Thanks for all of the future video ideas! Products Tested In This Video (in no particular order): Scotch/3M Super 88: amzn.to/32mZP8m Scotch/3M Super 33+: amzn.to/3gfYNzK Duck Economy: amzn.to/2Ehj0Z1 Duck Professional: amzn.to/34nwux5 Power Gear: www.homedepot.com/p/Power-Gear-3-4-in-x-20-ft-Electrical-Tape-51994/203724497 StikTek: bit.ly/3aQ3tLr Mighty Gadget: amzn.to/2FEFLGz
Sorry, but these tests have nothing to do with wrapping 480 volt electrical terminals. If you were an electrical contractor in a factory you wouldn't be caught dead with cheap electracle tape. I love your channel. But this is a very bad test. Sorry.
@@anthonysmith4072 I agree... Sorry, but these tests have nothing to do with wrapping 480 volt electrical terminals. If you were an electrical contractor in a factory you wouldn't be caught dead with cheap electracle tape. I love your channel. But this is a very bad test. Sorry
sadly i was expecting an aging test. the 3M electrical tapes i've used after a year had lost practical adhesion leaving only a sticky oily mess and would slowly loosen itself for example, this is rather dangerous fault for something that should be staying permanently on those live wires, as of recent i've been putting shrink tubing on top.
as an electrician who has used miles of tape in the last 18 years. i was kind of disappointed that your experiment did not include any electrical testing. i mean it is electrical tape and its designed use is to electrically insulate conductors. also you kind of touched on it a little bit. but the stickiness of the glue, flexibility and strength of electrical tape is largely dependant on temp. and humidity. please consider these parameters in future tests. (keep your tape in your pocket in the winter)
As another electrician who also has used miles of electrical tape, I agree. The cold & heat tests were nice, however tests to see how well the tapes worked when applying in cold and hot would have been nice. As an apprentice, i was told the reason we always used 3M tape was when cold, the cheap tapes could be fully unrolled by holding one end and rolling the whole reel down an aisle. I have also seen personally how ineffective the adhesive can be at lower temps.
@@TheMonster1999 At normal temps you may get a few feet out of a roll of tape. The point was that when cold, the cheaper tapes acted like there was no adhesive at all, while the 3m still performed normally.
My first thought. Especially considering most people dont reach for electrical tape when they need strength holding weight. Really, a long term exposure test in both extremes would tell people better overall, which tape holds up best, over time, when actually being used for, well...electrical
I've been an electrician for 50 years and have used Scotch Super 33 almost exclusively because of it's reputation for insulating effectiveness. I, also, was impressed by the performance of the Harbor Freight brand. I agree with Francis. I would like to see each tape's insulating abilities through, say 3 layers, one at a time using a digital multimeter. I look forward to each of your videos. Great job!
one thing to possibly add is a test on ultraviolet light resistance. you could make a light box with a few UVA and UVB lights and expose tape or other materials to it for a set amount of time to replicate the product being used outside. ive seen cheap e-tape turn brittle and break/crack in a few days of sunlight, but ive had super 88 on a antenna feed line outside for 2 years and its still going strong. anyway keep up the good work.
I was amazed how well my coax cable connection help of for years with the 88 as you say, I am now having some fun with liquid electrical tape to see how it holds up. seems years ago the liquid would not last for long and I stopped purchasing it. trying some differant brands now
I like rubber splicing tape (self bonding) because it makes a nice waterproof splice. But it has no UV resistance, so I wrap the whole splice with Super 88.
Kind of missed the point of electrical tape though. It's not there to be strong is there to insulate. The scotch 88 is definitely the best and some of your test show that. If you just need to wrap something up get the cheap stuff. If it is a serious electrical connector that someone could wander into and handle and be hurt it's hard to beat most Scotch products
What I want in an electrical tape is, of course electrical resistance, but also very important is for the tape to be able to be wrapped upon itself and remain secure to itself (not unroll or leave the connection to become exposed. That would involve extended time tests to see how it remained adhered to itself and how it reacted or how it didn't react to the elements. That perhaps , at least some, were beyond the scope of the tests. My go-to tape is the Scotch 33.
