How to crimp and solder connectors properly.

[Burgerman]

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/crimp-solder.htm

How to crimp and solder connectors properly. In literally 10 mins on my bed...

[sin85]

thanks

[Burgerman]

It wasnt just for you! But thanks anyway.

Once you see how simple it is to do a ring terminal, anderson connector etc properly, then its really that easy and quick every time.

Crimping alone doesent work because well - there isnt enough "meat" in the material to crimp hard enough. And if there was, then electrical resistance would increase over time due to oxides, and corrosion/movement etc. And then theres physical strength. A little cored solder, in a tightly crimped clean connector with some flux, that is then heated up & soldered, means it has no free air space, and is all fused together as one. The capilliary action ensures that all solder is drawn up to fill any voids, The cable may fail one day, but it wont be the ends!

Secrets are simple:
GOOD crimp tool. (and technique).
Flux. (a little only)
Solder. (real lead/tin cored, and not much already in the joint)
Tiny "pen" type butane (lighter gas) torch.

And importantly cleanliness of connector and cable. And plenty of heat and STOP when solder runs. Did in water. (coffee, beer, coke, whatever...)

[ex-Gooserider]

Agreed on most of the technique, some differences, which may relate to US vs. metric sizes...

1. I like welding cable better than the marine stuff - it isn't tinned, but is more flexible, and I think the rubber insulation on welding cable is a bit more robust - however either will do, it's a matter of choice.

1. I try to have a SMALL gap between the insulation and the connector, as that makes sure I have fully seated the wire. It also gives room to feed in a bit of extra solder later on. I have found that putting a bit of a bend in the wire and cutting along the outside of the bend by sort of rolling the wire along the blade gives the best results - the stretched insulation will separate without really touching the conductor with the blade, and the rolling action reduces the tendency to cut the wires if you do touch.

3. I don't use extra flux, but I do use rosin cored solder. When using AWG 6 wire, with the Anderson AWG 6 size contacts (or battery terminal lugs) I find that it isn't really practical to get more than one strand of solder in the socket along with the wire - this is the size thing I mentioned.

4. The size crimp dies used takes a bit of experimenting - they DON'T match the AWG number despite the label - I find that with the AWG 6 wire / contacts, I use the AWG 4 size dies

5. When heating, I put the flame mostly on the contact end away from the wire, and feed some extra solder into the joint as soon as it will melt.

6. The rosin and lead from the solder is toxic, I would STRONGLY advise dunking in a container that is preferably dedicated to non-food use, and definitely liquid that you won't be drinking...

7. After soldering the joint, I seal it by covering a bit of the socket end and a bit of the wire with a short (~3/4" length of adhesive lined shrink tubing.

However an excellent tutorial on the general idea...
ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Thanks.

6. The rosin and lead from the solder is toxic, I would STRONGLY advise dunking in a container that is preferably dedicated to non-food use, and definitely liquid that you won't be drinking...

Who wants to live forever! Actually I dont expect anyone will drink the thing afterward!

[justahack]

The crimpers which Anderson sells are extremely expensive... the crimper in the photos, is that a hydraulic crimper for non-insulated barrel connectors? Should I be looking for hydraulic or ratchet type crimpers and what size dies are the most commonly used? Thanks,

[Burgerman]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksi ... &_from=R40

You will find one like mine here

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4mm-70mm-HYDR ... 3f1ebcf7d9

Although I must say if you look around you can get them much cheaper. I paid just over half of this.

There are loads of different ones. But hydraulic ones are best. Only downside is weight.
These come with crimp size ends from tiny, up to huge! Like truck starter cables... Has way more power than we need. But these are good.

[Burgerman]

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/crimp-solder.htm

Updated a little and some grammar/spelling/formatting fixed.

[ex-Gooserider]

For our US readers, I found the best price on the hydraulic crimper to be at Harbor Freight - at least when I was shopping... Unit looks just like the one in BM's page, though mine has allegedly AWG sized dies, as opposed to his, which sound like they may be metric.

As to the beer thing, glad to hear that you weren't planning to drink it afterwards - but why waste good beer by dunking cables in it?

