F4 Tape Source

[Tucson T4R]

When I was in the Air Force we used a self fusing silicon tape for wraping wire bundles or sealing cable splices. I was great stuff. It was nick named F4 Tape.

I just found a public source for this tape and I order a couple rolls.

http://www.f4tape.com

If you were in any of military electronic fields you probably used this tape. If you have never used it and need to tightly wrap and seal wiring bundles or conectors, you should check it out.

I was very happy to find this stuff after so many years. :wings:

 

[timh]

Wow, it aint cheap:Wow1: Sounds like pretty neat stuff though!

 

[mhiscox]

Thanks for the recommendation. Just painlessly ordered some up.

 

[Tucson T4R]

Wow, it aint cheap:Wow1: Sounds like pretty neat stuff though!

True but if you really need something fully weather sealed, nothing beats the performance of this tape.

I plan to use it to wrap the splice bundle on my KK trailer I did last weekend between my main trailer body and the kitchen module.

I also plan to remove the current heat shrink from my trailer to truck cable connector which is floppy loose now and wrap it with this F4 tape. It not only fully seals the connection but also provides a thick rubber supportive structure to the cable to connector interface that will last for years.

 

[petrolhog]

Yeah, amazing stuff. www.Campinglab.com sells them too. Also, check out www.Mcmaster.com and search for silicone tape they carry them too.

 

[762X39]

We use something similiar (it might be the same stuff) at work for weatherproofing connections.It is called vulcanizing tape or self vulcanizing tape.Once it is wrapped around itself it fuses or vulcanizes itself together making a moisture resistant seal.I have seen connections that I protected 15 years ago with the stuff still dry underneath when I cut the tape off.

 

[Tucson T4R]

We use something similiar (it might be the same stuff) at work for weatherproofing connections.It is called vulcanizing tape or self vulcanizing tape.Once it is wrapped around itself it fuses or vulcanizes itself together making a moisture resistant seal.I have seen connections that I protected 15 years ago with the stuff still dry underneath when I cut the tape off.

That's what motivated me to go looking for it. Last weekend I was troubleshooting an electrical problem on my trailer and I traced the problem back to a heat shrinked bundle of splices and one plug. I had used heat shrink to protect the splices and the 12VDC 2 prong plug together. I then sealed (or so I thought) both ends with silicon RTV.

When I cut into the shrink wrap, water came pouring out. The top was not fully sealed but the seal at the bottom did a great job holding the water in for months until the pins on the 12V plug corroded away.

I cut the 12V plug out and spliced the wires. Now tightly wrapping this bundle with F4 tape, I should have a water tight, fully protected connection for many years to come.

No more, gee, why is my fridge not running??? :elkgrin:

The rescue tape at campinglab is probably the same self fusing silicon tape but I like the F4 tape because it has center line on it to help with even wraps and a tapered cross section which is thin on the sides and thicker in the middle.

 

[ntsqd]

I use 3M #23 tape.

http://products3.3m.com/catalog/us/en001/government/innovative_solutions/node_GSK2CXDXBFbe/root_GS3RBW6QFVgv/vroot_31S2JJ7584ge/gvel_4XJ2JWLQ2Rgl/theme_us_innovativesolutions_3_0/command_AbcPageHandler/output_html

 

[DaveM]

I think this is commonly available now at most hardware stores as silicone tape. A little expeinsve but works great.