Here is a way to keep the tail of the tape from coming loose. Most people stretch the tape a little as they wrap their work. At the end of the wrap quit stretching the tape and leave a couple of inches that is not stretched. Take this last bit of tape and finish the wrap without stretching it and your tape will stay in place and not pull off. I also like 33.
I always use only Scotch in harsh conditions in extreme environments. We’ve had other brands but nothing touches Scotch 23 + Scotch 88 + Scotchkote Electrical Coating FD combination. The ONLY thing that stands up to the rigors of the tropics, the intense UV rays everyday, years worth of waterproof insulation, and extreme temperatures of the arctic was a combination of tapes and a liquid: First, use Scotch 23 (the BEST self-amalgamating tape on the planet) by stretching it and wrapping exposed cable splice. But Scotch 23, although has VERY GOOD waterproofing and the very best electrical insulation, just rots away if used by itself with UV rays. Scotch 88 provides excellent adhesion that last years on Scotch 23 tape, and resists UV degradation more than any other tape I’ve ever used. This test should have tested UV degradation. Then, to protect against salt water splash, one must finish by brushing on Scotchkote Electrical Coating FD coating. None of those three will ever work by themselves; but for quick repairs and cable splices at sea in extreme conditions, all three are REQUIRED, and no other combination works nearly as well. source: I live at sea, and have worked with various tapes for decades.
I’ve waterproofed many connections, and what I typically use is a courtesy wrap of scotch 88, then a wrap of scotch 2228, covered by a 2nd layer of scotch 88 finally covered by a Heat Shrink Sleeve that has the glue inside...
Thank you for all the information about electrical tapes! That's pure gold for me, because I didn't even know, that you have to apply different layers of tapes, to do a proper job and cover everything. Thank you very much!!
Ive been using Scotch 88 for a while and it is much better than the Harbor freight stuff I was using. The harbor freight tape has a really short shelf life and after about a year in use the tape loosens up and is all gooey and hard to remove. The scotch 88 is easy to remove but won't come loose on its own and it won't turn gooey after several years in use.
I'd like to see a test on the various brands of silicon sealant. Curing time, adhesion strength, temperature breakdown, do the high temp ones actually deliver more resistance than the standard ones, etc. I've noticed that they can cost anywhere from 3.00 for a 3 oz tube, to 1.99 for a caulking gun sized tube, so a huge price variation from brand to brand.
Super 33 doesn’t turn to nasty black goo after even years in the sun. Work pays for it so that is all I use. It even outlasts cable ties for securing a wire to a pipe in south fl sun.
@@oso1165 Most cable ties are nylon and will eventually dry out and become brittle. Super88 is a vinyl base and seems nearly impervious to the elements and doesn't sag much in the heat. White cable ties and black cable ties are essentially the same but the pigment in the black ones give them slight UV resistance. Near pointless, as it's not the UV exposure that normally causes them to fail as much as it's the embrittlement from drying out.
Great job on the electric tape. That ziptie might be good. The plastic on some is another thing that doesn't seem to hold up in our Arizona sun. Just south of me at the old Yucca testing grounds. Volvo is now conducting their how sun destroys plastic tests. They lay out plastic parts on boards that turn during the day to keep them in direct sun.
The things you do to make these videos for us is amazing! You can't find a tool to stretch the tape so you get out your welder and some pipe and make it yourself. Thank you for doing what you do to give us this quality, unbiased content!
@@ProjectFarm What you should have also tested would have been the electrical insulation ability. As I noticed many tapes only mention some power limit, but what is important is actually the voltage the electrical tape can insulate.
@@brandobashin4838 Super 88 is thicker than 33+. This thickness causes it to be hard to apply to small wires (the main purpose of the tape), every little wrinkle builds up and it causes a lot of air gaps in the tape when wrapped around itself. Super 33+ is flexible and thin, it is so easy to bend and stretch into the correct place. I will never use another tape. thin and flexible is the best.