Also as a related option - if you need to splice, or Tee off of a cable, copper plumbing fittings can be useful as crimps... For AWG 6 wire, I found a 1/4" pipe coupling is about right. It is just large enough to slide over the insulation on AWG 6 welding cable, or marine wire. You can stuff up to three strands of stripped AWG 6 wire into one, or any combination of other size wires.

It is a pain to crimp, as you need to make a large number of squeezes on it, rotating each time, in order to flatten out the "ears" Also the fitting is about 2.5 x the length of the dies, so you have to make multiple passes to get the full length as well.

However it makes a very strong joint, especially after soldering - no risk of mechanical failure, and I don't think it would be possible to get a better electrical connection, as you have almost 3/4" of coupling where the wires are squeezed together to be almost solid, plus the solder...

I tried looking at other pipes and tubes, and none of the smaller sizes would fit over the wire insulation, though they might be worth looking at if just wanting to make a "butt splice" for some reason.

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

I just tipped some from a can over the bin...

Because it was there!

Only did the whole thing after reading a forum post, so I could add a page.

[ex-Gooserider]

Another useful trick when doing shrink tubing...

If you have a largish item on one end, and a smaller one on the other (i.e. a splice where you have one wire fanning out to several) it can help to cut some small chunks of hot-melt glue (I cut the small ~1/4" diameter sticks into quarters, about the length of the shrink tube) and shove them under the tube - when you shrink the tube (use a proper heat gun, not a hair dryer or open flame!) the glue will melt and flow into any gaps - gives a better seal.

Similarly, if using wire braid cover to neaten up your wiring harness, I've found that shrink tube is the neatest way to terminate the braid, and shoving some hot melt glue in between the tube and the braid will bond the shrink tube, the wire and the braid together in a more solid configuration.... Keeps the braid from sliding out from under the shrink, or the termination from sliding on the wire...

ex-Gooserider

[Sully]

Quote; "As to the beer thing, glad to hear that you weren't planning to drink it afterwards - but why waste good beer by dunking cables in it?"
Shouldn't this be considered Alcohol abuse?

I do and have done a lot of soldering in my life as well as welding using most of the processes available. I am still very far from an expert. The one thing I disagree with is the use of the pencil torch in an indoor workplace, where the atmosphere is controlled. I far prefer to use a proper sized electric soldering iron for this purpose.

My reasoning is the wires that are open to the flame and are too easily burned, and oxides will become present, as is the insulation when the person is very used to using an open flame near burnable products. This is where the crispy insulation cover comes from. But hey, that is just my opinion. When we do this stuff neatness counts.

I still will make the arguement that wiring and the hidden connections inside insulated covers is the cause for too many of power wheel chair failures. Finding the inconsistant connections, are extrodinarily time consuming, and the so called techs, neither know how to find them, nor the patience to do so. Also to do it properly, is simply too expensive to find them. Again this is simply my opinion.

[JoeC]

Just nitpicking here- I'm sure Burgerman's connections will be OK if he adds enough solder...

The way I've read about crimped connections, they maintain a tight connection to the wires because the wire takes up all of the space inside of where the deformed metal outer part wants to be- the reason they don't just slide off is because there is a mechanical clamping force remaining due to the set of the metal. When I see the cut off chunks of solder stuck in with the strands of wire, I have to think that as soon as the wire melts, all of that clamping force will be gone and the *majority* of what's holding the wire in place will be the solder, not the original crimp.

The way I do it is to leave 2-3mm of stripped wire past the edge of the crimped connector, and feed solder into the gap when the connector is hot. Just keep feeding the solder in as it melts and flows. If you do it right, the insulation doesn't melt much, if at all. This is much easier to do with a torch (which is never pointed at the wires themselves, just the outer part) since you can add heat more quickly. I'm able to do it with my 250 watt electric iron on 8AWG wire (approx. 8 sq mm), but it's harder, takes longer, and is more apt to melt the insulation.

[Burgerman]

Well many ways work. Soldering irons take too long and leave the cable hot and damege insulation when I try. The flame is almost instant and quick.

