14 Sep
2014
14 Sep
'14
5:32 a.m.
On Sat, 13 Sep 2014, dwight wrote:
From: paulkoning at comcast.net
Done correctly, using the right compression dies and tools, crimped
connections are always far more secure and reliable both mechanically and
electrically than soldered connections. However, the correct tools (not
one of those cheap multifunction plier type strip/crimp/bolt cutter tools,
or worse, a pair of vice grips or needle nose pliers) are expensive and
more often than not, outside of a large company and/or factory, people
don't have access to proper compression tools. In the automotive industry
for example, at one time it was common for even "factory authorized"
dealer operated repair shops to crimp and then solder replacement
terminals for vehicle wiring harnesses. That practice has since changed
with better access to the correct tools and with better training, and
technicians are now told specifically /not/ to solder crimp type
terminals.
On Sep 13, 2014, at 7:11 PM, Noel Chiappa <jnc
at mercury.lcs.mit.edu> wrote:
I used to do +100 Amp connections. Crimps were never good enough.
Soldering was always better. Solder is not a good mechanical connection.
We always crimped first for mechanical then soldered for electrical.
Dwight PS: I just realized that perhaps the spade lug
connector was
under-specified, and that's why it was getting too hot. So perhaps
another alternative is like the first (clean and put back together),
only this time, solder the two together; my intuition says that would
increase the amount of amps it could carry - or am I totally confused
there?
Solder helps keep things mechanically sound, but for high current
connections a well executed crimp is probably better.
What I would do is pull the old lug off, clean off the wire, and crimp
on a new lug with a good quality (commercial grade, not Radio Shack)
ratchet crimp tool. If it?s done right it should be on very tight; if
you can pull it off without serious force it?s either the wrong size
lug or the wrong tool.