[TriEmbed] Waterproof connectors

Pete Soper pete at soper.us
Mon Nov 28 15:13:25 CST 2016


This is relevant for connections that are going to stay in place for 
long periods. If you're going to be disconnecting/reconnecting outdoors 
"carry on".

During my amateur radio days I had to make weather proof connections for 
coax and switch control wires that needed to live high in the air or 
underground where maintenance was very painful. Sealing a conventional 
connector by wrapping it with silicone tape such as the stuff linked to 
below, then wrapping over that with Scotch 88 electrical tape results in 
internal parts that will look exactly the same five years later as they 
looked before you sealed them up. Stretch the silicone tightly, 
overlapping the turns, but *do NOT* stretch the 88 when applying it (the 
ends will come loose over time if they've been stretched).

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=39147&gclid=CK3U67arzNACFUI6gQod07sKHA

Beware air leaks in loose cable sheaths like CAT5 or conduit. Outdoor 
thermal cycling can condense water out of the air faster than it 
evaporates. Always have weep holes in conduit. Put fine mesh screen over 
the weep holes to keep the bugs out.

-Pete

On 11/28/2016 03:30 PM, Grawburg via TriEmbed wrote:
> Looking at Digikey, etc and there are literally zillions of connectors to choose from. So maybe you all can help narrow it down for me.
>
> Making some extensions that will connect to water proof Dallas one-wire temperature units from Adafruit (three wires in the cable). I will use some Cat5e or Cat6 ethernet cable that I have plenty of to connect to the Adafruit cables. So I need a male & female combo package that will be water-tight. Wire won't be submerged just in the elements.
>
> Thanks,
> Brian Grawburg
>
>





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