Theres not enough metal in those connectors though for any kind of crimp to hold well without solderimg too. Once heated, and solder is ebsorbed, they are seriously strong. A vice and serious pulling means a snapped cable, not a failed connection. I wouldnt trust a crimped only connector.

[ex-Gooserider]

IF (and it's a big IF...) using proper mil-spec connectors and matching calibrated mil-spec crimpers, with proper procedure, then a crimp-only joint IS plenty strong enough - that is part of the spec, and a requirement is to test random samples on a test machine that tries to pull the crimped joint apart - it fails if the wire doesn't break first...

A good joint is "swaged" or pressure welded such that the crimp and the wire are literally pressure welded together, with a joint that is gas tight, and resistant to anything that doesn't actually attack the metals of the wire and crimp fitting...

However soldering is probably not a bad idea if using off the shelf components and less than perfect crimpers.

As a not totally off topic comparison, many years ago, I used to work on the Mississippi River as a deckhand, building barge tows. This involved large diameter steel cables, that were tensioned to the point where they could be played like a guitar string, if one hit them with a big enough hammer.... Hand tensioning involved a turnbuckle with a 6' long cheater pipe - proper tension was when you could do chinups on the end of the pipe. The eyes in the ends of the cables were made with swaged fittings (crimps...) I saw LOTS of cables break (it was one of the major dangers of the job) but I NEVER saw a crimped connection fail...

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Quite, but this is why I said:

Theres not enough metal in those connectors though for any kind of crimp to hold well without soldering too. Once heated, and solder is ebsorbed, they are seriously strong.

And its soft on cheap ring terminals and andersons....

[Sully]

Goose I have made those swaged connections, you use three major strands against the four remaining strands and back wrap them, the tag end of wirerope then is bound to the byte of the wire placed in a swage mold and the molten alloy metal is then poured into the heated mold and squeezed as soon as it is poured. As long as the wire is properly fitted in the mold it can never break and you get at least 100% of the full tensil strength of the loop. The very center of a wire rope is a manila strand, this hould never be burned. So the alloy is/was able to be liquified at a lower temperature than this strand will burn at. I would imagine today there is a machine that does the whole process. I don't remember now what that alloy was called, but it became a liquid metal at a pretty low temperature.

As a diver we often had to make spreaders and slings at a very specific length to lift specialized items from the ocean or along side a dock. I also could accomplish the same things underwater using wire clips, the key is opening the strands and backwrapping the strands. That gives you about 50% of the tensile strength of the original wire. The clips are placed on the tag end and never on the byte or main line as it would break the back of the wire rope. Today this is written up in the OSHA regulations for lifting.

Before the molded clamping became available we had to back splice the wire up the main line just like it is done with stranded manilla or seisal rope. Sorry this is way off subject, but I thought some might find it interesting. Being a commercial diver required much more than simply jumping into the water and finding something.

[LROBBINS]

Nicopress sleeves are used in aircraft cables and are crimped (swaged) without any solder or other molten metal and without any backwrap. The metal in the sleeve itself is of much lower strength than the cable itself, yet the swaged connection ends up stronger than the cable. However, doing this right requires the correct dies and use of a go-nogo gauge. It the gauge says NOGO, you take it apart, through away that ferrule, and start over. It is also acceptable practice to make a sleeve-less, non crimped, backwrapped and tucked splice, but I suspect there's no one left in the aviation world who any longer has that talent.

Given that we can't afford to use the specific crimpers specified by the contact makers, whether they be Anderson or Tyco or other, I agree with the practice of crimping AND soldering for electrical connections -- that too is considered good practice in aircraft and I think it's good practice for us. I also think that a very minimal amount of solder, or even none, should be put in before crimping and that solder should be flowed into the crimped connection from the open end. It flows well from colder toward hotter, so you can heat the end of the connector without too much risk to the insulation. While still warm, you can also gently stretch the insulation to cover the bit of bare wire.

