Any Trick to Getting Caps on HLE Vampire Plugs Off in a Easy Way?

[Yodlei]

Bought SPT-1 wire & some plugs from HLE when I ordered lights back during sale. Finally had my first show ready for the 4th & started to make my cords & took me 1-1/2 hours to do 3 of them & needed 49 (maybe a few less using some extension cords). The caps covering the teeth are very difficult to slide off without getting blisters. Covered my fingers with a blanket (too thick), then my t-shirt & then 1 of those rubber jar opener thingys & still very difficult to budge. Started to use needle nose pliers but they started to put marks on the plugs & don't want to spoil their integrity. Any tricks? Needless to say, no show yet....sigh.

Another ? on them...HLE only had some of the plugs at the time. Can I use any company's plugs on the HLE wire (thickness or fit issues?) or is it best to keep within the same company?

Thx, Joni

[TheDucks]

I don't know about your brand of vampires, but I just press the cap end edge onto the workbench. The cap should move towards the wire end.

You can always mate the Plug / socket with any extension cord  for a bigger gripping surface

[Yodlei]

Guess I should've mentioned that I was trying to do this later at night while watching TV. This is bad time of year for extras with 1/2 acre to take care of during the day. Will try against some retaining wall stones tomorrow after the rain stops & see if it will work same as a workbench. Getting them off before putting the wire in is harder than putting it back on but still hard.

Figured plug/sockets were probably standard.

Thx much!

[k6ccc]

One trick I have used is to take a pair of large channel locks.  Place the channel locks so one jaw is on the cap and the other jaw is on the body on the end that does not have the wire.  That will give you plenty of leverage to get the cap to slide.

 

[Yodlei]

Will give that a try as well...Thx much!

[TheDucks]

1 hour ago, Yodlei said:

Guess I should've mentioned that I was trying to do this later at night while watching TV. This is bad time of year for extras with 1/2 acre to take care of during the day. Will try against some retaining wall stones tomorrow after the rain stops & see if it will work same as a workbench. Getting them off before putting the wire in is harder than putting it back on but still hard.

Figured plug/sockets were probably standard.

Thx much!

Any hard, steady surface works.  The channel locks need care or you break things (I now have depth perception issues, so getting the position correct is ...)

A drill press vice works great if you have one. Just put it on a tray while sitting in front of the tube.

[EARLE W. TALLEY]

Make sure that you are putting them on the right way, look at the plug without the wire and you will see they will only fit on the wire easier if they go on sliding correctly. 

[TheDucks]

1 hour ago, EARLE W. TALLEY said:

Make sure that you are putting them on the right way, look at the plug without the wire and you will see they will only fit on the wire easier if they go on sliding correctly. 

Good point @EARLE W. TALLEY, Plugs have a closed end on the wire tray. Also, if you look into the tray at the closed end, there is a pocket. You are supposed to split the end of the SPT about an 1/8", and bottom it out in the pocket, then lay the rest of the fire in the tray. The cap has a small stub. That faces the wire length, and you slide on until it is firmly wedged,

ALSO

These plugs are POLARIZED (has wide prong) for safety (the screw base on bulb socket is also connected to the ribbed wire). When attaching the wire, the RIBBED edge of the SPT is supposed to be  on the side with the wide pins barb (in the wire tray).

[Jimehc]

and every one I have done went on pretty easy with my thumbs... Now using SPT1 Plugs on SPT2 wire - thats a problem

[Marty Spain]

As The Ducks mentioned, channel lock pliers work well. I use the medium size channel lock. They are around 10 inches in length. Be careful to have the wire seated in the channel of the plug before pressing on the cover. Sometimes the wire gets caught by the cover and moves bending the prongs in the plug. More with Spt2 wire than Spt1. I only use SPT-1 now. Much easier to install and has the same current rating just thinner wire casing. Happy installing!

[Orville]

I purchased a cheap, but heavy vice from  Harbor Freight Tools, secured it to a table and use the vice for installing the vampire plugs.  Also bought a cheap multimeter with continuity checker to verify which wire goes to the wide plug (usually white wire as the wide outlet side is Neutral), the small plug side is Hot and is usually black, but with extension cord wire, usually both wires are the same color, one may have a ribbed edge or a white line, this is the side I always connect to the wider plug or wide side of the outlet end of my cords.

The continuity checker has a small speaker that will beep when you test which wire is which, once inserted into a vampire plug, you may forget which wire goes to which connector, therefore you could reverse the wires at one end. 

A continuity tester can be made with a 9v battery, 100k resistor and any color L.E.D. you care to use, or you can just use a 9v battery and an old 8-ohm speaker, speaker will click or make a pop sound when you touch the opposite end of the wire, very easy to build a simple continuity checker, but never use it on a "live" wire as their is a possibility of electrocution.

 

[Yodlei]

On 7/7/2023 at 10:11 PM, k6ccc said:

One trick I have used is to take a pair of large channel locks.  Place the channel locks so one jaw is on the cap and the other jaw is on the body on the end that does not have the wire.  That will give you plenty of leverage to get the cap to slide.

 

I know it's been awhile but finally got around to getting this done. Grabbed edge with channel locks & placed plugs on a paving brick edge. Not much room to hold the opposite edge down with finger but got it done. Channel locks also did the trick for putting the caps back on. Only problem....didn't buy near as many as I need.

Knew the placement/polarity stuff but thanks to all who helped. (Don't see the "solved" button??)