Been reading through “a few” of the posts with recommendations to repair. Some good ideas out there. And yes, the wires that have damaged insulation can absolutely be repaired. Did it all the time on helicopters (OH-58D Kiowa, CH-47F Chinook, AH-64A & -D Apache, AH-1F Cobra, and UH-60A & -L & -M… you get the point).
If it’s a number of wires that have been compromised I’d stagger the splices… that way you don’t have 10-15 splices stacked one on top of the other. Also, as recommended earlier I’d definitely use something other than a mechanical splice.
While they do work good, I’d be more inclined to use something that not only includes solder for a more stable connection, but something that gives you environmental protection as well.
Back to my comment about “staggering the repair”… this may cause you to use more splices which will result in the signal carrying more resistance as it attempts to cross over the multiple repairs/ splices in the wire run. “Could” potentially cause issues.
So, maybe limit your repair to the area; just cut out the damaged insulation, and make the splice there.
Also, if the damage is limited to the insulation with “very little” wire strand damage (1-3’ish wire strands), and you’re feeling groggy you might try this…
Using a multimeter in the continuity setting find the wire that’s damaged at the harness end. Once located, de-pin it from the harness and single it out of the wire bundle to the point of damage. At this point you want to run a piece of heat shrink over it. With a heat gun, hit it back and forth a few times until the heat shrink completely shrinks. You’ll do this for each damaged wire.
Another option, is using F4 tape. It’s a stretchable elastic wire tape we use on wire harnesses to protect them from chaffing against aircraft surfaces. You can use it to wrap any exposed areas to prevent grounding.
F4 tape, unlike regular black electrical tape, does not use adhesive to bond. As you know, heat will cause the adhesive to fail over time. Instead, heat makes F4 tape’s bond even better. The more it’s exposed to heat the more its bonds.
One downside to using F4 tape in a single wire repair is the complexity of getting the tape to stay in one place while making an attempt to wrap it around. What I would suggest in that scenario is cutting small strips (approximately 1/2 to 1 inch in size) and wrap one around each area of concern. You center the wire in the cut piece and fold the sides so they equally meet up. Once all your wires have been prepped in this fashion you can much more easily completely wrap all the wires with the F4 tape.
Make sure to bring the wrap above/ below the repaired areas appropriately 1/2 to 1 inch. Not only are you wires protected from each other, and any bare metal in the vehicle, but are also environmentally protected.
Good luck. Hopefully, you find a fix that works for you. Let us know what you end up with.
