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Let's say I have some stranded wire that was cut in half and I want to splice the ends back together. Easily done with some solder and a heat shrink tube, which will make a good electrical connection with high tensile strength, and looks quite clean if done well. Unfortunately, it's also much more rigid than the flexible wire, and in fact bending it repeatedly will break it. Any alternatives I know of are even more rigid (those crimped on tube thingies) or ugly (wire nuts).

Given that I care enough that I'm willing to spend extra time and/or money, is there a method of splicing wires that more closely approaches the aesthetic, electrical and mechanical properties of an uncut wire? Or one that looks different but still good.

And sure, replacing the entire wire might often be easier, but I'm interested in cases where that's not an option.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm imagining you could get quite close if you connected each strand separately, whether by soldering, crimping or perhaps, knotting. That's just a random idea though, and it would be quite a lot of work too. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bart van Heukelom
    Commented Nov 5, 2022 at 18:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ What you do is heatshrink the splice well past where the splice ends so it acts as strain relief so the bends in the wire are distributed over a longer length for a larger radius rather than concentrated at a small point close to the splice where it is more rigid. The more rigid the splice the more rigid the heatshrink should be. Or you can get real fancy and put multiple overlapping layers of heatshrink of different lengths centered around the splice so it is effectively thicker and more rigid as it gets close to the splice. \$\endgroup\$
    – DKNguyen
    Commented Nov 5, 2022 at 18:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DKNguyen thanks for the tip. What I've done a few times when making connections that were allowed to be ugly, was splinting them with something like a disposable chopstick and zip ties. \$\endgroup\$
    – Bart van Heukelom
    Commented Nov 5, 2022 at 18:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yeah I had thought about suggesting a splinting with a steel rope cable between two layers of heatshrink when I typed that but thought it might be excessive and too stiff. Zip ties would be more appropriate. I think the "tapered thickness" heatshrink method would be most effective though in maintaining a radius. \$\endgroup\$
    – DKNguyen
    Commented Nov 5, 2022 at 18:37
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    \$\begingroup\$ @BartvanHeukelom Yes, no, maybe... I'm pretty sceptical against crimp wire ferrules in the context of low voltage/low current signals. \$\endgroup\$
    – Lundin
    Commented Nov 11, 2022 at 14:31

2 Answers 2

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Brazing more closely approaches the aesthetic, electrical and mechanical properties of an uncut wire. Welding even closer.

By definition, solder uses a low temperature fill material: brazing uses a medium temperature filler material, and welding uses a high temperature filler material.

Because of the superiority of the brazed joint, less filler material can be used. With a brazed joint, the increase in volume is minimal. With a welded joint the increase in volume is even less: often zero, and the join can be as strong or stronger than the base material.

Unfortunately, welding is much more difficult than soldering, and welding of fine wires is either automated or jewelry making: it's not a production technique suitable for typical discrete-element production electronics.

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Simply put, no. Find a point where the wire doesn't need to be as flexible to make the splice. Add more wire and use two splices if you must. Or just replace the entire wire, as you suggested.

You might be able to use something that looks nicer than a wire nut, though. Wago (no affiliation) makes some reasonably nice-looking clamp connectors that some even claim are more reliable than wire nuts, for instance.

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