Hi Both,
I guess I was referring to present day 'good practice'
on automotive wiring in referring to the use of solder.
Manufacturers use crimp in preference to solder for a number of
reasons but of course the over riding one is cost. It is much
cheaper to have an unskilled worker make a semi automatic
crimp termination joint than a solder joint.
The problem of internal wire failure due to the solder wicking up
the insulation is real and well understood. The use of additional
support by shrink sleeve will help to solve the problem but the
bottom line is that solder should not be used on insulated stranded
wire unless the wire has support by the use of a connector cable
support shell or similar as used on military type connectors.
Crimp joints are not without their problems and it has to be said that
even modern automotive crimp connections do not really fall into the
'high reliability' category but they do seem to work well for a long time.
Corrosion as you suggest Mike is the real enemy of all electrical connections
and the most critical requirement for all connections in both the wire crimp
and the sliding joint part of the connection is to exclude water vapour. This
is the so called 'gas tight joint' and is required as the dissimilar metals
is the
joint, copper, tin etc have different electro chemical equivalents and so when
water vapour is present (as it always is) a small battery is set up causing
corrosion and a high resistance joint which causes heat which speeds up
the chemical reaction...........
So I dont think I really answered your questions but maybe the above helps
explain some of the problems.
Always happy to discuss things electrical
John
At 08:43 PM 7/19/1999 -0400, Michael Thompson wrote:
>
>So is this why Lucas uses solder on connectors? to support their reputation
>of reliability?
>Seriously, is it the stiffening of the wire that leads to breaks that you
>are refering to or corrosion of said connectors?
>Cheers
>Mike Thompson
>
>----------
>>From: CarlSereda@aol.com
>>To: triumphs@autox.team.net
>>Subject: solder bad for cars
>>Date: Mon, Jul 19, 1999, 8:09 PM
>>
>
>>
>> <<As I keep trying to tell people soldering is really bad news for
>> reliability
>> on automotive wired connections! Best Regards John Dowson>>
>> John, thanks for the timely tip!
>> Carl
>> '64 TR4 since '74 ...putting soldering iron away now.
>>
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