Waterproofing bike wire to avoid the walk of shame

[cwah]

Hello


I have problem with my wiring whenever it rains. I tried lots of different techniques to protect the wires:
- Wrap it in tape and food wrap to prevent rain from getting in. It does protect a bit, but also trape water which end up creating shorts
- I've used sealant gel on all wires and it worked a bit but again it can trap water as well as making a pain to fix whenever needed
- I'm leaving the wires on open air (as seen on picture below) but some wires are touching each other and when wet they short...

Any idea what best to do to avoid the walk of shame?

 

[Nealh]

Try amalgamating tape, it is a very stretchy rubber self bonding tape.
If you use and apply it correctly it will keep your wire joints completely dry and insulated.

 

[Wheel-E]

I can't see your photo for some reason, but I try to add loops where possible to encourage drips to fall off. Where that's not possible, cable ties or other clips to any wire where drips roll down. The idea is that the drips form on the obstruction and drop off before hitting the connector.

 

[LeighPing]

I can't see your photo for some reason, but I try to add loops where possible to encourage drips to fall off. Where that's not possible, cable ties or other clips to any wire where drips roll down. The idea is that the drips form on the obstruction and drop off before hitting the connector.

 

[cwah]

I can't see your photo for some reason, but I try to add loops where possible to encourage drips to fall off. Where that's not possible, cable ties or other clips to any wire where drips roll down. The idea is that the drips form on the obstruction and drop off before hitting the connector.

I've updated the picture, can you see it now?

 

[cwah]

View attachment 23076

I don't think cable tie will be enough. See my picture

 

[LeighPing]

I don't think cable tie will be enough. See my picture

They might be if you tidied the taping up a bit.

 

[Wheel-E]

I've updated the picture, can you see it now?

Yeah, I can see it now. If it were my bike I'd be putting that lot through a small sealed box so that no connections are exposed to the open air. There are so many potential points of failure there and you'll need to do anything you can to keep them dry and protected.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[cwah]

Yeah, I can see it now. If it were my bike I'd be putting that lot through a small sealed box so that no connections are exposed to the open air. There are so many potential points of failure there and you'll need to do anything you can to keep them dry and protected.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

Would this one work?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B076KKYNL4/ref=pd_aw_vtph_60_tr_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=174R88QE1VVCY545S296

 

[Woosh]

that's about the worst place to have connectors. You need to change your JST connectors to waterproof system and place the connectors much higher, at least a foot from the ground.If you post a picture of the whole bike, people may suggest where to move your controller to.

 

[Dave Y Fenni]

Being old school.
When cars has distributer caps, points and HT leads, most of us oldies, used to spray a protective spray onto the leads cap, to keep water away. After making the purchase of my FatMini, and having to wait delivery, I found some waterproof spray, that coats and protects electrical circuit systems, on that site, that's named after a big river. Time will tell if it works.

 

[Kevin A]

Heat shrink I use a lot.

 

[cwah]

Ok, I've spent my whole evening putting all the hall, throttle, regen, signal wires into an IP68 waterproof box:

I soldered the wires as I haven't found compact and reliable connector so far... Hopefully I won't have issue as fixing this will be lot of pain

How it looks now:

I've also sprayed the wires with electrical spray:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00CLS0FRC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Hopefully I'll not have anymore rain issue... and praying that I won't have to fix the wires in this little box!

 

[chris_n]

That box will do nothing apart from keeping the water in. There is no way you will get that gland to seal all of those small cables effectively. Soldering instead of connectors is good, glued heat shrink is good, self amalgamating tape is good. Unless you have exposed connectors / conductors and / or trapped water you will not get shorts.

 

[cwah]

That box will do nothing apart from keeping the water in. There is no way you will get that gland to seal all of those small cables effectively. Soldering instead of connectors is good, glued heat shrink is good, self amalgamating tape is good. Unless you have exposed connectors / conductors and / or trapped water you will not get shorts.

I sprayed few times with electric spray the entries and exit of the box. If that doesn't work, I'll deal it with glue gun or something similar

 

[Russelliow]

As has been said it looks like you need to redesign your layout. Those wires are in the direct spray from the front wheel

 

[cwah]

That's the only place I can put it due to the controller size. How best to protect knowing that wires needs to be here?

 

[NJS]

That box will do nothing apart from keeping the water in. There is no way you will get that gland to seal all of those small cables effectively. Soldering instead of connectors is good, glued heat shrink is good, self amalgamating tape is good. Unless you have exposed connectors / conductors and / or trapped water you will not get shorts.

Seal the gland with silicon sealant. If he needs to take it apart, it peels off.

 

[chris_n]

You will not seal it, water will get in. When it gets in it needs to get out. I have lost count of the times I have come across this sort of thing in my professional career. Silicone sealant will work for a while but will not work like a proper potting compound. We used to join burried cables with a Scotchcast joint, basically a plastic housing filled with epoxy potting compound. Look at the wiring on cars and motor bikes, they have a far harder life than an ebike. Connectors are shielded from direct spray where required and are never sealed. Sometimes electronic control units are in sealed housings, when they are they have sealed multi pin connectors and may have a conformal coating applied to further reduce the possibility of water damage. Usually units in the engine bay have a drain hole or hose at the lowest point.

 

[mike killay]

Seal the gland with silicon sealant. If he needs to take it apart, it peels off.

I find a blob of thick grease better than silicon which will eventually let go of plastic.
Grease is also self repairing.