Live or Die by the wire........

[~kaos~]

Well as a result of going thru my markers to make sure everything is ready for the coming season I ran across an issue that plagues all electro owners.... bad wires (and/or connections). How many of us have 'looked' at our stuff only to think everything was O.K. but later find out the damn thing won't work?? I recenty aquired 2 Gen-E's (matrix) that both had some bells & whistles.... eyes, tadao board, etc. Well upon close inspection I found that one of them was having an eye problem. I tracked down the problem and found that one of the leads from the eye had broken off in the eye carraige. It was not visible due to where it was and also because the was some shrink tube covering it. I found the same problem at the other end where one of the eye wires was soldered to the board. I like my markers to always be reliable so I pulled the shoddy harness and busted eyes out and ordered new ones. While I'm waiting I decided to go thru the rest of the wires. Well guess what, I found another one hanging by 1 thin strand and it was the life line of the marker.... the battery wire. If you think about it tho it makes sense because we're always yanking on those wires when we plug/unplug batteries in and out. Not to mention that when we work on them and have the grips off the battery sometimes seems to fall out of the gripframe only to dangle by those 2 little wires.
So for all of us that love shooting electros and what things as trouble free as possible I strongly suggest not only visually inspecting your wires but to get a pencil or some other similar object and lightly (but firmly) push those wires around to make certain they are secure.

[Edwin]

Yep the battery wires are a poor design. Maybe not the case for most markers, but I like drilling a 1/8" hole through PCBs. Then you feed the wires through the hole, tie a not in the wires then solder the wire thorugh the eye in the board. This way if the battery falls out the knot gets to absorb the shock of the fall not the solder joints.

I do this where space is available on boards. Sometimes people use two holes and use a wire tie to hold wires to the board.

[DeuceX]

Ugh... bad wiring has driven me crazy on more than one occassion. Luckily I just got in my Aoyue 937+ digital temperature controlled soldering station. Thing was only about $50 or 60 shipped. I have yet to get working with it but I am impressed by the stats and the reviews I read on it. Plus it's made in China, so I probably got some crazy Chinese disease when I opened the box, yay!

I got a WGP E2 frame and pneumatics recently from Medic and although it worked when I got it, it soon quit firing off the solenoid. I got frustrated but finally found out that a wire inside some shrink wrap of all places was broken. Out came the soldering iron and now she's workin good as new!

For anybody trying to find some 28 Gauge Stranded wire, like Blue recommends for repairing Tribal/etc boards, try some CAT3 phone wire! I couldn't find any, not even Ratshack had any. Finally I ordered 100ft off the net for less than $10 and now I'm ready to fix a few abused Tribal boards.

Now I just have to get my Rem 870, Glock 17, and RRA HB AR15 cleaned and put up before I can start on my paintball gear doh!

[Edwin]

I use 26 gauge wire that I think I oredered from Jameco. I got a 1000ft of each color...I have to admit work paid for it and I just "borrow" what I need.

[Edwin]

Hmmm, maybe I got it from McMaster Carr?

[DeuceX]

Yeah I didn't want to have too much wire running around inside my Tribals so I'm gonna see how 28Ga works. Ribbon Cable FTL!

Joe

[Dances with Tribals]

Ahh yes thats one thing we electros take for granted. Thats why a good PMCS before and after every day of play will keep them up and running like new!

[DeuceX]

Hehe don't forget to take your dash 10 to the field with you!

Speaking of which I got to finally play some ball this past weekend with my mephisto... wow it shot awesome.

Joe