JeepCollector91 If you use electrical tape on refrigerant lines, do you use refrigerant line insulation on electrical supplies? 8-D Must make life verrrry interesting for you!
+W. Bush On residential applications I always used electrical tape to protect the insulation on the line set for the few feet from where it penetrates the exterior of the home to where it is brazed to the condensing unit.
“and with that, let’s get the testing underway” favorite thing to hear at 2 AM when I am binge watching RU-vid. Could you test (not sure how) some fuel stabilizers/ethanol additives? Happy new year!
Because I've worked for a tape factory if you want to really test quality, you would want to run each one of these tests at least 10 times per brand and make a spreadsheet with deviation. That way you'll see which one is the most consistent, because quality on every kind of tape is all about consistency.You may think a harbor freight broke at 5 kgs but if you test it one meter further, it may break at 3 kgs. I want to thank you for the conversion to metric, I really appreciate it :D
I'm a student in mechanical engineering, and I approve what Jonathan Smith said. Having multiple runs for any test eliminate variable such as imperfection that can be found in the product or sometime in the product used to do the test (like the rusty bolts with penetrating fluid you did) Your videos ideas are great tho! please continue to do them they are super interesting!
You forgot to test them under water^^ Like when you use it to hold your bumper in place, can you drive under the rain ? Except than that, this is a very well made and scientific video
As an electrician at U. S. Steel, I use the Scotch Super 33 all the time. Always impressed with how strong & stretchy it is. Only thing it can't survive is accidentally getting sprayed with heavy duty degreaser. Turns the adhesive into a gooey mess. Anyway, you got me hooked with your crazy experiments. Keep up the good work!
I know those strength tests are going to be useful, but electricians and electronics use them to isolate wires , not as duck tape. So, it would be useful if you tested its electrical resistance whith a megger (like a multimeter, but can measure los of Momhs), for example, joining two pieces of #10-14 AWG, wrapping one lap op tape and then some metallic fabric (to not puncture the tape) and testing it. Good vídeo, anyways, keep on doing 'em.
Very good point ! When I worked for AT&T as a splicer / repair tech, I found some vinyl tapes were electrically too conductive ( due to adhesive properties ) to be used on wires with "pulp / paper " insulation. It was recommended to use PAPER TAPE which was designed to insulate good as well as to keep groups of wires together in splice closures. "Electrical tape" would cause high resistance shorts and cross voltage especially when higher voltage circuitry was becoming common - T-1's and special circuits with higher frequencies. J K
Absolutely agree. Another factor I've seen is one that seemingly can only be done with time (or perhaps ozone exposure?) - that some tapes become brittle, and can cease holding together the wire bundles.
Hi Mustie1, I didn't notice the smell since I wear a respirator. You've got a GREAT channel. Thanks for taking time to check out the video and comment!
I love that you are putting the metric values beside the imperial ones. That makes the video a whole lot easier to comprehend for my non-US mind. Thanks for that!
Nice vid. I do marine electronics for a living and use tons of electrical tape. Scotch 88 and 33 are awesome but the best bang for your buck by a long shot is 3M Temflex it's about a dollar a roll and the stretch and adhesion are amazing even in cold weather. Only strange thing I found is the colored tapes don't stretch as well as the plain black
@@brianblithe2271 They stopped making it. I haven't been able to get it for about a year. From what I'm told by my supplier, it was too good and people weren't buying the more expensive stuff. The temflex on the market now is garbage
Tnb Spotter ohm reading for resistance would be off all know scales. Amount of electrical insulation they provide is tested and rated by UL. (Underwriter laboratory’s). 2 standard wraps =600v worth of protection is required for certification.
pdgeman lol me too, it’s just, I can’t see those dang electric pixies n I heard they go whatever way they want, and they definitely sting in groups of 100 or more so I wrap it 5-6 times on car stuff n 8-10 times on house stuff. Just insurance because I don’t want them sneaking out and ganging up on me.
