Poke and Wrap wire splicing has been around for a few years now. It is a reliable and simple solution for splicing into a low voltage wire for a connection without compromising the electrical integrity of the original wire you are tapping into. Also, it does not require any special crimping tools and easily done in the field. It is not a suggested connection to be used outdoors, but if in a protected environment such as under the dash of a vehicle, it will maintain good connection for many years if done properly.
We are going to splice into the heavy gauge red wire with a smaller wire for our accessory we are adding. As you can see in the picture, you will need a small cable tie, roll of black tape, wire cutter, knife and wire strippers.
For the first step, make a cut in the supply line wire with your wire stripper. Sometimes you may have to give the stripper a slight twisting motion in order to completely cut the insulation.
Once you feel you have made a clean cut at that point on the wire, give the wire stripper a slight push to see if the insulation can be slid over slightly to expose the copper wire.
Now, move the wire stripper over on the wire about 3/8 of an inch and make a another cut.
Once the two cuts have been made on the wire, with a knife, make a cut perpendicular to the areas you cut with the wire stripper. Keeping this cut between those two areas.
The finished cuts will look as such:
Now remove the small section of insulation to expose the wire to be spliced into
With the insulation removed, use the knife to insert an “opening” between an equal amount of strands. Be careful not to nick the wire.
Now take the wire from your accessory and remove about 1 to 1 ½ inch of insulation from the end. The length is not too critical, but you want to have enough exposed to provide good surface area contact on the large wire you are splicing into.
Insert the stripped wire into the hole you made in the larger main power wire.
Once the wire is fully inserted, close the hole on the large wire and start wrapping the small wire around the large wire. Keep the wraps as tight as possible. You could solder this connection if you wish, but once the connection is cinched up and completed, there will be good mechanical contact which will result in good electrical contact.
Now with the black tape (we are using standard ¾ inch wide tape), make a few wraps around the area of the splice, making sure the tape will cover past the areas you cut.
And after a few wraps it will look as such:
The last step is to mechanically cinch up your connection with a cable tie. Here we are using a standard 1/8 inch wide cable tie. Place it around the middle area of the tape as shown below.
Trim the end of the cable tie and you are ready to go.
