Re: Solder vs. Crimp

[DeWitt Harrison <de@aztek-eng.com>]

On Mon, 10 May 1999 07:30:45 GMT, Phil Payne wrote:

>In message <3736586E.C8F18DD7@together.net> John Cunningham writes:
>
>> Anyone have contrary opinions to the latest Quarterly article asserting
>> 'technical inferiority of a soldered joint' over a crimped one?
>> Specifically the idea that when crimping 'wires are fused together'
>> while soldering 'wires are stuck together'?
>>
>> IMHO, that describes some serious crimping tool and a lousy solder
>> joint...
>
>The only soldered joint on an ur-quattro is the one to the inlet air
>temperature sender.  It's also a very common point of failure.

In a previous life as an aircraft weapons systems technician - in a
galaxy far, far away - I was trained to avoid soldering for wire harness
or connector repair at all costs. Solder joints only create sites for
corrosion, wire embrittlement and increased mechanical stress. Heat
shrink reenforcement helps mitigate mechanical fatigue for any kind
of wire joint but does not alter the fact that a sound crimp is the most
reliable common wire connection type. The referenced article quotes
an Audi TSB which says essentially the same thing.

Get a good crimper, the high pressure kind with ratchet action
which won't let go of the crimp until it is finished properly. Equip it
with the correct crimp die or die set for the intended purpose. Toss that
cheap, single action "handyman's crimp tool" in the trash. It will only
bring grief and fuel future arguments about the relative merits of
soldered vs. crimped.

DeWitt Harrison
Boulder, CO
88 5kcstq