Chevrolet Clearance Lights Out

[peteco]

I finally finished the repair. The splice that was causing the problem was behind the kitchen wall panel. There is a Chevy wire bundle and a Roadtrek wire bundle. Then there was a separate wire pair that goes upwards to the clearance lights. These are the red and green wires. The green wire is the ground and red is power. There must be another splice higher up for the two wires going to the front and back clearance light sets.

The Chevy parking lamp power source wire is a small 20-gage wire. Roadtrek used a clip connector to connect to the Roadtrek clearance light wire, which is 18-gage. The clip connector looked like it barely touched the 20-gage source wire. The connector is labeled 18-14-gage. So Roadtrek used the wrong connector. I would think these would frequently fail to make contact but I haven’t seen anyone else comment on clearance light problems.

I found a screw-on connector called a Posi-tap. They get very good reviews. It is well made and engineered and much better than the clip-on type. I usually like to solder splice wires but the 20-gage is too small to comfortably remove the insulation and solder. The Posi-tap is first class and the way to go.

Pulling the wall panel to get to the wires was tedious, but I was glad to not have to pull the cabinet, which I was thinking I might have to do.

https://www.crutchfield.com/p_669PP6...onnectors.html

[booster]

You need one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-1...wire+strippers

and one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-CSP-30-...wire+strippers

and if you don't have a temp controlled soldering iron, these are really nice.

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX601-0...soldering+iron

Personally, I will always solder splices if at all possible as I have seen too many connectors and crimps fail.

[peteco]

Originally Posted by booster

You need one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Klein-Tools-1...wire+strippers

and one of these

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-CSP-30-...wire+strippers

and if you don't have a temp controlled soldering iron, these are really nice.

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-FX601-0...soldering+iron

Personally, I will always solder splices if at all possible as I have seen too many connectors and crimps fail.

I have the tools you mention, except my small iron is not temperature controlled. I would be concerned about damaging some wire strands in that 20 gage wire, which only has 7 strands I think. I haven't worked with wires that small before, so maybe it's OK but I didn't feel comfortable trying it.
Check out the Posi-taps, especially for the 20 gage wire. I forgot to mention that the small Posi-tap taps onto a 20-22 gage wire, but will accept an 18-gage spliced in wire.

[Bruceper]

It's pretty difficult to damage copper wire with a soldering iron, you would melt the insulation off the wire first. I do agree that an adjustable temp soldering station is a good idea however.

Glad you found and fixed the issue.

[booster]

Originally Posted by Bruceper

It's pretty difficult to damage copper wire with a soldering iron, you would melt the insulation off the wire first. I do agree that an adjustable temp soldering station is a good idea however.

Glad you found and fixed the issue.

I think that he was referring to the stripping, which can happen if you mess up. The two styles of strippers are by far the best at not clipping strands, IMO, especially the small wire ones. The good ones are rated for solid or stranded, with the pull holes appropriately marked as they require different sizes for the same gauge. I have done lots of 24/26 ga with mine, and short of one of the industrial automated strippers, it is the way to go.

After my old Weller temp controlled iron died and the new one tripped every ground fault, I went through a bunch of regular irons, and crap temp controlled ones, until I found the Hakko. One hint from my first boss many, many, years ago on temp controlled irons. He always said that the temp controls were not completely repeatable between irons, and all solder varies a bit between manufacturers (worse no with lead free). To set the temp, all you need to is start low and keep turning it up until it stays tinned, and the solder stays bright silver to slightly discolored on the tinning. It will be hot enough to solder as the temp will hold on a good iron, and you also will not have to wipe it with a sponge or rag all the time. The Hakko can sit 15 minutes or more, and you can just pick it up again a use it without wiping and retinning, which is really nice when you are standing on your head inside the van or other place. Of course temp control is vital on circuit boards.