Splicing and Tapping Wires – Another Teaching Moment

Have you found yourself needing to splice or tap into wires, but aren’t sure exactly how to proceed? This can be a tricky task when you are learning, especially tapping wires. In this article, I will go over the proper procedure for both, along with some tricks to make the process a little easier.

There are a few different ways to splice wires. Probably the most common is to strip the two wires (strip them long enough so you have enough bare wire to work with), twist them around each other, solder, and place heatshrink over the joint. Remember to put the heatshrink on before soldering, otherwise electrical tape will suffice. There are also wire splice connectors that don’t require any soldering.

Tapping wires is a little tricky. There are of course T-Splice connectors that make this process a little easier. However, that’s not always an option, so insulation will need to be removed. To do this, use a wire stripper of the appropriate size to place a cut in the insulation on each side of the length to be removed, then carefully use a razor blade to remove the insulation between the cuts. Once that’s done, part the strands enough to insert the new wire through the center (a pick or small screwdriver makes this easy), then wrap and solder. If the wire isn’t stranded, then just wrap the wire and solder. From this point you’ll need to either cover the wire with heatshrink or electrical tape.

If a visual representation is preferred, head over to this video where one of our technicians will demonstrate the process.