Facebook PixelWhat is a fast/easy way of joining and waterproofing a 3-conductor electrical cable?
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What is a fast/easy way of joining and waterproofing a 3-conductor electrical cable?

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Darko Savic
Darko Savic Mar 08, 2021
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Can we figure out a way to join a 3-conductor electrical wire cable and waterproof the joint faster, easier, and possibly cheaper than the two examples below?

This video from timestamp 4:16 to 5:08 shows a pretty quick way of joining 2 electrical wires and waterproofing them via heat-shrinking. Here is arguably an even faster way of achieving it.

Often people need to join together a 3-conductor cable (phase, neutral, and ground) as shown in the 2nd video above. Joining and waterproofing 3 wires adds some bulkiness to the cable which is a necessary evil.

Can this be achieved faster, simpler, cheaper, and look less bulky? It would save a lot of time/effort for people who do this on a regular basis.
electrical engineering
2
Creative contributions

The Wire-Nut Connection

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TM
Tony Maniaci Mar 31, 2021
The most common way to connect wires is using wire-nuts. You can use the wire-displacement crimp connections, but that pinch fork/blade style of quick connection is unreliable. I think that a wildly popular product idea needs to assume that people don’t have the skill and tools to properly solder connections and will default to old reliable wire-nut connections.

So, waterproofing a connection with wire-nuts seems like the path to a successful retail product. The idea I would offer is…
  • A clamshell enclosure that you close over the connections (inline or tee junction) that provides space for the wire-nuts to be contained.
  • The seal around the wire exits could be molded with a soft silicone or molding clay.
  • Once the clamshell is closed, a small port would allow injection of a gel substance that is waterproof, flows around everything fully, and cures to a soft or semi-hard encasement.
  • The wire-nuts could be designed to be part of the package, where they have some unique feature that allows them to be retained and positioned inside the case when the clamshell is closed.
  • A variety of sizes would be necessary to accommodate the most common wire sizes and types.
The idea is not totally unique. The concept is to make this a purpose-made kit where it is perfectly suited to the task, and everything you need is supplied.
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A dip-in heat shrinking substance

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Darko Savic
Darko Savic Mar 08, 2021
Solving this would be in the domain of material scientists. It would be amazing if someone could come up with a viscous substance that the wire joint can be dipped into or applied from a tube. Then by heating, the material would shrink and wrap tightly around the wire. Finally, all joints would again be dipped into the substance and heated to make the bulk look nicer and double insulated.

This solution would be worthy of creating a startup company around it. Kickstarter would love it.
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