Current Category Soldering

Soldering EL wires is not rocket science but it is very fiddly.  By the time you have mastered it you may have purchase a number of strippers and stripped back much of your EL cable in repeated attempts.  However, once you crack it you will be able to:

• Negotiate cheaper prices on the wires (as the price includes a labour component)
• Have the freedom to form your designs as you go along without doing extensive planning and preparation.
• Be able to add or modify your original designs at a later date.

If you are going ahead with soldering, don't forget to email us to place your order as you will need to purchase some connectors.

If the diagrams on this page do not load properly for some reason, please email mandy@elec2go.com.au

SOLDERING INSTRUCTIONS

These pages contain soldering instructions for adding a connector wire and for joining different segments of EL wire.  We hope you find this helpful, if you have any great tips, let us know as your comments are always welcome.

El wire consists of a center wire coated with powdery white phosphor, flanked by two or a single fine radial wire (outer conductor wires) all surrounded by an external vinyl coating and in the case of 5mm EL there is a second coating.

To solder a connector or lead wire onto your El wire:

 1. Using wire strippers, remove about a half-inch of the vinyl coating off the end of your piece of El Wire.  Take care not to accidentally remove the outer conductor wires.

2. Find the outer conductor wires (they are very thin and silver) and pull them back towards the vinyl coating.

3. Place a large shrink tube over the wire and push it to one side as you will use this later.

4.  Scrape the phosphor off of the centre wire, exposing the metal.  For this you can use wire strippers, or a craft knife. 

5. Take the lead wire or connector wire and strip to expose around a quarter inch.  Tin both ends of the pigtail with a little solder.  (By “tin” we mean, apply the wire to the soldering iron, and apply the solder until the solder liquefies and lightly coats the wire.)

6. Select the (+) tail of the lead wire and slip a narrow segment of heat shrink over it and slide it down out of the way.   If your EL connector lead is un-marked, hold your black-lock connector smooth side down and select the left tail for (+).

7.  Solder the (+) tail of the lead wire to the Inner conductor wire of your EL cable. 

8.  Slide the narrow heat shrink over your join and heat to insulate.

9. Solder the other lead wire or connector wires to the fine hair like wires of your EL cable.

10. At this point, double check your insulation to ensure there are no exposed areas and check your connection by powering up your EL.  It is a good idea to give it a bit of a wiggle to ensure a firm connection.   If all is OK, slide the wide shrink tube over the whole join and heat to shrink.

11.  Seal the end of your EL wire with an end cap or a segment of shrink tube.

Finished

This is a basic method.  There are many variations used by different EL enthusiasts but important points to remember are:

• Strip slowly or you will find yourself chipping away looking for the outer conductor wires
• Go easy on the solder so it does not get bulky
• Check your connection for exposure and a firm hold before the final seal.
• You can also try using sticky copper tape.  After step 8, wind a small amount of copper tape over the top of the shrink tube but leave a flap unstuck then, lay your hair wires across it and wrap it in the remaining flap of copper.  Weld your lead wire to the copper then seal the whole thing.  This technique makes for a strong weld but all steps must be done swiftly and accurately to avoid melting the heat shrink and exposing your first weld.  Use minimal amounts of solder to keep the join tidy looking.

To connect segments of EL wire.

1. Strip outer and inner conductor wires.

2. Slide a piece of 1/8’’ shrink tubing over the inner conductor of the right EL wire

3.  Solder the inner conductor wire and slide the shrink tube over it and heat to shrink.

4. 5.  Heat shrink the entire connection (left)

    

   
   Solder the outer conductor wires.(above)

Job finished!

Note:  Connecting segments of EL wire can create some resistance thereby reducing the power and light output as it continues along the wire.  For optimum light output, we advise that you consider keeping these connections to a minimum. 

Sub Categories
Soldering and Rework stations
Accessories and spares
Instructions

Shopping cart software
and credit card processing provided by ezimerchant

Payment Methods Direct bank deposit Australian Cheque (please allow clearance time) Australia Post Money Order (please no international money order) Credit card via Paypal or Paymate