Help: Need adhesive suggestion to hold spade connector on (fixed)

belfert · July 17, 2013, 02:38:35 AM

We are on the road and the spade connector inside my generator that connects to the brush holder keeps coming off. We crimped on a new connector and it still came off. It is about a 90 minute repair we don't want to do every six to eight hours.

Is there an adhesive that we can put on the connector to lock it on so it doesn't come off? Ideally I would like something we could get at Walmart. I would I actually called Powertech the first time this happened today and they suggested Blue Loctite, but is that really electrically conductive? I checked Loctite's website and they make a special electrically conductive Loctite. My friend on the trip is thinking about putting Super Glue on after we reconnect the spade connector.

We don't need the generator right now as it is cold, but it will be hot in a few hours.

bevans6 · July 17, 2013, 03:23:42 AM

I have used safety wire to hold on spade terminals. There is often a hole through the center of both pieces, and I just thread the .032" stainless wire through and twist it with aircraft wire pliers.

Brian

TomC · July 17, 2013, 03:39:17 AM

I found that the single layered wire crimp on a spade connector is just not enough-especially now with everything getting thinner and cheaper. I used double layered wire crimp on my spade and eye connectors when I wired my bus in 1994 and none have come loose. You'd probably have to go to an electrical supply house to get the double walled wire crimp spade connector. Then you don't have to deal with adhesives that will probably come loose with the heat of a running generator. Good Luck, TomC

sledhead · July 17, 2013, 04:41:34 AM

try heat shrink over connector dave

luvrbus · July 17, 2013, 05:18:22 AM

Be sure to use the right spade connecter they come in all different flavors

gumpy · July 17, 2013, 05:29:28 AM

solder it on

RickB · July 17, 2013, 05:37:46 AM

Brian,

They sell a spray on sealer adhesive called Plasti-Dip at most stores. Spray it on and a couple minutes later it looks like it was dipped in plastic. Say's on the can it's safe for all electrical connections. Gumpy's probably right that the most permanent way to fix it is to solder it. If you brought a solder gun you are a better planner than I am.

Be safe with those rockets

RB

RickB · July 17, 2013, 05:41:49 AM

Wow! it's starting to happen here on this site now. We are talking about soldering and electrical stuff and all the ads on the sides and bottom of our discussion just turned to 3M adhesives and an electronics supply store.

That's exactly why I quit Facebook. I don't like they way the internet has us pointed as a culture, Big Brother sucks.

Sorry Brian I know this was off topic but it's relevant.

Rick

chessie4905 · July 17, 2013, 05:43:51 AM

You should be able to slightly squeeze the female end of the connection to get a tighter fit; it should be resistive to pulling off easily. If doing this doesn't make pulling it off more difficult, go to an electrical supply store to get a better one. Napa sells Belden brand terminals, which I've never had issues with. Make sure that there is some slack in the wire. Is something moving some to assist in the wire coming off? Gorilla glue on outside of connection, nylon wire tie, the smaller, narrower ones, either around terminal or wire to hold. Heat shrink should work though. Make sure you don't cause the brush not to contact commutator properly, whatever you try. Oh, and maybe the terminal on the brush holder is the narrow male spade type, requiring the narrow style female end to hold together properly. Napa sells the narrow type also.

eagle19952 · July 17, 2013, 06:07:56 AM

Almost all adhesives use heat to aid release, Loctite especially. super glue too ( I THINK ).
I too always pinch the rolled part of the female twice per side to try and make them tighter on the male. with wire cutters.

gumpy · July 17, 2013, 06:19:06 AM

Quote from: RickB on July 17, 2013, 05:37:46 AM
If you brought a solder gun you are a better planner than I am.

No solder gun needed. He's got rocket fuel on board (Hi NSA!!) Just sprinkle a bit of rocket fuel on that connector and light it off! Problem terminals fused... unless you use too much :-)

Dave5Cs · July 17, 2013, 07:11:11 AM

JB Weld?

Dave5Cs from Galaxy S III

Jeremy · July 17, 2013, 07:31:22 AM

Soldering appears to be the obvious solution, and you could probably buy a cheap soldering iron from Walmart instead of adhesive. You can get small gas-powered irons too, if electricity is the problem.

Just to mention it - Plastic Padding do a product called Chemical Metal which might be conductive (I've always assumed there was no actual metal in it, but it's worth looking at if you you're stuck and can find some).

Quote from: RickB on July 17, 2013, 05:41:49 AM
Wow! it's starting to happen here on this site now. We are talking about soldering and electrical stuff and all the ads on the sides and bottom of our discussion just turned to 3M adhesives and an electronics supply store.

That's exactly why I quit Facebook. I don't like they way the internet has us pointed as a culture, Big Brother sucks.

Sorry Brian I know this was off topic but it's relevant.

Rick

This is called Remarketing and happens on hundreds of millions of websites which use Google Adsense, so you can't really blame individual sites for it. Google are beta'ing a much more invasive form of Remarketing at the moment which recommends specific products to you based on what you've looked at previously (right down to specific product options and price points etc).

Jeremy

Lin · July 17, 2013, 08:40:06 AM

I have had cheap connectors that are so soft they can not be depended on. Even if you crimp the female onto the male, there is no tension to hold them.

belfert · July 17, 2013, 08:51:38 AM

I believe this is fixed for good now. It turns out that this time the tab broke off the brush assembly. Luckily, I have two spare brush assemblies with me. We ended up putting the original brush assembly back in as it wasn't really broken after all. The original assembly had holes in the tabs for the spade connectors to grab on to.

My friend ran a tiny piece of wire through the hole to lock it in place. We also have a soldering iron so we could have soldered it. The new spade terminals we got at Menards look just like the originals. We don't have a way to get better spade terminals right now. I made sure and tightened up the original spade connector on Saturday, but it still fell off. The Menards pack of terminals had three widths and we used the right width.

Thanks for the help. (The ad thing has been on this site for some time.)