Date: Sat, 30 Jan 1999 23:38:58 -0800
Reply-To: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: David Marshall <vanagon@VOLKSWAGEN.ORG>
Subject: Re: Soldered Connections
In-Reply-To: <v04011700b2d9b181befd@[192.168.1.22]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I think you are missing the point with soldering - or you have never seen
it done correctly. Your examples of failing solders are not from a wire to
wire connection but a wire to a component / circuit board connection. If
you are soldering two wires together you must do what is called a "western
union" connection first. This is where you strip the wires say 1.5 to
2.0cm and put them parallel to each other so the cut end of one wire is
next to the begining of the plastic covering of the other. Then twist the
wires so they make a mechanical connection first. The wires should be able
to hold together without solder. The next step is to do a propper
soldering job where you heat the wire and not the solder thus advoiding a
cold solder. Use decent solder that contains a very small amount of flux.
I use the Radio Shack stuff. After you make this connection I will bet
anyone one hundred bucks that it will NOT break. If you waterproof it with
lithium greese and seal it with very snug heat shrink it is almost as good
as an uncut wire - just a little stiffer where the connection is made.
Crimps do have their place and work well when done with the right tools.
They do tend to leave some part of the connection open to the atmosphere
which makes it prone to rust and eventually failure.
Another pointer - always remove the neg terminal ( NOT the positive ) from
the battery to prevent a posible short circuit.
At 23:25 30/01/1999 -0800, Otmar Ebenhoech wrote:
>>I do not agree with your logic, a crimp connection is far more likely to
>>vibrate apart than a properly soldered connection.
>
>Put me on the crimp side of the argument.
>
>I believe soldered connections are less reliable in an automotive
>enviornment. As I've seen it, it's quite simple, solder is brittle and
>vibration will make it fail. Just one example: How many of you have
>resoldered the LEDs in your Westie water/volts displays because the
>vibration cracked the solder? Yet, have you ever needed to fix the crimp
>connections behind the dash cluster? I've seen electric cars with melted
>battery terminals because the PO decided to solder the connection rather
>than crimp. What a mess!
>
>Of course the trouble is getting a good crimp connection. Most of the tools
>available don't have the proper jaw shape or enough ridgidity to make a
>reliable connection. If the wire pulls out of the crimp when you pull on
>it, it's probably no good, I prefer the lug to tear of wire to break first.
>I find that most original VW crimps will outhold the wire strength. I only
>use the crimpers that have one concave and one convex jaw (for 10 guage and
>up) so that there is a real strong swaging of the joint. On larger wire I
>use a specialized crimper with settable hex shaped jaws for the proper
>guage/lug match.
>
> -Otmar-
>86 Syncro (front) 82 (rear) Stretch GTI Westfalia. "Power of two"
>Several EVs (Electric Vehicles)
>http://www.evcl.com/strvan/strvan.html
>http://www.evcl.com/Picprev.html
>Electric Vehicle Components Ltd. (650) 494-9255
>
>
-- David Marshall - Vanagon List Admin - Quesnel, BC, Canada --
-- 78 VW Rabbit, 80 VW Caddy, 87 Audi 5KSQ, 85 VW Cabriolet --
-- 88 2.0L VW Syncro Double Cab, WANTED: VW / Bombardier Iltis --
-- David's Volkswagen Home Page http://www.volkswagen.org --
-- Fast Forward Autobahn Sport Tuning http://www.fastforward.ca --
-- david@volkswagen.org (pmail) or vanagon@volkswagen.org (list) --
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