@@travisjohnston2369 Temflex sounds like it's going for flexibility, not necessarily stretch-ability. Stretchy things tend to be flexible, but not all flexible things are stretchy. For example with synthetic ropes, a Nylon (aliphatic polyamide) rope will stretch 5 times more than one made from Kevlar (aromatic polyamide) under the same load (20-25% elongation vs. 3.5% elongation).
This is the most refreshing channel on RU-vid, don't change and keep up the hard work! Yeah the super 88 and super 33 is what we using in the telecommunications world. No compromises. I'm happy with that.
jesse serfling ,, anything larger than a,,,S 12. For metal framing,,. You have to drill at least the eighth inch hole first,,. I used to do a lot of steel doors hardware and bathroom partitions,,. Mostly all drilled and tapped,,. A company called Fastenal is the best to buy Fasteners from,,. !!!
If you tell your audience what product type you are planning to test in the future, you'll get suggestions on what parameters to test in the comment section.
I really appreciate the thoroughness of your videos. I have used about have of tapes. My personal favorite has always been scotch supper 33+ it's not cheap but has always worked well for me. I actually prefer a lower tinsel strength because its easier to RIP. Sounds like a small think but when you do it 10s of times a day it's a big deal. Also it seems like it goes on well without wrinkles. My dad has been an electrician for 40 years and that's the only tape he uses he pushed his bias on to me. Lol I use the commercial electric and the rolls from grainger regularly they both suck
Super 33+ is all I ever used when I installed car audio. It is super easy to apply. I think that the amount of flexibility in the tape actually makes it adhere better. I cannot tell you how many installs I came across where cheap tape was used and the tape had simply fallen off. I cannot recall that happening once with Super 33+.
I'm surprised the HF tape did as well as it did. I used to work for an electrical contractor and used many tapes over the years. I tried the HF tape a few times and where it really failed was during the winter. Below freezing or so it would become very brittle, easily cracking and splitting apart if flexed or stretched even slightly, and the adhesive would barely hold. That was about 6-8 years ago; looks like they have made improvements since then.
SGT ROCK it’s all made in China unfortunately. Even the good stuff. We are making a comeback and harbor freight is selling more American made stuff these days.
There are a lot of people that use HF electrical tape and swear by it. In fact, a huge amount of the lists of best HF tools on RU-vid have the electrical tape.
The brand that I use everyday is templex from electrical warehouse and 3m from homedepot or lowes so far it had giving me good results. Thank you so much for your effort on every video.
Two recent products that are interesting is liquid electrical tape that you can color match with power wires and you paint on. Another is self fusing silicon tape that might be great tools to evaluate. The issues ive had with electrical tape is abrasion resistance and gooey adhesive after a certain time of use. I am guessing the scotch would be the best long term. Our family used scotch for years with best results. The cheap stuff slid off and left a gooey residue on your hands after years on use. Scotch stayed hard, flexible and dry after years of heat and use. Heat and abrasion over time are the electrical tapes enemies. Please keep up the fantastic research.
I am glad how you gave a well-rounded, real user test regimen, including flame resistance. Aspects like that make a real impact on repairs and are often overlooked by lab techs. Not sure where you learned your methods but they are both thorough and easy to appreciate for regular folks. Working at 3M, I wish our product engineers would have more of those qualities. Keep up the good work.
I love these videos! But personally, I would like to see each test repeated several times for each tape and an average taken so it would be more representative. That said, I completely understand time constraints and difficulty setting all of this up. Keep up the good work!
