Straight through/Open Ended beanies

[kaosweb]

Newbie question...  I searched and while I feel my Google foo is strong, it seemed to fail me - unless this simple idea doesn't exist.
 
Does an open ended beanie exist?  Perhaps there is a tech reason it doesn't - I am thinking about putting my EOL resistors inline and avoiding the awkward "un-straight" connection.
 
When I say open ended I am referring to putting each end of a connection in each different end of a beanie and then crimping vs. both wires in the same end.
 
One thought is around future needs - say I need to replace a sensor or something that requires me to pull the guts up out of the wall wouldn't an inline straight connection be better.
 
I guess perhaps though that these components really aren't components that need serviced and if something happens I just have to get to the connections - i.e. in wall, etc.
 
Thoughts, ideas...

 

[pete_c]

I do not see an issue doing this. 
 
I have seen though if the crimping of the beanie is off a bit then the wire just comes out of the beanie.
 
Personally while a bit time consuming I do not utilize beanies on the EOL resistors. 
 
I solder them using one of those little portable gas soldering devices and use heat shrink tubing. 

 

[kaosweb]

See I told you newbie.  Why didn't I think of this.
 
Hows this kit for my needs... http://www.amazon.com/Portasol-P-1K-Professional-Kit/dp/B006485HEQ/

 

[pete_c]

Note that I am saying what I do for my stuff; but not that one way is right or wrong.
 
Here is a picture of mine (similiar one).  It is a micro torch but the flame is still rather large compared so say a soldering end.  It is not ideal for soldering  22 guage wire in tight spots. 
 
I use it also with the heat shrink tubing stuff.
 
The newer ones are much more solder tool like and have better control of the gas utilized.
 
It is about the size of my palm and utilizes standard "bic" style lighter which fits inside of the housing and the top just snaps on. 
 
Its very old. 
 
Over the years and outdoors (a bit of a tangent)  I removed the landscaping LV wire crimps and soldered all of the connections using my little mini gas soldering micro torch.
 

 

[sda]

I don't think open ended beanies exist, but you can get small gauge butt connectors.
 
I also solder and shrink tube in most cases.  I've been using my electric soldering station and its a pain.  Time for a new toy.
 
I picked up a Wagner heat stick several years ago for shrinking the shrink tube.
Using her hair dryer was low WAF.

 

[kaosweb]

Note that I am saying what I do for my stuff; but not that one way is right or wrong.

Thanks...  You put me on a better track of mind (in my opinion).

 

[kaosweb]

@sda.  Your right... they do exist.  I was just calling them beanies and not searching for the right thing.
 
Thanks...  I am leaning towards the soldering and shrink tube.

 

[pete_c]

Yup here I used to use a soldering iron with an extension cord inside the house. 
 
It became very low on the WAF when I did this and that (won't mention these pieces).
 
Over the last 10 years none of the EOL's have gone bad or become disconnected.  I did have one door switch (in the frame) stretch a 22/2 cable (from temps? or from the frame expanding?) until it broke.  
 
That was my fault though for making the leads so short.
 
As a DIY you typically only do it once and really never look it again again unless you are replacing it or upgrading the device in question. 
 
Most difficulties I had was really to reverse engineer the logic on an older alarm installation with a bunch of devices daisy chained (serially) and with EOL's buried wherever.  (IE: like one zone is one room with all of the switches in series - guess the old way of doing this stuff).
 

 

[kaosweb]

Thanks for the feedback.  That is what I suspected, but I am a little OCD on this kind of stuff so wanted to dot every I and cross every T.

 

[pete_c]

Good news and welcome to the Cocoontech forum kaosweb. 
 
Yup (OCD pieces) especially relating to have false positives and false alarm triggers.
 
There are many DIY folks here doing exactly what you are doing or planning on doing. 
 
There is much information as to everyone's experiences on the forum; both commercial and residential and granular and non granular et al.
 
Unrelated...In the 70's I remember these box like enclosures that were rather large used for motions by the steps I had going from basement to first floor to second floor.  One day I started to get false positives and alarm triggers from these boxes.  I finally took them apart and noticed it was just some spider webs inside that had been causing me grief.

 

[Del91574]

There's pros and cons to each method, but usually it comes down to workmanship.
 
Butt crimps can be an option, however in my experience, their overall OD  ends up being larger than a regular chicklet connector, even if taped.
 
I think a lot comes down to wiring practices, but in actuality, you can stagger the splice and tape and it's really not that big a deal to use chicklets, lord knows we have sites with thousands of them and very seldom is the issue traced back to a resistor or wire breaking, and honestly, if you're going about the service/change aspect, IMHO, it's just as easy to drop another resistor in place if the existing one is mangled a bit.

 

[kaosweb]

I just got back from the house.  I took my multimeter up to play with sensor locations.  I think I have a plan that will work well and I can hide everything using Tane Pills.
 
I'll have to think about it a little know with my new plan in mind.  As far as the service/change aspect goes, I could not easily leave a large enough hole for wire and resistor to be pulled out and not have to get into any walls.  
My sensor will be under my window framing, so I would just need to pull up the bottom window frame for any service needs - less intrusive than a hole in the drywall for service.