wa8yxm wrote:
ktmrfs wrote:
Mike134 wrote:
jdc1 wrote:
Mike134 wrote:
jdc1 wrote:
Do it right....solder them together, then use the heat shrink.
Solder is good but a good crimp is just as reliable. How can I say for certain? I have yet to see a building I wired the past 40 years using crimps burn down.
How often do you drive those buildings down a pothole mired freeway at 55mph? LOL. (42 years as a general Yea, I get the push-in outlet thing contractor),, but moving vehicles are not the same as a stationary building.
Those are just garbage. No good Union electrician would ever rely on that type of connection. But the point was a crimp connection is just as good and even better than solder when solder is done wrong. IE to much heat not enough heat, wrong flux, wrong solder.
at one time our company (high tech electronics equipment) looking at field failures started looking at connector failures. What we found was that even with a great deal of training, proper equipment, inspection the failure rate of soldered connectors was higher than crimped connectors. Problem with solder is it is a very hard process to control and train. to much solder= solder wicking up wire, causing failures from flex in the wire, on and on. Field failures went down with crimped connectors. Now
1) there are LOTS of crappy crimp tools around, use them and your failure prone. And good crimp tools are not inexpensive and you need a set of jaws for every type of connector. I've probably spent $400 or more on crimp tools and jaws.
2) if you have been trained in soldering, know the connector and don't have a good crimp tool, solder is a way to go.
So, look at your skills, your tools see what you have. If you DON'T have the tools or the skill, look for some help.
Actually in some cases Crimp is better... As I recall aircraft service solder is not approved crimp is. On Stranded wire I've had excellent luck with crimped connections.. as I said I have a pro-grade crimper small ire crimper (Up to 10 ga) larger wires I've seen some even better crimpers (Hydraulic type).
But for SOLID wire.. I like solder better or but splice and solder over it.
Why is Solder not approved for aircraft?
The soldered connection is "hard" and does not flex. the crimped one (Save for the actual crimp) can flex rather than break or at least that's what I was told.
Still I'll take solder over a wire nut. (Solid to stranded connection) It makes a difference what is being connected to what.
Solid to solid or stranded/stranded wire nuts work fine.. Solid to Stranded not so much.
There is no way to think how many solid to stranded connections are out there, I thinking billions in the housing markets as most fixtures are stranded and romex is solid. The list goes on. I cannot think of how many thousands of terminal are crimped. My 55 years in industrial, commercial and residential electrical connections I never soldered any connection other than some electronic boards.