Well these products should be under quality control and theres a standard for that quality. I agree with repetitive tests but also the products should be consistent in quality regardless
I have used quite a few brands of electrical tape over the years, but the Harbor Freight is by far my favorite, and not just for the cost. I mainly use it for routing of automotive wiring, which is subjected to quite a lot of heat for long periods of time, below freezing temperatures, and different types of chemicals. Almost every other type of tape ends up leaving this nasty, sticky residue on wires after a few months/years of heat cycles, with Scotch being among the worst offenders in my experience. Even if the tape stays on (it often will slide right off once the adhesive breaks down like that) if you need to pull it off to access those wires again you are left with a mess and even reapplying that same tape it will have trouble staying adhered. Harbor Freight tape (they changed brands around two years ago, but the properties are pretty similar) usually leaves no residue or in high heat areas (such as around the exhaust manifolds) just leaves a tiny amount that is easily removed. I also use it to protect delicate parts/surfaces from welding slag. I used it protect the cylinder walls on an engine block when removing a stuck cylinder head bolt and just stuck it on the uncleaned, oily surface since it only had to stay there for a few minutes. To my amazement, when I went to pull it off it had actually adhered pretty well to that oily surface. It seems to stick to most things and makes a great wrap for hand tools. It is holding on the butylene overmolding on one of my impact wrenches and has had several baths of ATF and other assorted beatings, but not even the tail end has come loose. My radiator hose was cut open by the alternator fan on a bumpy road once, I taped it up with HF electrical tape and a few zip ties. At the end of my long drive home, I couldn't find any signs of leakage from the patched hose. TLDR: Harbor Freight electrical tape, which can be had for $0.50 a roll, is absolutely my go-to.
Thanks for commenting on the HF tape. I had great success with it in the testing, but I wonder if the quality varies somewhat. Some people mentioned issues with the adhesive losing grip over time. Again, I didn't have any issues with it and the price is terrific!
Another VERY well done test Commander and I bet your place is starting to look like Underwriters Laboratories with all the test stands. I just get whatever the store has BUT if I'm really concerned about a splice or whatever, I solder it together and heat shrink tube it. Then maybe put some tubing (wire loom) over it with zip ties. I don't like shorts. Thanks again, Commander and BLESSINGS 2 yall!
Hi Lewie, Thank you very much! Yes, I don't know what to do with all of the test equipment. I know I'll need it in the future. So, I don't want to dismantle it. As usual, your strategy for handling repairs is impeccable! Heat shrink tube is the way to go for sure. I don't like shorts either. Hope all is well with yall!
Love all your vids. The cold weather test for me being an electrician is not only how well it sticks, but how flexible it remains when putting on in very cold weather we get here in ontario. cheap cold tape gets really hard and usually don't stick worth a crap. Again, love your vids.
Hi sir, i only wanted to say congratulations for all the effort that you put on every single video, sometimes I didn't even watch it for the info itself, I watch it because of the passion that is delivered on every episode, and that is saying a lot. Greetings from Argentina
Not to mention that the Scotch brands have a smaller core. I believe you get more product per roll with them. 33+ and 88 are the go-to tapes of choice for my family. My dad was an electrician and he's used them for years!
I absolutely love the information you provide! As an electrician I would like to see the difference in brands when the role of tape is chilled in the freezer and then the tape is applied, it's a big problem for electricians like me. You rock keep it up!
5:55 You should have had the tape-strips farther apart, so that the heat and flames of one strip would not affect its neighboring strip. You saw at 6:17 how both strips caught fire as a result of their being too close together.
Once I quickly needed some electrical tape, bought some white electrical tape and it didn't stick at all, seemed like someone forgot to add the adhesive at the factory
Same, have bought them in a rainbow pack and sometimes there is just no adhesive left at all, some of it will stick to the wrong side or is completely gone.. Store brand has been good enough so far, i've never used 3M or any namebrands..
Project Farm just came to my mind:(for masking tape) testing if the tape protects the surface under it from paint (maybe paint can get under the tape?)
I like Super 88, too. However it's also much thicker than other electrical tapes because it's meant for covering bare electrical connections were you need to build up insulation thickness quickly.... Such a split bolt connectors. Because it's thicker, that also means it's not as pliable in other situations like extremely tight areas. It definitely has its purpose but for everyday electrical tape Super 33 + is the way to go.
