Re: soldering thread ...

[steveb@falcon.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

Don H quite correctly writes:

> Absolutely, but, military connections are well protected from exposure
> and well "strain reliefed".  I have had many connections on my cars fail
> from vibration and corrosion and poor crimping.  Military crimpers are
> rather precise and $$$$.  I too prefer to solder wires to some connectors
> as it prevents corrosion between the wire and the connector and it stiffens
> the wire at the connector, which is where it will break.
> 
> An alternative is to cover the wire/connector junction with heat
> shrink tubing.  This will inhibit penetration by the elements and
> stiffen the wire at it's most vulnerable point.
> 
... I wanted to add my standard comment to soldering threads ...

NEVER crimp a wire that has been tinned with solder prior to crimping.  By
doing this the actual contact area is reduced, leading to high resistance 
connections, further degradation of the contact, excessive heating and the 
possibility of fire for high current connections.  Crimp the connector to 
stranded wire if you like, and then solder the connector to the wire.  I 
usually crimp before soldering to give me a good mechanical connection that
minimizes the chance that you end up with a cold solder joint.  

As Don states when you solder the stranded wire some solder will wick into 
the wire ...making it stiff.  This means that you must think about whether 
the connection will have to withstand mechanical vibration ... if so some 
kind of strain relief is required ... 

Steve Buchholz
s_buchho@kla.com
San Jose, CA (USA)