Copper tape wiring losing connection

[CindyS]

I ran copper tape wiring about 3 months ago using the tiny brads on my Victorian, and I have been having problems with losing the connection. I am not sure what is going on. It all works one day and then 2 days later, parts of it don't. It seems like the tape works it way away from the walls. All of the connections on the main floor work fine, no problems there. Not sure if it is the cold weather or what. But I am scared once I put the wallpaper on, it will do it again. My husband suggested adding a tiny bit of solder. Is anyone else having this problem? Suggestions, please.

[Anne]

I'm experiencing problems with the tape wire system too. Sometimes the light is working, sometimes not. It's very annoying! Most of the lamps upstairs are working perfectly. But the downstair lamps are causing problems most of the time. Especially the kitchen lamp. I fear I have used to less nails. Think I have to take off some parts of the wallpaper and put more nails into the tape.

Hope you can locate what's causing your electricity problems very soon!!!

[CJEP]

I've had problems as well. I assumed it was because I wired several years ago and then stopped working on the house until recently. I haven't played with it long enough to figure out the problem though.

[ouchouch]

I'm not an experienced with wiring, this is my first house, but I'll tell you my story.

Six rooms later into the Beacon Hill, at times my lights weren't working. Sometimes it'd be all the lights, sometimes it'd be a few of the bulbs, at times it was just one room and I have this one light at the front porch that completely stopped turning on. I gave up on that light since I already installed the siding and I couldn't do anything about it, especially since I have a high baseboard in my kitchen(that's where my tapewire begins). A few times, one of my chandeliers gave off a spark when I turned on the switch. once it sparked and little bits of smoke was coming out where the brads connected to the light. Wow that crapped me out. Then one unfortunuate day, the junction splice that I got from the Cir-Kit came off. When I tried to gently hammer it back in, it fell apart on me. Next day I ran to AC Moore and bought another junction splice. I bought one of those that has a screw so that it can securely stay on the house. When I installed it, wow what a difference. No flickering, no sparks, no smoke. Even the front light porch started to work again. The junction splice was the root of the problem. No more problems. Except for two instances....

After laying down the floor, one of my chandeliers stopped working. This was after the glue had dried. I noticed the light was only working when I pressed down on the floor above, where the brads connect to the wire. Oh man, so I had to trouble shoot. I ripped up the floor as carefully as I could, turned on the switch and the light worked again. So I had to install brads in a new area of the tapewire. So I fixed the problem.

Another new problem, which isn't so much a new problem. Remember I said that the front light porched stopped working all together, then it worked again? well, the mounting tape it was on the adhesive somehow isn'tadhesive anymore. It was just dangling. So what did I do? I glued it with instant griip. Next thing I know....the stupid thing isn't working again.

Well I don't know if this was helpful or not, but I hope it was. If anything try the junction splice?

[wenlaine]

Also, don't forget to check your bulbs. I had a chandelier that wouldn't stay on and found out the bulb was loose. Make sure you tighten them all in securely, as they will come loose. You can purchase a little tool that you stick inside to tighten bulbs, btw.

[CindyS]

It is not the bulbs, I checked that. It has to do with the connections at the brads. When I touch some of the brads, they come on.

[barnilad]

I'm having similar problems with wiring. I wired the kitchen hanging light through to the second floor and attached it to the tape with eyelets.

The light works only when I press on the eyelets. Called the Cir-Kit Co. and they said to hammer in better but it didn't help. Will be interested in others solution to similar problems

[Peggi]

Soldering the joints might help it keep a connection.

[chikzilla]

Try putting a touch of Eileens glue on the brad... the brads do come loose often, but by adding the glue, it will secure the connection.

If the brads are underneath wallpaper, just use an Xacto X cut over the brad, very lightly to not cut into the tapewire, and add the glue, then glue the paper back down.

[Charlene]

I personally use the hollow eyelets -- larger & easier to handle + they seat better into the wood. Try sealing the brads/eyelets with clear nail polish (also keeps out moisture) and I cover all the tape runs with masking tape -- hides the color and keeps the run flat. Using the eyelets, nail polish & tape, I've not had a problem with more than a dozen houses that I've wired over the past 15 years.

[IAK]

Also, don't forget to check your bulbs. I had a chandelier that wouldn't stay on and found out the bulb was loose. Make sure you tighten them all in securely, as they will come loose. You can purchase a little tool that you stick inside to tighten bulbs, btw.

I went crazy with a porch light. I ordered it from HBS. Brand new out of the package so I assumed it must be the wiring. Redid the whole tapewire only to find out the bulb in the fixture was burnt out. I thought I would loose my mind! Lesson learned.....even if it's new, it could still be the bulb.

