Car speaker wiring problem

I had to fit two speakers into my mates fiesta today but they were the wrong size of the baffle, I have managed to force them in so they are secure.

The main problem is the wiring, they had one of Fords unique connectors on so I cut the wires and just wrapped the wires round each other and put insultation tape round it.

It seems secure but is likely that these cables will come loose? The is only an old banger so it didn't matter that I have cut the wires etc.

 

He's driven 20 miles in it since and over lots of speed bumps the speakers are still working so hopefully it won't be a problem. I just hate having to botch things I get no satifisfaction out of it.

 

If the wires are well twisted together they should be fine for the job required. The application of a little solder to the coupling would have been better but, in the absence of solder, I would tend to wrap some tape around the two wires upstream of the coupling. That would stop any mechanical tendency for the wires to pull apart.

 

or get some crimp spades and use them on the new speakers lugs.....

 

Yeah I know thats how I should do it, but I have never used a crimper before, I am sure its really easy though. I will just wait I think if he has problems with it I will just solder them.

As my grandad said cars are never simple, you do a simple job like replacing the speakers but it always ends up ten times more difficult than you expected.

7V They were pretty well twisted together.

 

who needs a crimper - just stick the wire in. mash it with some pliers and you're ready to rock.

 

You know thats why I am not a mechanic, so simple yet I would not have thouht of that

 

hey i'm happier with software than with hardware but the bfi school of mechanical engineering is great.....

 

Some body has suggested that if these cables short they could cause a fire, now I am assume if they short it would only be the same as a HIFI speakers shorting i.e it would blow the amp in the head unit but it would not cause a fire.

I am a bit worried now. I don;t want to responsible for wrecking burning down a car that has existed for 13 years before I came near it

I always worry about everything though.

 

I've told him not to use the radio and I am going to rewire them tomorrow, I know its extremely unlikely anything will happen but I won't be able to rest properly until I know the jobs done properly.

I am going to use ternimal block and wire the speakers up properly. Its a hazzle but if it saves his head unit or a fire its worth it.

I've just remebered that the car body is the ground so if the positive cable touches this and the battery is delivering 800amps the outcome would be good.

 

I know you're a bit of a worrier and I certainly don't want to concern you even more but...

it could be much worse than you think.

Suppose your friend takes your advice and doesn't use the radio but his girl-friend/passenger switches it on without a second thought.

Then we've got a potential short causing over-heating in a badly designed power amplifier circuit which could oh-so-easily lead to fire. In an old car this could very quickly get out of control and, if the fuel tank catches just as a petrol tanker is passing by then the whole lot could go up.

Just imagine if the panicked driver of the on-fire juggonaut loses control of his flaming vehicle and it careers into the boiler house of a local school or hospital.

Then you'd better pray that it's a school because it's now half term and casualties would be minimal. If it's the hospital ...

You b*st*rd. :MILD:

 

Please don't do this.....

How hard can it be to wire up some damn speakers. The wires are pretty much secure its not like I have left them without insolution tape or anything you should have seen the state of the wiring in his old head unit.

I am pretty certain no other passangers would use the car. If I had known it was a potentional fire hazard I would never have agreed to do the job in the first place, I just assumed if they shorted the fuse would blow in the head unit.

Its a decent Panasonic unit so its not like its a cheap quality one. Otherwise what would happen in a crash etc? I think the fire risk is just a theory rather than somthing which will happen. I mean HIFI amps don't catch fire do they if they short?

Why am I thinking of Frank Spencer? My uncle once set fire to his dads Cortina, he wired in a clock, the only trouble he used doorbell wire so it had 800amps going straight through the cable and the cable cought fire.

 

I'm just kidding, really.

I'm sure that everything will be just fine.






























unless ...

 

Mind you the last time I did some electrics it was a really difficult double dimmer, it was a german think but was made to UK standards, the only problem is it was a really bugger to do, my dad was mithering me about the firdge becuase the elecricity had been off for 45 minutes, in the end I just rushed it. Switched the electric back on, it worked fine, but there was some wallpaper hanging off, I move the wallpaper, this moved the switch.

The next mintue there was a loud bang, a smell of burning the lights tripped out. I just changed the fuse and put a normal double switch in which took 1 minute to wire.

 

Actually, my Dad once had a Cadillac Seville that was his pride and joy. He shipped it over from the USA himself and loved it to pieces. It still had the polythene stuff on the inside of the doors.

One day he drove it into the garage where it proceeded to emit a small amount of smoke from the dashboard. This developed into a major fire that completely destroyed the car and did great damage to the garage. True. The insurance company didn't pay my father anything like the car's true value and Cadillac just didn't want to know anything about it. Also true.

 

I am really starting to realise I have a lot in common with Frank. I blow things up and go to lots of interviews



What caused the short in the caddie? Just the usual GM North America build quality?

 

This made me laugh AT, so the Germans making shoddy stuff again?

 

The dimmer switch was fine quality, it cost £15, the problem is it was designed for professionals to wire, as a result it was too hard for, some how the cheapo B&Q and Wiko's ones are much easier to wire but have poor quality pots which cause flickering.

 

genrally they olny flicker/flash if you use 40w or less lamps,any way your not aloud to fit your own dimmers anymore,youve got to get an approved sparky in or get the work certified under part p

 

It had a 100w bulb in it, I think the old dimmer was just faulty though, it was a cheap £5 Wilkinsons job.

Does that mean I am not even allowed to replace broken plug sockets? I have been taking out the replacing the old slightly too msall back boxes and putting insultation on the earth before and then replacing them with more modern switched sockets but is this now ilegal?

At this rate they will making fitting a burgler alarm ilegal, I am surprised you don't need to be qualified to change a light bulb. Actually when my dad worked for council he was not legaly allowed to wire plugs or change light bulbs, he did though becuase it could take weeks to get city works to do it, it cost somthing stupid like £100 just to change a bulb because of all the red tape.