I don't know if the "biggies" in the wheelchair business do proper crimps, but Rachi's Smile Bobcat DX when it arrived from the English factory surely was not done correctly. A slight tug on any wire was enough to pull it cleanly out of the connector. They were loose enough that I could even tuck the wires back in again. Almost every one of the factory soldered connections (light bar, charger plug) was a cold joint (I think the Brits call this "dry"), with lots of hanging bare wire, and without any strain relief. Needless to say, the crimped ones got re-crimped and soldered, and the soldered ones were re-done. Of course all of the under-sized wiring was replaced when the chair was modified a few months ago with new motors and bigger batteries.

Ciao,
Lenny

[ex-Gooserider]

Sully, I never made up any of the cables I'm talking about, but it appeared to me that they were just compression sleeves, with no molten metal involved, and no back wrapping and so on... Just slid over the cable and the end looped back to make an eye. These cables were used in massive numbers, and were mostly treated as consumable items, so I feel pretty sure they were made as economically as possible

Given that they stayed bright metal even after long weather exposure, I'm guessing some sort of aluminum or zinc alloy, or possibly a soft stainless. They were probably 4-6" long with a wall thickness that was almost as big as the cable diameter.

Getting back on the topic, and comparing chair maker practices, my recollection is that the Pride stuff I've taken apart was skimpy on the wire gage to put it mildly, and they had plain crimps with no visible solder (but I didn't see any visibly failing crimps)

Sunrise / Quickie also had plain crimps, but were a bit better on the wire sizes.

The Redman I'm working on now seems to be using pretty good quality wire, and reasonable sizes (AWG 8 for the battery wires, AWG 18 for the actuators) and their crimps are also soldered. However they are using a crimper that just mashes a big dent in the contact body, rather than doing the hexagonal full body compression that I get with the HF hydraulic crimper.

ex-Gooserider

[flagman1776]

I haven't had troubles with the connections on my (bought used) Pride Wrangler. The battery SLA connections were well done & shrink wrapped. The controler wires were just ordinary crimps. (Manditory to remember this off road scooter... has a lot of electronics in the tiller... just protected by the shell... with no attempt at a seal.)

My new Travelscoot seems to be solid constructed & the wiring for the battery securely crimped (no solder). The battery connection is a polarized plastic connector housing the 2 spade type connection. There's barely any wire where it emerges from the motor. As a technition, I really hate this, leaving no length for future service... everything needs service eventually! I might get 3" of total length, if I destroy the connector. I'm planning to install 30A connectors on these leads. Might as well get to it.
On the subject of soldering small wires, a trick I learned on the tech bench... I use forceps on exposed wire as a heat sink as well as to maintain physical position so the parts don't shift.
The shop I worked for sold & serviced all sorts of Marine, Land Mobile, Emergency electronics... Salt air / spray can wreak havoc... We would clean the salt off circuit boards by following the traces with Q-tips & rubbing alcohol.
One interesting job we installed US CG & Secret Service antennas & repeaters on top of bridge towers. We carried the units up in pieces & assembled up there, while we had to send the antennas up the outside by rope... after we dropped a line with a fishing sinker to be retrieved hanging over the bridge railing. The view was spectacular... I should have taken a camera.

[flagman1776]

So many owners complain about the Travelscoot power connector (connector between the motor & battery) that I decided to take the bull by the horns & just replace it at the outset, to match my NEW battery packs & not the other way around.

The TS paired spade lugs in a common plastic housing were freed up by determined use of a tiny flat screw driver. The spade lug piece was quite long, very HD & solidly crimped & stress relieved. Leaving the available wire even shorter than I'd hoped. Approx 2". I didn't want to give up any length... so I attacked the crimps on the heavy lug until I freed the wire ends. What a battle! I will need to trim the insulation just a touch. I'm sure the other owners problems with the connector have much to do with the short leads & lack of access.

I dug in my kit & turned up some nice heavy wire to extend the leads, which I'll solder splice & shrink wrap finishing with the 30A connectors. I really like these 30A connectors, they're a perfect size for this application & after assembly they can be dovetailed together.

