solder broken heated grip fillament?

[Berwick Ranger]

Hello again,

I've just been replacing some worn grips and have discovered a tiny break in on of the wires on the left side.

so my question is, would a little blob of solder to bridge the gap, covered with some electric tape be the best way to solve?

also, is it normal for the fillament tape to look a bit scorched in places?

cheers
the very unmechanically minded BR

 

[roddy]

the soldered joint will always be a weak spot as this type of element wire sometimes doesn't solder very well, so for the small expense of replacing the heated element, you would have peace of mind that it'll work for years to come.

HTH

 

[vilguy]

Hello mate, i happen to have a l/h grip going spare if your interested. Better than trying to mess around with the soldering iron. A better way is actually to twist the wires together by unravelling one "loop" of it, but be careful... the reduction in length reduces the resitance of the wire and it will get hotter. We did this with my mates set of oxfords and they got so hot on the "max setting" you couldnt hold the grip!

 

[Berwick Ranger]

Thanks Vilguy - and Roddy, you are very right. Just tried to solder and they didn't want to know. So did what you suggested vilguy, since the break was very close to the end I have unwound each side half a loop and rejoined by twisting. Tape over top and seems to work ok.

cheers

 

[roddy]

if you know what the resistance of a normal grip element, then you could put a resistor (at the corrcet wattage) in series with the repaired grip to make it back up to the normal resistance, so both grip will heat to the same temp, but that's getting compilcated and adding more joins so more weak points.

The only real issue with just twisting the wire's togther is over time they will seperate from each other and start to arc causing a localised hot spot, that will cause problems.

I'm all for trying to repair things instead of blindly replacing them, but things are best replaced, it cause's less hassle in the long run.

HTH

 

[vilguy]

As a temperorary repair though itll hold for a while.. till it gets warmer outside and working in the garage will be a more pleasant affair

As offered.. if you get stuck i have a left over l/h grip lying around in the garage.

 

[Paul Young]

My l/h grip stopped working a couple of years ago & I did exactly what you've suggested in post #1. I taped the ends so they lined up & put a tiny sliver of solder across the gap. Electrical tape over the top of the join prevents any tension/flex & a new grip made it right as rain. It's still working perfectly, 3yrs later.