I think your over complicating this, lay the two wires down side by side, splice them together then crimp them into the same end of a butt connector.I had thought of that as a last resort, but is that really the proper solution to this sort of thing?
National Treasure
Can we get this joker banned for wanting to do the proper solution on a motorcycle forum… 
Or why not just buy an inline blade fuse holder from halfords ?
You can use a red crimp on the smaller cable and then a suitable crimp for the other cable .
Save waiting for deliveries etc
Waiting for the fuse holder was annoying but not the problem. Have given up on waiting for China, which I ordered because they were the only ones I could find at the time that were 18 AWG, so ordered the ones from Amazon which should arrive today, in a bag of ten for less than the cost of two from Halfords.
The problem is how to connect a relatively fat cable to a relatively thin one.
The fuse holder coming is 16 AWG but the TomTom cable is 24 AWG so a red crimp is far too big for that. They have clearly gone for the thinnest cabling they need, with it only being rated for 3.5A. Which is not a problem but for it seeming to be incompatible with fuse holders (where 14 AWG seems to be the most common) and the gauge difference being too great. there seems to be no connector that can even join a 24 and 18 AWG cable.
So I will just do what NT says, and assume that is how you are supposed to do it.
Trim off twice the length of insulation you need from the end of the cable. Twist bare part of cable then fold bare part in half & twist it again. Put into connector.
Trim off twice the length of insulation you need from the end of the cable. Twist bare part of cable then fold bare part in half & twist it again. Put into connector. PatThe problem there is one of mechanical strength even if using shrink wrap, by laying the wires parallel and splicing them together before crimping them the mechanical strength is equal to the heavier wire, greater when shrink wrapped. Note too splicing the wires together is different from simple twisting them together ;-)
Off to see if I can’t find a photograph
I found this. First picture part way through wiring a future proof accessory harness on The 250. Note the relay terminal 87, the terminal nearest the camera, with a pair of wires spliced into a female spade, one of these splices into another female spade the other into a butt connector giving four independent in-line fused feeds for 12v socket, 5v USB sockets, DRL’s, TomTom and a spare or whatever you want. Second picture almost the completed job with terminal 87a serving as a jump lead to the battery.
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Who said anything about twisting wires together?Trim off twice the length of insulation you need from the end of the cable. Twist bare part of cable then fold bare part in half & twist it again. Put into connector. PatThe problem there is one of mechanical strength even if using shrink wrap, by laying the wires parallel and splicing them together before crimping them the mechanical strength is equal to the heavier wire, greater when shrink wrapped. Note too splicing the wires together is different from simple twisting them together ;-)
Off to see if I can't find a photograph
National Treasure
Who said anything about twisting wires together?I did because I've seen it too many times and I didn't want my earlier post:
Pat
I think your over complicating this, lay the two wires down side by side, splice them together then crimp them into the same end of a butt connector.
National Treasure
to be miss understood.
So what sort of splice are you recommending, given twisting them together is one recognized splicing method before crimping?
I have a new problem now as I have looked everywhere but cannot find my big bag of cable ties. Annoying as I made a start yesterday by installing the USB sockets I had already bought, as they had a fuse holder on the cable. Apart from the cable tying that works okay.
The way to do it is to fan out the individual strands of each cable and twist them together into three or four cables then twist the three or four cables into one as opposed to simply twisting two cables around each other. Left is the way to do it and right is a failure waiting to happen, apologises for the poor photo but you get the idea.
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Very nice, and thank you. Of course, the TomTom people soldered the loose ends of their cable, though was going to cut them off anyway. Will all have to wait until Sunday now.
Soldering the ends is an option in a vibration free environment, for automotive applications twisting and crimping is the better option.
Tidy looking. If you’re not using the other end of the connectors fill them with silicone sealant to eliminate the risk of water ingress
I have wrapped them in self amalgamating tape, a small piece folded over the end, then wrapped around it, will that not be enough?. But otherwise we got there in the end. Thanks for all the help.
I replaced the included RAM mount arm with a medium length one which I already owned. A better height and keeps the anti-theft knob out of the way.
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All tucked away under the seat so it should be fine.
Happy days
Installed a relay feeding an AUX fusebox
Relay is triggered from the ignition live
I made the a bracket to fit the fusbox to out of some ali sheet
Neat instal that will allow for up to 6 extra connections
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Another good solution. I’d considered a similar fuse box for The 250 but couldn’t find the space, as small as they are my under seat space is taken up with a modest tool kit and disc lock. I only needed to find space for the relay tucked in aft of the regulator, with the inline fuses spread across various points of the extended harness as and where needed. Not 100% perfect but is any loom extension?
Used the TomTom for the first time today, definitely better than my phone but really miss having an elapsed timer as I use that to judge when to take a quick break and what not.
Some odd instructions, such as the Blackheath one way section. It tells you to take a left where the road only turns to the left, but then says nothing when then road splits after and you need to take a right. Bluetooth sound quality is pretty awful.
And it did not seem to like the M26. I had uploaded a GPX file which had the M20 as the route home, but wanted to avoid the south circular and so went for the M26 for the A217 instead. Maybe it was a 3G blackspot but it did not calculate a new route until (the exact moment) I hit the M25. And then it was to take the A22 despite the matrix signs saying it was closed. It also did not know about a road closure heading towards Mitcham.