Crimp connections

On my battery setup I used the hammer crimp tool then torch and solder followed by heat shrink.

Thank you sir.

I wish the subject of Strain Relieving would appear more often than fairy tales.

How to do things correctly.

When someone asks me "Have you ever seen a plated terminal "blush" as the terminal passes the melting temperature point of 60/40 solder?" this person knows soldering.

When someone remarks "soldering bonds the terminal metal to wire stranding interior while crimping limits the bond to merely the surface of the strands" the person knows why soldering is vastly superior in dubious environments like salt air or corrosive gas from batteries. Meltable heat shrink does not guarantee intrinsic protection. Period. Corrosion creeps under tin coating and migrates to the end of the terminal then hoses unprotected stranding. Once electricity passes to the interior of a solder bonded wire stand it could care less about the surface interface integrity.

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Problem with soldering lugs is that it can make the soldered joint brittle. With coach vibration, the wiring can break. That is the reason you don't find soldered connections in aircraft wiring.


HORSE


PUCKY


I've held an FAA PMA license for electrical systems and a second license for aircraft starter motor and alternator rebuilding for 29 years.

It's good to have you back on the forums :)

Problem with soldering lugs is that it can make the soldered joint brittle. With coach vibration, the wiring can break. That is the reason you don't find soldered connections in aircraft wiring.


HORSE


PUCKY


I've held an FAA PMA license for electrical systems and a second license for aircraft starter motor and alternator rebuilding for 29 years.

Most mechanics cannot solder worth two-cents. And the regulation goes back to the days when bikinis were illegal. It isn't about brittle it's about eliminating a threat because there are no guarantees that the mechanic can solder worth snot.

There are at least six to as many as twenty factory soldered connections in each and every alternator or starter motor. But the FAA steps in and demands high altitude brushes and special rectifiers that is strictly enforced.

Modern? Why does FAA still demand separate OVL control for voltage regulators? The OVL means OVER VOLTAGE LIMITER. Right out of the days of Newsreel shorts in a movie theater.

Vibration? I've never seen a broken soldered point in an alternator but I have seen an uncrimped solder joint fail on a prestolite starter. The solder joint looked like a gob of dried chrome aluminum paint. In my work I used 100 percent silver to solder these joints.

Wear protective clothing, remove the cowling on a Beechcraft with a Lycoming engine, advance the throttle and feel the vibration. About 10 to 20 times more intense than an automotive engine.

This is why wiring on the outside uses factory placed Adel clamps. And an FAA surveyor should note this on an annual. I have found rat's nest next to instrument clusters and frays in wiring next to fuel changeover switches.

If 3 to 1 adhesive heat shrink tubing is used properly on a properly soldered terminal it will have a longer more secure lifespan then any crimped terminals.

The problem is for those PMA mechanics who can't past 10 on their fingers without unzipping their pants. The The Federal Aviation administration would have to test each and every PMA applicant up front and personal. Impossible. Therefore the general ban on soldering wiring. Carmakers operate the same way for the same reason as the FAA.

For my golf cart, I used solder cup ring terminals. they sell little solder pellets correctly sized for the terminals. Put flux on wire and cup, heated the wire, then put it into the cup heating the cup with my propane torch, solder melted... done. I did have shrink wrap pulled over the wire to cover the solder joint too.

Our golf carts used to have lots of shorted out cable and battery cables and connections . they run in all kinds of weather wet dirty and snowy We learned to make all our own cables with generous amounts of dielectric grease in the crimps and the posts.
Lots of grease! A nickles prevention is worth a pound of cure.

navigator2346 wrote:

3 tons wrote:
Before I crimped my 0004 welding cable copper lugs, I inserted a small coil of silver solder in each lug...After crimping I then heated the lugs with a torch, my goal was to have as low connector resistance as practical.. FWIW, silver is a better cinductor than gold...

3 tons

Problem with soldering lugs is that it can make the soldered joint brittle. With coach vibration, the wiring can break. That is the reason you don't find soldered connections in aircraft wiring.

Never tried to fly my truck camper as of yet, but I’ll keep it in mind!!

3 tons wrote:
Before I crimped my 0004 welding cable copper lugs, I inserted a small coil of silver solder in each lug...After crimping I then heated the lugs with a torch, my goal was to have as low connector resistance as practical.. FWIW, silver is a better cinductor than gold...

3 tons

Problem with soldering lugs is that it can make the soldered joint brittle. With coach vibration, the wiring can break. That is the reason you don't find soldered connections in aircraft wiring.

For me it all depends on the environment. Sunshine South Dakota, is a world apart from Miami or the keys. New Orleans, San Diego, Crescent City, Seattle, have bad climate for unsoldered wire. Any place that rusts tools and cars is bad for wire connectors.

Tin plate is not bulletproof. The tin tarnishes. turns back and then it is useless. It turns black slower than bare copper turns purple or green.

But buying a new unit every few years makes soldering a waste of time. Again it all depends where the RV passes it's time. Winter driving on salted roadways hurts fully exposed terminals like for towing and factory plugs and sockets.

Before I crimped my 0004 welding cable copper lugs, I inserted a small coil of silver solder in each lug...After crimping I then heated the lugs with a torch, my goal was to have as low connector resistance as practical.. FWIW, silver is a better cinductor than gold...

3 tons