At Barber this past weekend my front tire warmer decided to burn itself out (on a freakn 30° morning too). I tore it open and found the burned piece of wiring. It's right where the power cord joins the heating wire/fillament/whatever. Is it a simple matter of cutting out the burned wire, stripping a bit off the power cord and crimping the two back together? No soddering or anything special? I did all the wiring for my trailer, but those wires weren't made to heat up, so I figured I'd ask first before messing with this. Thanks guys!
I beleive any if the following will work: a. Use a crimp connector b. Use very little silver solder to hold the exposed wire ends after you braid/twist them together. And, of course, insulate your work. c. Twist wires and insulate/wrap. If you think there'll be any force on the plug wire, then you may wish to go with a or b. d. Return the offending tire warmer back to the mfgr for repair. But call 'em first. This may be their busy period gearing up for the upcoming season. I was able to get my warmers in and out from Chickenhawk real quick in Nov/Dec. Hope this helps. Others with actual experience in this type of mishap, feel free to chime in.
I figured I ruined my chances at sending it back to the manufacturer when I took the exacto blade to it at the track. [shrug]
You may have lost your shot at having them repair it at no charge, but they'll still repair it. Give 'em a call. Who knows, when you give 'em the sitrep and they look it over, they may concluse it was a material defect. You were just trying to do a field repair while at the track. You never know until you ask.
I recently sent my warmers to be repaired by Chickenhawk Racing. The power cord was faulty on one of them and I had them check the other warmer just to make sure it was operating ok. I was out of warranty by a yr so they repaired and tested both for $25.00 shipped. They called and kept me in the loop too while they were swamped w/other work. :up:
Just fix the burnt area Mary, I would do an Ohm check afterwards just to make sure it's not burned in two some where's else. Or just plug it in and cross your fingers and toes (if you can) and hope for no smoke:up:
I had the heater wire burn open on my front Colt Bandit. I could feel the open wire in the warmer and cut it open to inspect it like you did. I sent a picture to Colt and asked about repairing and they told me "no" then promptly tried to sell me another front warmer. They said it would be cheaper to buy a new one then to have them repair it. I used the small metal butt connector with the plastic piece removed and crimped the two ends together, soldered the wires, then insulated the connection with heat wrap (like what goes on headers). The repair worked fine for a couple days then the wire opened up again. I think the connection got pulled apart while pulling the warmers on and off the tire. The wire is suck a small gauge it would be hard to keep it from pulling apart again. My $.02
would you mind telling me how many wraps of wire per foot there are? about what gauge does it apppear to be? and what diameter is the coil/ object the wires wrapped around?
