About High Temp Split Loom, A modern vehicle has various wiring systems, including an engine wiring harness, chassis wiring harness, body wiring harness, and interior wiring harness.
The electric wiring in the vehicle not only powers these components but also collects data from the Electronic Control Unit components and keeps data to run the vehicle at optimum levels.
However, the vehicle’s wiring harness undergoes various issues during its lifetime, and one of the common ones is overheating.
The high-temp split loom has been an excellent solution to this overheating issue.
Do you know how it works? Let’s find out the answer.
Table of Contents
- Understanding high-temp split looms:
- Do you need a high-temp split loom for automobile applications:
- Conclusion:
Understanding high-temp split looms:
Let’s get to the point step by step.
What is a wiring harness loom?
A flexible wiring harness loom, mainly a tube-like structure, is preferred as these plastic-made conduits have a high fatigue life.
As plastics have high-impact resistance, they swiftly recover when crushed.
Also, these conduits are resistant to UV radiations and, thus, are a suitable choice for outdoor applications.
For efficient cable management, you can safely encase the cables and wires into these conduits, which can run through them in an organized manner all along their path.
In addition, these conduits help to prevent cables and wires from corrosion, moisture, and other environmental variables that can lead to cable damage over time.
Here is a table that describes different types of plastics used for conduits and their benefits.
| Plastic | Advantage |
| Poly-vinyl chloride metal | Resistant to corrosion, liquid tight |
| Low-density polyethylene | Resistant to chemical and corrosion, high durability, highly flexible |
| Nylon | Abrasion protection, Protection against impact damage |
| Polypropylene | Highly flexible, Compression strength |
What do you mean by a “split” loom?
Split loom refers to the loom with a slit all along the length of the conduit for easy insertion and removing wires from the conduits.
Once you insert the wire into the split loom, it closes automatically and does not allow dust, dirt, and moisture to penetrate the wire loom.
These wire looms are durable, easy to use, and dependable and, thus, are the most popular in the industry. These wire loom features increase the application, project, or any vehicle in which they are used.
Why do you need a “high-temp” loom?
Nowadays, vehicle engines run at around 200 degrees Fahrenheit or higher temperatures, and the engine wiring also gets exposed to such high temperatures continuously.
If you do not correctly protect the wires, the wires may lead to temporary or permanent failures. Also, the failed wires may lead to short circuits, creating chances of fire hazards.
Cables and wires protected under high-temperatures split looms can withstand high-temperature conditions up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Engine wiring harness with temp split loom protection
Do you need a high-temp split loom for automobile applications:
Before you select cable protection for your automobile, you need to consider the below-mentioned features.
Sealed or open system:
First, you must check whether the cables used in the intended application require minimal protection or high protection against environmental hazards or application situations.
The traditional split looms used in automotive applications are very flexible, and thus, they tend to open with overstretching or high-vibration conditions.
As a result, dirt, dust, debris, and moisture enter inside the conduit, resulting in wire damage and affecting application over time.
Consequently, experts devised a solution to seal the conduit opening with tape.
Although this move provided some protection, it was not feasible as it required a lot of labor and manual handling.
This increases the cost of the wire loom and reduces its functionality.
In addition to this, as these traditional wires comprise lightweight materials, they fail to protect harnesses used in high-end vehicles like heavy construction machinery, military ground support automobiles, or other commercial vehicles.
Contrary to these traditional looms, sealed protection systems like IP66 and IP68/69K for light splashing and high-pressure washdown protect the harness against untimely failure and degradation.
As the name clears, these sealed cable protection systems use different varieties of polyamide having different flammability ratings and other features.
Engineers can choose the suitable polyamide based on the harness location and application.
Harness location:
You need high-temp polyamide safety if the harness is installed near the catalytic converter, engine compartment, or transmission.
You can find products that withstand -40 degrees Celsius to +115 degrees Celsius.
Apart from these, special products are also rated to bear temperatures up to 200- 300 degrees Celsius.
On the other hand, it is okay to use conduits made of less robust materials if the harness is installed inside the vehicle. However, you must use a retrofittable system to ease the task of adding extra wires or repairing any damaged wires.
Material selection:
In basic applications that are not exposed to external elements or any rough handling, you can use light/medium wall products.
On the contrary, for applications exposed to harsh environmental elements, always use heavy wall polyamide looms, which are high-temp and high-impact resistant.
For low-smoke, low-toxic performance, look for conduits with UL94 V-0 and ASTM and Bombardier specs for flammability.
Some robust polyamide conduits offer high impact resistance and flexibility, which you may require in jumper cables.
To protect large cable bundles, you can use large diameter (up to 4”) conduits.
The below table describes different types of split looms, their construction materials, applications and features.
| Name | Materials | Applications | Features |
| Standard Split loom | PE | Marine, industrial and automotive wiring applications. | Protection against crushing and abrasion |
| High-temperature split loom | Nylon (heat-stabilized) | Ambulance equipment; Fire equipment where high heat operations are required; Industries where high-temperature surroundings exist. | Resistant to heat |
| UV-resistant high-temperature split loom | Heat stabilized nylon with UV stabilizer | Industrial, automotive and marine wiring that bear high-temperature desert sun for long hours | Heat-stabilized nylon with UV stabilizer |
| Flame retardant split loom | PP | UV protection, Resistant to heat | Resistant to flames |
| Slotted Looms have four slits along the loom length in 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock positions. | Nylon | Outdoor applications like agricultural equipment, bikes, cement trucks, boats, jets and ATVs. | Looms have slots that allow harness drainage. Against water, salt, rain and automotive fluids. |
Cable protection system accessories:
Nowadays, the market has a wide range of conduit accessories to benefit the installation and enhance their performance in almost all applications.
These include snap-in, strain relief fitting, female-threaded fittings to mate with male connectors, T and Y junction fittings, end sleeves, abrasion rings, lock nuts, clamps, etc.
Longevity of the system:
Lastly, you must check how much life you require for your cable protection systems. Suppose you are using any heavy commercial vehicles or high-end military vehicles.
In that case, you need to pick the best quality conduits to match the vehicle’s performance level and justify the high cost of those vehicles.
Different types of wiring harness protection
Conclusion:
High-temperature wire looms are a great way to organize the numerous tangled cables and wires by holding them together.
Also, they are for easy insertion and removal of wires. Further, the high-temp polyamide protects your harness installed near the catalytic converter or engine compartment.
For further information regarding different vehicle harnesses and cable assembly protection, contact Cloom.
We are a leading manufacturer of all sorts of cable assemblies and harnesses, supplying our products worldwide.
