Tomthumb62
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2022
- Messages
- 1,871
Thanks for explaining this. In a hot and dry climate such as mine, I don’t expect copper oxide to form quickly if ever. The poor solder job was my issue here.One problem with any hammer type crimp is the crimp is not airtight. Over time, copper oxide is formed. Another problem is surface contact area inside the crimp. A properly crimped terminal will have a cold weld where the strands are bound so tightly the individual strands become one. This is an increase in surface area contact not only between strands but also to the terminal. Higher surface area contact reduces resistance, which results in less voltage drop, less heating of the terminal and higher current transmission thru the terminal.
As for solder, it works until it doesn't. If the terminal becomes hot, the solder may fail resulting in the solder running out and/or the wire could come out of the terminal leading to arc flash/fire. The resistance is higher than a tightly crimped terminal, voltage drop tests across the connection can be quite revealing under higher load conditions.
I've worked in the automotive industry for over 35 years and have seen just about any type of failure you can think of. For the price of this crimper, you can't go wrong. I've owned them all, from the hammer type to the large pliers type, even soldered terminals back in the day. The Temco is by far the best crimper I ever owned.
I now understand why a $175 hydraulic crimp tool is superior, but if it was mission critical, why does Will recommend hammer style crimpers? In a marine environment or for NASA, sure, but for dry climates, is it really that necessary?