[TowerTalk] PL259 Cobbectors Part 2 - Murray W9EHQ

[Bob K6UJ]

Kevin,

Good points !   Your system looks great.

I was doing very similar for years.
I have added a final step for sealing the connection I would like to share.
Here in Napa Valley there are many wineries and many water wells.  I was 
working on a project
for a winery which hired a well drilling and installation company to put 
in a new water well for irrigating
one of their vineyards.  I was very interested in how they sealed the 
electrical connections that were
down in the well under water.  They were making up a cable splice that 
day and I learned their process.
Their first step with Scotch 88 is not much different than what many of 
us do on our RF connection weather proofing.
First they stretch wrap with Scotch 88 electrical tape, then they 
stretch wrap with Scotch 130 rubber self bonding splicing
tape,  then one final stretch wrap with Scotch 88,  then finally they 
brush on two coats of ScotchKote 14853 electrical coating. After drying 
it is ready to go under water.
Granted this may be an overkill for our weather proofing needs,  but I 
am anal about weather proofing outside RF connections and have been 
using this process myself, with 100% success. The ScotchKote is amazing 
stuff.

The downsides:
* It is hard to split and cut open the weather proof coating later on. 
It can be done but not as easily as one coated with  liquid electrical tape.
* ScotchKote is not cheap.  I only use it for this purpose so one can 
lasts me quite a while, but it is about $30.00
for one 15 oz can.

Bob
K6UJ


On 5/14/16 12:40 PM, Kevin Stover wrote:
> I'm trying to understand why a soldered connector, assuming both types 
> are weatherproofed properly, is superior for corrosion protection. 
> Seems to me Sn/Pb solder will corrode just as fast or faster than 
> anything else in salt air.
>
> I'd say 90% of hams have no clue how to properly weatherproof a 
> connector. All you have to do is watch which end of the cable they 
> start wrapping stuff from to tell the connector is going to leak. Such 
> as starting the tape wrap at the connector and working down. You've 
> just created 6-8 seams for water to ingress. Start wrapping the tape, 
> 3M 33 or 88, not some cheap crap from Home Depot, down on the coax and 
> work up. Layers of tape laid like shingles.
>
> I weather "proof" my crimp connectors with glue impregnated heat 
> shrink, followed by 33/88, followed by coax seal followed by rubber 
> tape and a final layer of 33/88. All layers rolled half tape width per 
> course and bottom to top. It ain't pretty but I've never seen a 
> connector I did have a water problem, even 259's.
>
> On 5/13/2016 2:46 PM, Don W7WLL wrote:
>> I live on the coast, just a few hundred feet from the Pacific. Most 
>> wind is from the ocean onshore. The cable and sat installers here use 
>> crimped connectors, fast which counts for the installers. HOWEVER, 
>> later, they also spend a lot of time repairing lines and replacing 
>> connectors which corrode via the salt spray and air, specifically the 
>> work that is outdoors for periods of time. Varies of course depending 
>> upon the protection provided. Like Paul, every connector used 
>> outdoors at this house is 4 hole soldered for just the latter reason. 
>> And the coax cover is properly screwed into the connector. Where I 
>> use barrels to interconnect two cables they are covered with flooded 
>> heatshrink and the heatshink ends double sealed with an application 
>> of 3M liquid tape. I learned when I first moved here that while tape 
>> was great for keeping water out most of the time, when I did find dry 
>> connectors, they still were coated almost pure white with salt. So 
>> FAR DIFFERENT from when I lived inland in Portland. There what 
>> corrodes and rusts here in a couple of weeks would not reach that 
>> condx for years and years.
>>
>> Crimping is great but one has to consider the environment when 
>> choosing, at least that is the case here.
>>
>> Don W7WLL
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Paul Christensen
>> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 11:21 AM
>> To: towertalk at contesting.com
>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] PL259 Cobbectors Part 2 - Murray W9EHQ
>>
>>> 'I'm perplexed, but not really surprised, that hams still insist on 
>>> using
>> this kind of backwoods engineering when a better way has been 
>> available for
>> decades. I guess old habits die hard."
>>
>> If you mean crimped connectors as a "better way," I agree when 
>> they're used
>> either indoors or when they're adequately weather shielded. 
>> Mechanically,
>> I've had more crimped connectors break and fail than soldered type when
>> high, accidental lateral force is exerted.  For indoor use, I 
>> exclusively
>> use crimped type.  For outdoors, almost exclusively soldered type.
>>
>> Paul, W9AC
>>
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