[darrellandmelissa]

You've all hit on some of the common problems some encounter with their first wiring efforts. Here are some answers that I hope will help everyone.

Bulbs - Note that in my pictorial I ALWAYS check the fixture to make sure it works, has good bulbs, and internal connections BEFORE I wire it in. It is common for the screw in type bulbs to be loose and these MAY work sometimes and not others. If your fixture has replaceable bulbs it only takes a few seconds to make sure it's screwed or plugged in completely and that can save hours of frustrations later.

Brad and eyelet tape to tape connections - This is where we really have to pay close attention. IF the connection isn't PRESSING SOLIDLY into a TIGHT hole then the flexing of the wood as we move the house around may cause it to lose connection entirely or become "intermittant" where the lights work sometimes but not other times.

Years ago on my first house, I broke the little pilot punch tool and was too lazy to look around for the extra punch pins I had purchased in case of such a disaster. But the file was handy so I filed the remaining portion of the broken pin to a point and kept using it. THAT WAS A MISTAKE! Further up on the point the width of the shaft of this little point was WIDER than the smaller diameter of the original point. The end result was that although the brads went in a lot easier, the connections made this way were a lot more fragile and I had intermittant problems with almost every one of them over the course of the next several weeks. The solution was to add an extra couple of brads to EACH connection with a properly narrow pilot hole. Lesson learned. And I still have that house but it has 8 brads at most of the connections instead of the usual 4.

To make the pilot holes you must make one that is considerably smaller than the diameter of the brad or eyelet and press the brad in very firmly and very straight. This is why the person at circuit suggested to someone that tapping them in better may solve the problem as it IS INDEED the most likley source of the problem. (NOTE: If you are pushing the brad in and it bends sideways, this usually overly enlarges the hole and will NOT make a good solid connection. Make a NEW pilot hole at a different location and try again.)

If the pilot hole is small and tight, and if you push the brad or eyelet in very straight until it's fully seated, then a light tap with a small light hammer should set it up very firmly. Don't bang on it, just tap it down firm. AS the brad or eyelet is being seated in pushes against the sides and tears its way through the copper conductor imbedded in the tape and makes a contact with it. If the pilot hole is too large the creation of that pilot hole already pushed the coppey conductor further aside and made it LESS LIKELY for the brad to touch as much of it as would be needed for a good connection. Hope that makes a good mental picture becuase it's too small to get an ACTUAL picture of it. LOL!

Now if you have a soldering iron, touching the brad and melting a very small bit of solder on it will lock it down for good but this shouldn't be needed, although I do it often. Usually where I am connecting a WIRE to a brad on a tape run.

Sealing the wiring as someone mentioned CAN protect it from later moisture created corrosion although once it's all covered well it should already be somewhat protected. Note that while the "sealer" is still wet, your lights may not work. Don't try then until everything is dry again. A funny thing happened to us once while we were experimenting with different ways to attach the wallpaper. All our lights stopped working. The moisture content of our latest "paste" caused (at least one, but probably more) shorts in the system. I didn't have time to troubleshoot the problem then and when I came back to it the next day (after everything had dried out) all the lights worked again.

I work retail so I don't always have time to answer these right away but if anyone has a particular problem with wiring don't hestiate to write to me with it and I'll help any way I can. However, putting it here where others may benefit as well from the answers is always good for that reason alone.

May all your dollhouses be BRIGHT,

Darrell

[barnilad]

Since I tried tapping the eyelets in the light still doesn't work only when I push down on the eyelets. I did this with 1/8" so the end of the eyelet went all the way through. Could this be the problem? Would it help to solder, and, if so, how is that done? Thanks so much Darrell for the great explanations!

[darrellandmelissa]

barnilad,

If pushing down on the brad makes the light come on, then somewhere AT or VERY NEAR where you are pushing is the place you have a bad connection.

Soldering MAY fix it. Do you know how to solder and have a soldering iron? Somewhere here I gave a quick explanation on soldering. If not, I may make a pictorial on that when I take my vacation in January. I work retail so I won't have much time before then.

Another solution would be to add an extra brad or two to the connections in that area. Just make sure you are connecting the exact same two conductors your other connections were making.

Hope this helps,

Darrell

[barnilad]

Thanks so much for all your help Darrell. Since everything works before and after I can only assume I made the hole for the eyelet too large. I do have some larger eyelets but hesitate to use them as they will show considerably more than the ones I used. I cut the chandelier wires too short to take them out and move the eyelets. Is it okay to leave those eyelet holes empty if I decide to buy a new fixture and move the connection? I don't know how to solder and don't think I have a soldering iron but would get one if it would help. Thanks, again Meda