flexwatt connection ideas

[Petboy15]

Would this idea I had work?(ill use pictures from PAINT to make it easier to see) Lets say I have a rack, here is the back



Now, I was thinking I could have a strip of flexwatt on each shelf, but only on the actula chelf,no looping from shelf to shelf. So it is like 5 seperat strips of heat tape, each taped on to its shelf.

Would it cork for me to take a long (I dont know the name of it but its what you use to plug stuff in, maybe like an extension cord) and then cut it into pieces, strip the front part of the plastic off exposing the wire, and then solder it on to the heat tape ends like this,


If anyone understands, let me know!!! sorry, its confusing. I think it would wrok though.

[kavmon]

yes it will work, you can do away with the green jumper wires. just crimp in two wires into the terminals, and jump to the next piece of flexwatt. just make sure all the flex is the same. that kind of wiring is called a parallel wiring.



vaughn

[lord jackel]

Yes it is called wiring in parallel. Here is a link to a PDF from the flexwatt manufacturer on doing it.


Flexwatt Parallel Wiring

[Petboy15]

Sorry I made so many typos,lol. Thanks, i think this will be easier and cheaper!

[muddoc]

That is how I've done every rack that I have made, and it works great.

[Petboy15]

I cut the wire up and got the soldering iron today, Ill hook it all up tomorrow

[lord jackel]

I cut the wire up and got the soldering iron today, Ill hook it all up tomorrow

How did it turn out?

[Petboy15]

I did the first 2 heat tape pieces today. I have 8 left, it s a 10 slot rack. It wasnt very easy actualy, Ic ount get the heat tape silver strip on the side to melt and burn the wire into it. How do you all do it??

On a side note, I also melted a bunch of holes in some plastic, the melted plastic got stuck on the soldering iron tip, now it is dry. How do I get that off?

[Krazy99CL]

I did the first 2 heat tape pieces today. I have 8 left, it s a 10 slot rack. It wasnt very easy actualy, Ic ount get the heat tape silver strip on the side to melt and burn the wire into it. How do you all do it??

On a side note, I also melted a bunch of holes in some plastic, the melted plastic got stuck on the soldering iron tip, now it is dry. How do I get that off?

Ive used some solder paste..its white and it makes it stick to whatever you are soldering too. good.

for the melted plastic. use a razor then some sand paper...

g'luck

[PythonWallace]

That's how I wire my racks. I use crimpable male copper tabs from RadioShack, crimp the cord to them in parallel, then slide the tabs right into the Flexwatt. The tabs are beveled like a paint scraper so they slide right between the plastic and the metal strip easily. A little solder and a piece of electrical tape and they're done. I finished my 8 shelf rack this way in about 2 hours, from start to heating.