Ok so now its time to commit my wiring harness to forever by soldering the crimps and split bolts. HOWEVER, while reading up about wire sizes on a few wire websites many point out that the current flows on the surface of the wire, and so of course the increase in wire size provides an increase in wire circumference. OK SO... if I solder everything, would the same current then have to flow through the lead solder on the wire exterior instead of copper? is that solder higher or lower resistance than the copper? If the crimps are tight will the solder detract then? Also who makes a meter than will measure the tiny increments of resistance that we are talking about? Most only go down to 0-200 I think
questions about soldering battery connections vs crimp, and circumference related conduction/resistance
- Thread starter kanelr
- Start date
Warpspeed
Solar Wizard
Dc does not flow on the surface, it flows equally through the whole cross sectional area.
There are arguments both for and against soldering crimp connections, and all the usual reasons given are valid.
If you have the correct crimper jaws, to suit both the exact cable size and crimp lug, you cannot do any better than that.
The problem is, there are so many different types of wire and cables in various sizes, gauges, metric and imperial, for different numbers of strands and sized strands. Crimp lugs come from all over the world in different sizes, and so do the crimping tools.
If you mix up the parts, your chances of making a perfect reliable crimp joint are pretty near zero.
Crimping is used in the heavy electrical industry, in the automotive industry, in aircraft, military, and aerospace. They use very expensive tooling, and both the wire and the lugs are supplied to some exact specification. Done well its the most reliable system.
Its not likely that the cheap Chinese stuff you bought on e-bay or Aliexpress is all compatible. But good luck trying.
For us, soldering, or crimping and soldering is arguably the most reliable joint, if the soldering is properly done. The heat does weaken the copper though, and reduces the flexibility of stranded cable right at the weak spot. So in vehicles or where there is a lot of vibration or motion soldering heavy wire needs some caution. One or more layers of heat shrink over the joint helps a lot to prevent bending and eventual metal fatigue right at the weak spot and is recommended.
There are arguments both for and against soldering crimp connections, and all the usual reasons given are valid.
If you have the correct crimper jaws, to suit both the exact cable size and crimp lug, you cannot do any better than that.
The problem is, there are so many different types of wire and cables in various sizes, gauges, metric and imperial, for different numbers of strands and sized strands. Crimp lugs come from all over the world in different sizes, and so do the crimping tools.
If you mix up the parts, your chances of making a perfect reliable crimp joint are pretty near zero.
Crimping is used in the heavy electrical industry, in the automotive industry, in aircraft, military, and aerospace. They use very expensive tooling, and both the wire and the lugs are supplied to some exact specification. Done well its the most reliable system.
Its not likely that the cheap Chinese stuff you bought on e-bay or Aliexpress is all compatible. But good luck trying.
For us, soldering, or crimping and soldering is arguably the most reliable joint, if the soldering is properly done. The heat does weaken the copper though, and reduces the flexibility of stranded cable right at the weak spot. So in vehicles or where there is a lot of vibration or motion soldering heavy wire needs some caution. One or more layers of heat shrink over the joint helps a lot to prevent bending and eventual metal fatigue right at the weak spot and is recommended.
Goodto knowabout the Ac DC wire surface inf
Good to know about the Ac DC wire surface conductivity info. these wires were all crimped 20 years ago when there was no ali baba. All US made lugs crimped with a 3 'long hand tool. Soldering would be with gentle MAPP flame and rosin core no cold joints no overheating .Just flowing some into the crimp to fill any voids. Residential not RV so no vibration. Am re using same leads/jumpers with newer batteries hence discussion ....All are ,2/0,.4/0, #2
Are you saying that you want to solder old crimped connections? (Just trying to properly understand)
Bluedog225
Texas
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2019
- Messages
- 2,893
Standard quality crimp connectors. Eg. 3M
yes long story short I harvested about 55 various leads from our old system. All have been inspected and severeal disposed of due to damage or oxidation/tarnish. I am interested in getting the best theoretical performance, at least to a point. I used to wind armatures, and wiring from 4/0 down to #35 is not a problem skillwise. The best of the wires we have re used (we went from 52 batteries down to 10 so there are a lot of leads to select from.) That's why we are using "used" wires
I have had issues with older wires taking solder....tarnished or whatever on the outside of the wire. It would seem hard to clean the wire inside an existing crimped lug, if you want the solder to flow into that crimp.
yes I have had to kind of hand pick the best candidates, fortunately there are enough that showed no tarnish. When you are soldering correctly though you can sort of tell when one is not going to flow readily, if you have to coax the flow it's wrong already.
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