Enaa Mari
Wiring harness issues and assembly flaws are not uncommon. This can be said for both custom and manufactured wiring harnesses. If you’re designing the harness yourself, it’s not uncommon to make changes and modifications when challenges are met as you’re putting all the components together. For big manufacturers, though the assembly process is mostly standardized, the design can still go through a couple of modifications before finalizing for production to ensure minimal risk of wiring harness failures. Testing should also be an important part of the process whether the unit was manufactured or customized at home.
However, since wiring harnesses are composed of numerous components and are intricately assembled, it’s not unusual for them to wear out over a period of time. It’s also possible that poor assembly may result in less durability. If you’re planning to put together a wiring harness yourself, it’s always better to be aware of what may go wrong so that you can prevent these mistakes beforehand. If you’re trying to fix a faulty wiring harness, there are also ways you can repair the unit and reinforce it yourself. Here are some of the common causes of wiring harness issues.
Manufacturing Flaw
As aforementioned, a manufactured wiring harness is typically done in a more standardized fashion. The components of a harness are typically measured, cut, and crimped by a machine. If a machine used by a factory is not well-maintained, there is a high chance that the quality of its performance could deteriorate over time. This may result in poor quality outputs when it comes to the assembly process and may be detrimental to the layout of the wire harness during production.
Some components may not be soldered or connected properly which might make the harness more vulnerable to falling apart and short-circuiting. The best way to deal with a broken wiring harness that was poorly manufactured is to reinforce the connections aside from doing repairs. By doing this, you can extend the life of the wiring harness and avoid any more risk of future malfunctions.
Utilizing Materials with Low-Quality
If you’re customizing the wiring harness yourself, then you have the freedom to choose the types of materials and components that would go into the unit. A common mistake that leads to custom wiring harness issues is using poor quality goods that would wear out easily. It’s also ideal to consult an OEM engineer if you’re planning to utilize such products since they have better knowledge of what would be a more suitable fit for your design.
Additionally, you should select the kind of insulating material for the wiring inside a harness according to different types of applications. Insulation should be able to withstand abrasion and extreme temperatures so taking into account the environment of where the wiring harness will be installed is highly necessary. Some components also come in different shapes or sizes and wiring harness issues might be encountered if the wrong variation is installed. This is why it’s highly important to go over your design multiple times before you proceed with assembly.
