I need some help with soldering

[bruceb58]

You know, someone comes up with something new all the time. That might not provide the technically proper connection, but I just bought 25 of each of the yellow and blue. If the solder will flow with a heat gun only I think they could work for boat and or trailer stuff.

They will sure work better than the crimp types.

They have been around a long time.

What makes you think they would work better than the crimp types?

Personally, I would solder wires together and cover with shrink sleeve before I used something like these.

 

[lmuss53]

It would seem that they have been around a long time, I guess I'm late to the show.

I think that any properly flowed solder connection would hold better that even the most tightly crimped butt connector. I have seen many of them fail, often because they weren't used properly, but I can't remember seeing a soldered splice fail. So, like I said, IF the solder will flow with the heat gun...they will work better than the crimp types.

My current splice method is to solder wires like I described above and cover with a sleeve of marine shrink wrap with the hot melt glue inside. I'll try these and see how well they do, if they work they will speed up a process that takes a good bit of time to do when it is not done at a bench.

 

[bruceb58]

I think that any properly flowed solder connection would hold better that even the most tightly crimped butt connector

One would think that but the problem is the soldered connection will fail because of bending and vibration fatigue before a crimped connection would fail. One of the reasons, soldered connections are not used in a commercial environment. For example, you would never do a soldered ring connector on an aircraft.

Those solder connectors have been around a long time...20+ years but never used in production.

 

[Grandad]

It's been a standard requirement in both CSA and NEMA standards that ground connections depending upon solder are not permitted in building construction. As I understand, one concern is that as a wire warms while carrying excess current, the join can fail, leaving a device un-grounded and "alive". I'm a little surprised that naval guns would depend upon solder connections, but I'm sure there's a lot of engineering and quality control in military procurement that probably ensures a durable connection. - Grandad

 

[mxcobra]

You can see here my problems I got some work ahead of me.

 

[gm280]

Yes I would say you have clean up work ahead of you. I would cut the leads to the proper length and attach connectors on the ends and then wire tie the wires in a nice neat order. Then future wiring issues would be very easy to fix. JMHO

 

[Strangeleak]

Personally, I would solder wires together and cover with shrink sleeve before I used something like these.

Bruce
I would prefer these solder connectors over a crimped connection as well.

And your preferred method is not much different than what these tubes provide.

My method: I heat up each end of the shrink first and allow it to collapse and briefly cool and adhere, for a few seconds, around the wire insulation, it creates a pocket in the middle. As the solder begins to soften, the shrink squeezes it around the wires and it starts pushing a little solder out each side evenly (if held parallel to ground). As it cools, there is a "ribbon" of solder from one end to the other that strengthens the entire tube. The stress of the joint is no longer on just the wire/solder, the tube and wire insulation are now part of the equation.

Shrink tube + solder + adhesive creates a near perfect, water/weatherproof connection IMO.

 

[bruceb58]

Bruce
I would prefer these solder connectors over a crimped connection as well.

Actually, my preferred connection is a crimp using a quality crimper and a quality crimp that has adhesive in it like an Ancor especially when doing something like a ring connector which hasn't been discussed here.

 

[lmuss53]

I used some of these solder ring connectors Sunday to put in a bilge pump. All in all I'd say they are no better or worse than a crimp type. I put a dab of flux on the untinned wire and heated them with my heat shrink gun until the solder flowed, which required a lot of heat from the gun. One of them split open before the solder flowed so I put a sleeve of marine type adhesive lined heat shrink over the top of all of them, which is something I do on crimp connectors too.

I'll use these up, but I don't know if I will stop using the crimp type, these are certainly no faster or easier to use, and the one that split gave me concerns about quality.

I bought one of those ring deflectors for the end of the gun, which may allow me to heat the entire sleeve more evenly when using them.

I agree about the properly crimped connectors being important. I had a loose wire on a trigger yesterday with a poorly crimped connector. Someone had squeezed it as best they could with a pair of pliers, but the wire was sliding around in the connector. I hit it with my Klines, slid a piece of heat shrink down over it and sealed it up, all good now.