Thread: Solder vs other?

Crimps and solder connections each have there place. A correctly crimped joint will hold up just as well as a correctly soldered joint. I personally prefer solder, but thats only because I can solder well and don't have the proper tools to make a correct crimp joint.

Originally Posted by mezz64

Crimps and solder connections each have there place. A correctly crimped joint will hold up just as well as a correctly soldered joint. I personally prefer solder, but thats only because I can solder well and don't have the proper tools to make a correct crimp joint.

Interesting, I agree with your assessment of the relative merits... I am intrigued that you have a soldering iron but no crimp tool

Haha, I have crimp tools, just not good ones. For whatever reason I can't bring myself to make the investment since I've gotten so used to soldering everything.

Originally Posted by Phatsacks

Just wondering how many people solder vs using the twist caps or other?

For your own safety, health & well being, as well as that of your car, DO NOT USE TWIST CAPS FOR VEHICLE ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS!!!
these are designed for building use, and will likely work themselves loose when subjected to the vibrations in a vehicle.
When they come loose, there are exposed wires that could short, causing all manner of problems.

Let me reiterate: DO NOT USE TWIST CAPS FOR VEHICLE ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS!!!

When should one be used vs the other?

I solder everything, but a good quality crimp connection should hold. AFAIK, it's all a matter of personal preference.

The install place I'm going to take my stuff to, uses the caps unless it's ignition wiring, then they solder.

If they're using twist-on caps, I'd take my business elsewhere, and quickly.

Well they didn't say twist caps, it sounded like they said "butt connectors" and I got immature and didn't ask "What?".

No clue what they actually said (or if that is the name), or the same thing, etc.

I called another place, and they said for what I'm doing they'd solder. I think they charge a lot, most likely upwards of $500 for the install of LCD, PSU, head unit, etc.

Butt connectors and crimp connectors are the same thing.
They are not twist-caps.

You had me scared for the safety of who-knows-how-many of that shops' customers.

I solder almost everything. I only had to use 1 Twist cap, because 8 gauge wire isn't very easy to solder. I think proceeded to wrap it in like 10 layers of electrical tape .

Sorry about that.

I appreciate the advice on all this, guess I'll go with the first place since they are a bit cheaper on initial estimate, but both places want to see the equipment.

Upwards of $500 seems a bit pricy, but I'd rather have pros do it, then myself and ruin a few things in my car or computer setup, and end up spending a lot in replacement.

I'll build the computer myself, but I don't want to get into the wiring behind the dash.

I work with solder all of the time and it is not as strong as most people think. At my company it is never considered structural. If something needs to be secured and connected it is soldered and then secured with a different method.

In a high vibration environment, I believe it is better to use a PROPER crimp and I emphasize the word proper. That said, I crimp all of my larger connections, but I don't have anything to do the really little wires and so I use something called a "solder sleeve." It is a little heat shrink tube with a ring of solder in the middle and a ring of epoxy on either end. You don't need a soldering iron to use them. You use a heat gun. You stick the two bared ends of the wires in so that they overlap inside of the solder ring and heat until the solder melts, joining the two. All at the same time, the heatshrink and epoxy all shrink down on the wires providing a heatshrinked (heatshrunk), sealed and soldered connection. Pretty cool, but it only works for joining wires, not connections to boards and stuff.

Warning, the temperatures needed to shrink the assembly will melt the insulation off of the wires you are joining, if they cannot handle high heat.

You can see them somewhere on my website: www.ozone1000.com

Just thought I'd mention them.

Good luck.