What is the appropriate way to terminate a wire on old SW dash lights? Did they just wrap and solder or was there some kind of trick terminal they used for these? Anyone know? Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I got no reall idea but Ive rewired a couple of vintage cars.... Id use a soldered on round terminal , attached with a screw and nut, older cars used a slip over rubber insulator over the soldered part of the terminal but I used black heat shrink, it looked ok.
That makes total sense... and makes me feel stupid... I imagine that would look sanitary enough. Thanks!
pfft stupid , there are probably a ton of ways to do it............thats just one (translation, if needed, for those "over there" no such thing as stupid)
That's the best (and easiest) way to do it. I'd suggest non-insulated crimp on terminals and shrink tube though, soldering is a pain. A properly done crimp is stronger and a better connection.
So, I couldn't find any #2 hardware locally and I'm too impatient to wait for snail mail... So I soldered... And cleaned it up with some shrink tubing. I think it looks good enough.
Yep, that's how we did them on old wireless equipment-wrap and solder. We didn't have shrink tube in those days, so it was just left bare.
I need schooling on these lights because I have never seen them before. Were they intended to be indicator lights or to illuminate gauges? It looks like rotating the bezel turns them on. Thanks.
They are pilot lights... the bezel is just there so you can remove the lens. It's not a switched light... Here's some **** to get ya straight:
The thing with soldering is that the joint can be brittle and it won't have any flex with the vibrations of your car and could break. Maybe not a problem, but one reason solderless terminals are now popular (along, of course, with the fact that soldering is a talent and requires some skill and patience).
I think you did it correctly since technically those are soldering eyelets. Think how bulky your finished product would look like with two round terminals and two screws and nuts added. Vibration is going to break the filament in the bulb long before your soldering joint fails. As an extra tip you can tin the eyelet first with good quality eutectic solder, wrap and then solder. This will help give you a nice shiny uncrystallized joint that is not prone to failure. If you want to go the extra mile you can even clean off the corrosive flux with solvent and Q-tip and then seal with clear nail polish.
I like the look of jeweled indicator lights. Old school. Years past they probably were left bare, as long as nothing banging around touching them . Ago
You did it the best way possible - the way we do aircraft connections. Any added weight such as a crimp on or screw adds leverage to the vibration making the failure of the terminal itself a greater risk. The heat shrink not only provides safety from shorts and corrosion but also performs a vibration dampening effect upon the attached wiring lessening the possibility of terminal breakage. I fly behind a lot of these connections. BTW that's about the COOLEST DASH I could imagine. Chuck
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