So I was a scientist for 32 years
You want to mix some chemicals, weigh out some drugs (legal kind), perform some sensitivity tests, identify organisms, or grow some cultures; I'm your guy.
I never got the opportunity to be very good with my hands turning wrenches or even hammering nails
But for the most part, I can get by with my limited knowledge of "handyman" stuff
So, the spreader light (attached to my rocket launcher) stops working. I take a tester down to the boat and figure I'll see if I have power to the light. My first thought was to see if I had power to the switch on the console. I opened the back of the console and peered into the dark cabinet. Ok, so I get a flashlight and find the back of the switch marked "Spreader". Now I try to hold the light and touch the two leads to the switch to see if I have power. Not without a third hand; it ain't happening for me. If I hadn't gotten so angry; I could have laughed at me trying to place the light where I could see, while also trying to touch the leads where they needed to go, while at the same time wiping sweat off my face and trying to think of more curse words than I already knew
F*@k it
I'll just cut off the spreader light and hope I have power to the light. This is a big deal because the wire runs through my aluminum tubing and up to the rocket launcher. SUCCESS, the tester says I have power to the light (confirming the light itself has gone bad).
Off I go to buy another spreader light. Mine was a "lumatek" (sorry spelled wrong I know) and cost $150+ dollars
Every led light on my boat is red/white. Red for nighttime viewing so it won't mess up your vision/or white for brightness. Flip the switch; its red. Flip it again; it's white.
Every West Marine on the east coast has white/blue in stock
I order off the internet and the light arrives Saturday
Today, I go down to install the light. A good friend of mine says, "Be sure to solder the wires. Don't just crimp them in a marine environment". Makes sense to me.
I strip back the wires. I slide two small shrink-wrap tubes over each wire, and then another large shrink-wrap tube over both of those tubes. So far, so good.
Now I make my first mistake. I twist red to red and black to black. But I didn't lay them horizontal to each other (if that makes sense). I now proceed to try to solder them on a rocking boat during Labor Day. I couldn't get the wires hot enough to "draw" the solder in, so I just attempted to "coat" them in solder. What a pain in the a$$. The solder would get hot enough to melt, form a little round ball, and proceed to run down the exposed wires and splatter on the deck
Why won't it attach itself to the wire???
Well I eventually got enough solder on the wires to say, ENOUGH. However, because the wires weren't twisted horizontal, the shrink tubing won't go over the wires.
Screw it, I wrapped them in electrical tape and called it a day. Almost 3 hours to do a job that should take 20 minutes. At least when I cut the wires from the light, they didn't go scurrying down the aluminum tubing and disappear.
I'll go back down tomorrow and redo my mess in a more efficient manner.
Anybody have a suggestion as to how I can get the solder to really infiltrate the wiring? Do I have to get the wires hot enough to draw the solder in?
I only get one more chance or I won't have enough wire length
5th