Club 80-90 Forums

Brass may look the mutts but get anything on it (even swetty hands ) and it will corrode causing a bad connections

well i guess the same in non corrosive metal is the ideal for me, I certainly think that soldering and crimping is better than crimping alone. When I use my Canon Itt crimp I put a little solder on every connection otherwise they have proved to fail over time

Part no. for TE Connectivity ones like the tanged ones I have but with the pip - 640841-1. Digi-key have them but their shipping is £12 per order. http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... ND/4142980

These are ones that give positive pressure but don't apply it across the whole spade:
http://uk.farnell.com/te-connectivity-a ... dp/1772554
http://uk.farnell.com/te-connectivity-a ... /dp/148374
http://uk.farnell.com/te-connectivity-a ... /dp/148362

or if you want tangs on them for terminal housings like mine they are even harder to find!

TE part no. 640417-2
at Digi-key http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e ... ND/2233273

I'll have a look on a couple of other sites and see if I can find them - I have a feeling that I got mine from Germany or Poland.

You are correct, that is why all mill spec connecters use gold pins from choice.
As far as crimping is concerned it should not fail either you are not stripping properly or the crimp tool is either not set up properly or faulty. Virtually all connections on automotive and aviation are crimped. Failure of crimp connections are very rare most failures are from corrosion on cars either poor cable or bad pins.
Aviation gets over this by using very high grade wire that does not corrode.

nicq wrote:Brass may look the mutts but get anything on it (even swetty hands ) and it will corrode causing a bad connections

I agree - the tinned ones are far better, more so the phosphor bronze ones when you can find them. You have to watch out with Chinese stuff - I had some tinned ring terminals that were made of soft iron,( not even steel!) one little bend and they broke apart. Swindlers .

We never solder and crimp connections on wiring, only ever crimped to the relevant mil spec. Circuit boards are soldered and wires are crimped. No matter if it's military or commercial aircraft

Military gear has better and more regular maintenance though. When you have connectors in a hot sweaty engine bay that gets covered in salt spray and is then left to fester for 20 or 30 years I know how I like to have my terminals fastened to wires and it isn't crimping solely!

Oldiebut goodie wrote:Military gear has better and more regular maintenance though. When you have connectors in a hot sweaty engine bay that gets covered in salt spray and is then left to fester for 20 or 30 years I know how I like to have my terminals fastened to wires and it isn't crimping solely!

They do get more regular service but the engine bay on a jet engine is a far worse environment than a car. Solder would not be much good there. Hydralic fluid on aircraft is very unpleasant and most cables are covered in it. Aircraft are used at sea as well on aircraft carriers they do get salt spray ,fuel many chemicals and fantastic temperatures.

That is interesting about the success rate of dry crimping but I have no experience of building airplanes etc.. The testing and numbers of connectors and skill level of the people crimping would probably be very different than say the uses my work gets put through. I have to do rely on people, a crimper and large order at short notice often. So I know if the person working gas not strimmed a cable to the correct length, if they have not inserted it far enough into a crimper for it to collect the wire properly that the solder will ensure it's a stable connection. This is not a theory I am sure others theories are more correct just at personal preference that helps overcome human and mechanical error. The things I build also have to go into nuclear facilities etc so perhaps I should employ more skilled people but then I'd still make them solder it as well!

But I should add that much of the types of wire I use would not be seen in a jet plane or a car as it is a different type of electronics and I've no experience of this type of wiring. I wouldn't for instance try to solder my battery terminals

Ps thanks oldie for all the links I'll have a look later and get something ordered so I can get the bloody things done

I was not criticising it is a fact to solder a wire is quicker and cheaper than to crimp but most industry that want reliability crimps connection even though it's more expensive.

wolfbus.uk wrote: I wouldn't for instance try to solder my battery terminals

Why not? I do - so do several other people on here! It is amazing the voltage drop that can be achieved in some people's battery terminals. I lost 1/2 volt in 1 foot of cable from the alternator to the battery due to corrosion in crimped terminals. People can bleat on until the cows come home that crimps are best but when you get this sort of problem I for one will not rely on them in open situations. I have no beef with crimps in internal usage generally.

Hmm that's a good point I may redo the starter battery connections whilst doing the rest of this wiring! Well no I know you are not critizing nicq I was just making a point that there is more than one way to skin a cat. I am not talking solder vs crimping but I prefer my crimp connections to also be soldered. Surely this would not make it worse in the interior lining of a t25?

But the main point of my thread was that the things I bought from 12v planet look "pooh" whether you crimped them with the world's biggest most amazing crimper ever designed I wouldn't trust them a jot!