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Some of the local wildlife has taken a fancy to a set of my outdoor lights and decided to chew through the wire. Before I either bin this or stick it in the loft with the others and save the problem for another day, what can I do to repair this?
I see lots of connectors on Amazon etc but don't know what sort is best. It's fairly thin low voltage wire but being outside obviously needs to be waterproof
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heat shrink solder connectors.
I use them in the Marine environment and they just work very well - takes a little practice with the heat source, too close / hot you burn the heat shrink too little and the solder doesn't melt. Once you've got the knack then they are brilliant.
If it's 12V doesn't really need to properly waterproof. Solder and heat shrink over the top.
If low voltage then you can even get away with some Wago connectors and gaffer tape.
Edit - if looks are unimportant.
It does need to be waterproof. While non waterproof will be perfectly safe if water gets in the wire core will degrade and fail.
Nicking, true, but it takes a long time. I've loads of outside lights that are either soldered and heat shrink or just We go, some not even inside a junction box. Have few problems.
Cool, thanks all, will have a look at some options. I can put the repaired section in the weatherproof box we use for the plugs but I don't think there is enough length to run it to the inside.
I have a soldering iron in the garage I can use.
Here's a photo of the transformer is thisakes any difference.
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These are low voltage LED's ? You don't need anything very fancy, so soldering , or even twisting, then wrapping will do the job. They're outside for a couple of weeks so fear of water ingress isn't a big deal
Glue lined heat shrink is easy to use and should fit the bill. Solder or twist the wire, slide heat shrink over and apply heat gun or hair dryer. Don't forget to slide the heat shrink on before joining the wire - schoolboy error and always a laugh 😉
Oh. And for belt and braces, Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure is very effective.
UPDATE
Thanks for all the suggestions. I went with the adhesive lined heat shrink and repaired it this afternoon. So far so good, guess we'll wait until next Christmas now!
Reminiscing with my dad about this just before Christmas: the "will-they-work?" Christmas lottery of getting the lights down from the loft and plugging them in. And then the fun of trying to find which was the broken bulb that was the problem. It's a lot less fun these days, with LED lights 🙁