Extension cord fail.

[SuperSix]

Soooo.  Decided to fire up the TR Saturday, right before taking the ATV out. I usually only fire it up and drive it around the block every 4 mo or so.

I use a trickle charger, plugged into a wind-up retractable extension cord. Snagged it on clearance at WalMart ~5 years ago. Loved it, for the $5.00 I spent.

So - I unplugged the cord, pop the hood, and kinda toss the cord on the front clip, and just latch the hood.

Car's driving great, I look to my left - wasps coming out of the door. (Come to think of it, my GF did say she saw wasps around the car) I thought the cooler weather had cleared them - nope. Driving around the block, with wasps flying out. At least they went OUTSIDE of the car.

Then, I hear a <thump!> and then a sharp crack.

Yep - the cord fell off the front clip, and I ran over it.

Looked down the street, saw about 8' of cord. Grabbed that.

No other damage that I saw - but I did find a pair of glasses I thought I lost - about 4 months ago. :rofl;

Time to splice!

/facepalm

[SuperSix]

Well - went out to the garage - saw the remnants of the extension cord reel.

Decided to splice the cable. Overkill, pigtailed, soldered, staggered splices, individual shrink wrap tubing for each wire and the outer casing.

(Can you tell where this is going?)

There was a nick in the wire a foot or so from the break, so I sleeved it with some tubing, shrunk it, all good.

Got the splice done - came out great. Then I noticed I forgot to put the outer shrink wrap on the wire before I soldered it all up. /facepalm.

I wrapped it generously in electrical tape - still looks like ass.

Works great though - but the already short extension cable is about 6" shorter now.

You could say I'm a bit anal about vehicle wiring.

[DCEPTCN]

Good thing you ditched all of hose white anglo saxon protestants!

[Zap]

Getting you and Sylvan together for a fireworks and extension cord show would spell doom for half the planet.