Whats the best way to make wire connections?

[Bipolar 10+ year member]

Im about to wire up my car adapter to my old alpine and I dont want to do the old splice and tape. Whats a better way to do this. I know if you order a new head unit from crutchfield (which I wouldnt do) they used to send you a adapter for your car that was for your head unit that had no connections, just plug and play..That would be nice....How do the pros do it?

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[docutech 10+ year member]

Solder?

 

[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

there are going to be so many different answers to this as there are plenty of ways to make a secure enough connection for an HU...some will say solder and tape while others will says butt connectors and others crimp caps.....all the above ways work and provide with a secure connection its all about what you want to do.

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

Im about to wire up my car adapter to my old alpine and I dont want to do the old splice and tape. Whats a better way to do this. I know if you order a new head unit from crutchfield (which I wouldnt do) they used to send you a adapter for your car that was for your head unit that had no connections, just plug and play..That would be nice....How do the pros do it?

Crutchfield still sends out those adapters with HU purchases but they were never completely plug-n-play. They keep you from having to cut and splice into the vehicle's factory harness but they still have to be physically attached to the headunit's harness before plugging the whole affair into the vehicle's audio harness so splicing wires together was (and still is) a necessity.

As far as the most secure way Dre's response was on the money. There are several different methods of doing it and doing it well.

My personal favorite is to solder the wires together and then cover the splice with heatshrink but that isn't the only way to do it safely and securely ~ it's just my personal preference b/c I know for certain after they're done that they're not going to come undone sometime down the track.

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

all about what YOU can do the best

if you can solder well, do it

if you have a nice crimp tool (a GOOD crimp tool) then do it

a good soldered connection takes practice, a good crimped connection takes a good tool, and good quality connectors

 

[dleccord 5,000+ posts]

Circuit City has those kinds of adapters.

If you got a Honda, I'll sell you mines. Plug and play for Alpine-Honda, but not sure of which models it's compatible with.