Another great series of testing! I hadn't thought of Electrical tape tests but when I saw it, it seemed to be an obvious choice :) We've always used Scotch tape in our shop and I'm glad to see it perform as I would have hoped compared to the others
I have to agree with others in that you really missed the boat on this one. I have worked with electronics for more than 50 years and when I wrap wires I am concerned with 2 main things. The 1st being, how much voltage can you apply to one layer of tape before the voltage arcs through. The 2nd item of concern is how tight can you wrap a wire. The thick electrical tape does not have much stretch and does not lend itself to being wrapped tightly. This will increase the possibility of water entering the connection that you just soldered. But it also lends itself of becoming unwrapped easily. I prefer the thin elastic electrical tape to help insure that the connection is whether tight by being able to wrap the tape tightly. A properly wrapped connection is actually going to result in 2 layers of the tape being applied. This is due to the fact that when you wrap a connection, you overlap what you have already wrapped. It would be good if you could add a test concerning the actual insulation from high voltage, i.e. 120 Vac on up to in excess of 10,000 volts. You could also do a whether test, to demonstrate the ability of the tape to continue to insulate moisture from entering the connection. This test should be equivalent to several years of exposure to the elements. I love your videos but the boat you missed on this one is of aircraft carrier size.
Always excited to see a new video is out! Been meaning to for a while, but your content is well deserving of a Patreon subscription and I finally pulled the trigger! Keep up the great work!
Interesting video. I use 3M 33 and 88. They have a much differnt feel than cheap tapes to me. 88 I use where I want a thicker stronger taping (cuz it’s thick!) 33 is thinner and more elastic and more versitile. Someone told me they are the best because they are approved for use in nuclear facilities... fact??
Excellent video!! I’ve been using super 33 for almost 20 years. About 12 years professionally. Because of your excellent video I will give the harbor freight a shot next time I’m in need. Thanks again!!
You have answered so many questions I've had in my head for a while now. I love your channel, you have some of the best content on here. I always look forward to watching your videos for knowledge and the entertainment. Thank you for your time you put into your videos we really do appreciate it.
Such awesome work, the Scotch 88 is expensive but it's really going to be worth it for specific applications. I was surprised at the price of Harbor Freight though and it didn't do terrible, but if you need some electrical tape for a general application and not for strenuous use, then it'd be the best "deal." All in all, a fantastic job again with the video and thank you for always taking the time and energy to make these videos, they're always a sincere treat!
Great review as always, BUT two other important factors to test for are: 1) UV resistance 2) long-term adhesive stability (does it become gummy or lose grip?) 3M holds up extremely well in both of those categories, don't know about the others.
Thanks for another revealing video. One thing that I personally would find valuable would be a master bar chart that grades all test results into one. This could then be captured by screen shot and would be a great for shopping expeditions.
Also as an electrician, I use it over tissue for cuts on the job, but in school it is supposed to be 50 volts per wrap. I still love the time and effort you put into every video, this was not a deal breaker.
As Linesman and Technicians We used Nitto tape in Telstra for 30 years . Back in the 90's we kicked up a fuss when they tried to replace it . We were using it on the Copper network for all types of wrapping and holding , sealing . It was almost mandatory to keep a roll in your pocket . We used mainly black , a little red . Didnt leave a lot of glue behind . It had huge elasticity we much admired
I think UV (for outdoor use), puncture (for soldered stranded wires that often have little pointy strands) and abrasion testing (for almost any automotive application) would be good additions to this test suite. I enjoy your channel and your careful approach to consistency and range.
I'm a retired mechanic. The company i worked for furnished our tape. When I ran out of the liberated tape that ended up in my tool box I bought one of those multi-rolls of Harbor Freight tape. It was OK for general home use but after being on the shelf for some months all the "sticky" dried up and I only got to use a roll and a half. I was hoping you would do a test for that feature of all the tapes. I'm a real fan of your tests. Thank You.....
Have used many different types of electrical tape over the years, and, at some point, just decided to go with the Scotch 88 and call it a day. All around good performer, widely available, and not prohibitively expensive. Good test.
Great video, I figured you probably already did this one. I have some buddies that have worked in the electrical industry, high and low voltage that sware by the "white" tape which is scotch 35. Obviously, if you need to mark a conductor with black tape you use black but if it's used for low voltage applications and color doesn't matter you just need insulating tape they go for the white tape because it doesn't leave a tacky residue behind even after moneths/years of being on the wires. This one might be nice to do a refresher video on.