[robnnorthaustin]

As I have come to expect this was an exceptional how to and rarely have I read any thread where I haven't learned something. Before my disability started affecting my hands to the extent they are now, I spent many hours with my head up under the dash of a cars crimping and shrink wrapping the connectors/connections for sound systems. I am thinking about trying out a small torch rather then the weller gun I now use as I think it might be a bit easier to handle for me. I had to think long and hard to come up with a critique or suggestion so I would suggest adding some contrast behind the excellent photos. Hmm maybe something like a sexy assistant holding the wire in front of her "god's gift to men" .

[Fulliautomatix]

I had a big ugly join of 3 x 8Ga + 1 x 18?Ga so I can distribute 24V - to PM, charge and accessories.
Best I could manage was to lay the 8Ga together and bind with 18Ga, hit it with an 80W iron and pour in the solder, then a couple of layers of heat shrink.
Yes, if it ever gets hot enough to melt solder it will fall apart...I figured it would be a better connection than the distribution blocks, which I used when doing car audio stuff because that was what people expected - a big chunk of 'gold' plated brass making a poor electrical connection using grub screws bearing on the untreated cable.
24V + can be distributed at the circuit breaker.

[Burgerman]

I am thinking about trying out a small torch rather then the weller gun I now use as I think it might be a bit easier to handle for me.

Trust me, its much faster, solder runs better because less flux gets burned and less time for oxydation, insulation stays cool because of the speed. You will never use a soldering iron on anything but small stuff/circuit boards again. Far more controllable.

Dont tell me you dont use flux! On small new clean connectors/wires you can get away with the cored solder alone.

[ex-Gooserider]

This is the kind of application that I find copper plumbing bits very good for use as crimp sleeves... Find a size that just barely fits over the wires and then after stuffing everything into place, along with some solder, crimp with the hydraulic crimpers - it will probably take several passes, turning the joint a bit each time in order to keep folding in, and compressing the "ears" you get where the dies come together, but you end up with a very nice compact joint. Then you have to figure out how best to heat it up in order to solder the connection, but it can be done...

I found a sleeve for 1/4" ID tube was just enough to fit over 3 AWG 6 wires plus an AWG 12 wire,

ex-Gooserider

I had a big ugly join of 3 x 8Ga + 1 x 18?Ga so I can distribute 24V - to PM, charge and accessories.
Best I could manage was to lay the 8Ga together and bind with 18Ga, hit it with an 80W iron and pour in the solder, then a couple of layers of heat shrink.

[Lord Chatterley]

I am thinking about trying out a small torch rather then the weller gun I now use as I think it might be a bit easier to handle for me.

Trust me, its much faster, solder runs better because less flux gets burned and less time for oxydation, insulation stays cool because of the speed. You will never use a soldering iron on anything but small stuff/circuit boards again. Far more controllable.

Dont tell me you dont use flux! On small new clean connectors/wires you can get away with the cored solder alone.

Are there not different types of flux?

The flux for lead-free solder would have different properties for higher temperatures so I imagine it is important to get the right type - also, I seem to recall that some types of flux have been banned [probably for the usual hole-in-the-sky reasons] and since they usually ban stuff which is in demand, good flux may not be available outside ebay too?

LC

[Burgerman]

There are lots. Many are acidic and agressive so as to clean oxides on even dirty copper/brass. But it causes corrosion afterwards.

You just need http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Equipm ... elly-61559 or similar.

[Lord Chatterley]

There are lots. Many are acidic and agressive so as to clean oxides on even dirty copper/brass. But it causes corrosion afterwards.

You just need http://www.rapidonline.com/Tools-Equipm ... elly-61559 or similar.

Ah, that' the stuff - Canada has banned rosin based flux like that.

http://www.ipc.org/ContentPage.aspx?pageid=Canadian-Chemicals-Management-Program

http://listserv.ipc.org/scripts/wa.exe?A2=Leadfree;ece55626.0910

Utter madness - the EU will be next.

LC

[Seajays]

It says " On June 26, 2010 the Canadian Department of the Environment elected not to ban five rosin-containing substances from all products manufactured and sold in Canada."

[Lord Chatterley]

It says " On June 26, 2010 the Canadian Department of the Environment elected not to ban five rosin-containing substances from all products manufactured and sold in Canada."

Thank goodness for that! I remembered the proposition but not the outcome - I stand corrected.

LC