braided tinned copper and various shielded wires. Fuse link wiring is a really great match to a lot of radio wires where they are solid rubber coated but rarely come in colors other than blue, black, green or yellow.,,and they are typically only a certain length. These are actually similar to resistance wires ,, and can be useful if they match what your doing.
the shielded wires i have found would make great replacements for those we see in volume controls i run across where the external shield is soldered to chassis.
in most all instances as well, automotive wiring will be "flex" type.
for the radio purist, this is not an option.
for the person who wants to make the radio future proof and match well enough with the idea that the radio is being upgraded , it may be a choice.
to store wire from an auto harness,, i have consolidated it by simple means.
use a small bucket with lid or kitty litter container with lid.
punch in holes into the lid with a 1/8'' drill bit or just a small punch/lether awl
bundle the whole harness and drop it into your bucket in a coil fashion.
feed each wire up into the bottom side of the lid and pig tail it on the top side
you should have enough holes for all your wires plus room for growth.
put the lid on.
when you need wire, you pull it up and cut off what you need.
when i ran into instances where i had duplicate colors, i would simply solder them together / heatshrink and make it one longer wire. doing a western union splice is best for this task as it keeps the overall diameter of the wire nearly the same without a huge bump showing.
i have done up several of these as christmas gits over the past few years..... for those DIY types on my gift list. its usually under 20$ and a gift that really shows its usefulness over time.
here is an example of a small harness i had lying around which seemed to coil up and fit will into a coffee can.
my wire container is an old 2gal round container that i dont really like so i will someday use a kitty litter container
the reason i say kitty litter container is that it can lie on its side on a shelf, lid facing out,, stows away in a very small footprint on the shelf,,, which is far superior to individual wire rolls / reels which take up lots of space.
in all cases, automotive harness wiring will exceed all requirements when used on a radio especially when we speak to insulation ratings and abilities to mitigate affects of oils, temperature, water and UV..
sometimes if you are really in the know ,, you will run across "special wires" like resistance wires which act as shunts for ammeters (not the fuse link wiring), or braided tinned copper and various shielded wires. Fuse link wiring is a really great match to a lot of radio wires where they are solid rubber coated but rarely come in colors other than blue, black, green or yellow.,,and they are typically only a certain length. These are actually similar to resistance wires ,, and can be useful if they match what your doing.
the shielded wires i have found would make great replacements for those we see in volume controls i run across where the external shield is soldered to chassis.
in most all instances as well, automotive wiring will be "flex" type.
for the radio purist, this is not an option.
for the person who wants to make the radio future proof and match well enough with the idea that the radio is being upgraded , it may be a choice.
to store wire from an auto harness,, i have consolidated it by simple means.
use a small bucket with lid or kitty litter container with lid.
punch in holes into the lid with a 1/8'' drill bit or just a small punch/lether awl
bundle the whole harness and drop it into your bucket in a coil fashion.
feed each wire up into the bottom side of the lid and pig tail it on the top side
you should have enough holes for all your wires plus room for growth.
put the lid on.
when you need wire, you pull it up and cut off what you need.
when i ran into instances where i had duplicate colors, i would simply solder them together / heatshrink and make it one longer wire. doing a western union splice is best for this task as it keeps the overall diameter of the wire nearly the same without a huge bump showing.
i have done up several of these as christmas gits over the past few years..... for those DIY types on my gift list. its usually under 20$ and a gift that really shows its usefulness over time.
here is an example of a small harness i had lying around which seemed to coil up and fit will into a coffee can.
my wire container is an old 2gal round container that i dont really like so i will someday use a kitty litter container
the reason i say kitty litter container is that it can lie on its side on a shelf, lid facing out,, stows away in a very small footprint on the shelf,,, which is far superior to individual wire rolls / reels which take up lots of space.
