Best Wiring Connectors...Ever!

[giganto 1]

I've been doing some research on wiring products since the wiring harness in my '95 Mystique started acting up.  I had already known soldering is not a good long-term solution in a hot engine compartment, and vampire connectors with their cutting fangs continue cutting in a vibrating environment.  I have had good results with 3M Scotch double-crimp connectors, but it can be hard to get the "good" crimper in some tight places, plus you've only got one shot at getting it right.

 

I stumbled upon Posi-Locks and Posi-Taps from Posi-Products.  The Posi-Locks are cylinders with threaded connectors on each end.  The cylinders have pointed metal cones pointing at each end.  Insert the stripped wire through the connectors so that some will be pressed on the cones and pinched in place by tightening the threads which are designed not to loosen by themselves.  The Posi-Taps have a Posi-Lock on one end, and the other has the cone modified into a sharp pin.  The threaded connector on this end has a slot cut through the threads so the wire is perpendicular to the connector.  As the connector is tightened, the pin penetrates the wire to be "tapped" like a probe from a multi-meter.  The best part is that all of these connections are both permanent and reversible!  Just put a dab of liquid electrical tape on the hole the tap made.

 

One reason I hadn't done the lighted moon roof switch mod was that it looked like the lighted switch would be on in the daytime too, so I wanted to tap into a lighting circuit from the headlight switch.  I pulled the A-pillar cover and ran a green wire from the moon roof switch to the lamp "hot" wire on the headlight switch stem where I installed a Posi-Tap.

Under the moon roof cover, I used a Posi-Lock to connect the green wire to the switch light's "hot" side.  I also used another Posi-Lock to connect the switch light's ground side to add some wire to reach the ground wire of the interior light fixture which I tapped with another Posi-Tap.

Because of our car's reverse-polarity interior lighting arrangements, it took a couple of tries to find the right wire to ground to.  With the Posi-Taps, this was not a problem.  I didn't spill any liquid electrical tape or melt anything with blobs of solder.

 

I tackled another problem on the same day.  I have been adding LED lighting to keep from baking the light fixtures and burning myself while I'm working around these lights.  I had tried out a LED bulb in the rear seat's light fixture, but the reverse-polarity lighting arrangement made it not work.  I eventually switched to a more expensive LED light that could accommodate the reverse polarity, but I built and tested a rig to reverse the polarity.

I reversed the wires' polarity and used a relay to switch off the "ground" when the 12s timer counts down.  Note that I used the larger yellow Posi-Lock to connect multiple wires together.  Since I don't need this setup anymore, I can put the Posi-Locks back in the box.  The only down side to this product is the price.  They come in small packs, but they are all over $1 each.  Since I have so much wiring to do, I just bit the bullet and bought the 100 pc assortment of Posi-Locks and 79 pc Posi-Tap assortments for $79.99 each.  Ouch, but shipping was free over $50.

 

[900Contour 1]

Reverse polarity? Dome and courtesy lighting is swiched on the ground side. It's still light bulbs with a positive and ground input. A standard bulb doesn't matter which side is + or -. But LEDs being an electronic circuit themselves, are + - specific and will fry the circuit if backwards.

 

In automotive you can't trust wire colors to determine positive and ground, have to test with a multi meter.

 

So are you saying LED interior lights can't be ground side switched?

[giganto 1]

So are you saying LED interior lights can't be ground side switched?

Some of the more expensive ones don't seem to care.  I presume they have a diode and other circuitry to prevent current from going the wrong way and frying the light emitting diode.  As I wrote, I designed and threw together a rig to simulate what the more expensive LED did out of the box.