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| Soldering will fail too, often far sooner than crimping. The aircraft industry developed crimping because the crimped wire connection has the best fatigue life. The plastic supports the wire so it can bend with the strands moving. Solder always wicks into the center of the stranded wire making it stiff and the wire breaks at the end of where the solder wicks to. Then soldering takes clean parts, the right tools, the right materials and a modicum of skill. Without attention to cleanliness solder won't stick.
I've squeezed many a wire lug with the wire stripper/bolt cutter/strippers available everywhere. And I've had too many of those fall off in use. There's nothing worse than to be out in the back 40 making hay with a thunderstorm in sight when the tractor stops running because a crimp fell off. I don't have that problem with good ratchet crimpers. My first ones for red and blue only came from Collins Surplus several decades ago. Meets military and aircraft specifications, probably cost a couple hundred new in 1960. The other one came from an electronics store maybe 5 years ago does red, blue, and yellow and so far none have fallen off. The good crimps are cold welds from having distorted both the crimp sleeve AND the wire strands. That takes a lot of pressure and the ratchet crimpers have the leverage to do that the bolt cutters don't. Good wire, clean wire, and clean lugs are also important.
Gerald J. | |
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Wire Crimping Tool?
