![]() But alas, all too often I see technicians pick-up a cheap Taiwan crimp tool off the shop floor and a poor quality crimp lug that has clearly just been stamped-out in the production process (with a brittle, work-hardened ferrule). ![]() Problem is though that (generally) the quality of a crimped connection is directly proportional to the quality of the crimping tool that is used and the quality of the lug (particularly the ferrule). Crimp connections can also produce superior mechanical strength to their soldered counterparts. There is no doubt that the "intimacy" of the metal-to-metal bond in a crimp connection can be as good as that of a soldered connection if the crimp is done correctly. The big proviso though is "if done properly". My suspicion is that both are equally valid in the right circumstances and if done properly. ![]() I'm not sure that the answer to whether crimp connections are better than soldered connections is necessarily a binary one. Jason/jack: good post-interesting debate,! Although I'm not sure that having a piece of paper with the heading EE necessarily confers any authority when it comes to consideration of the matters discussed! Having attended a few institutions where these bits of paper are handed out, I have to say that most of those that qualify couldn't tell a dry-joint from a desiccated marijuana leaf! ~80C of margin doesn't sound like a margin worth betting on to me. That's before you begin to discuss possibilities like the engine overheating briefly, or a misfire making one of the catalytic converters run extra hot, etc. Then add radiative heat from exhaust components, catalytic converter heat gain, convective and conductive heat soak after shutdown, resistive heating of the wire itself (and remember that wire gauge will be the absolute minimum the mfr thinks they can get away with), effects of aging and corrosion and broken strands, etc through the service life of the vehicle. Actually a bit more before the idiot gauge even moves off dead center. There's plenty of stuff in fairly direct contact with a +/- 100C engine block. For example, it's very easy to cut too deeply without noticing when stripping insulation back, leaving you with a thin high-resistance spot and poor mechanical strength.Īs you say, many solder blends start to soften up at 183C. Those crimps have to be good, and they get tricky as they get smaller. There won't be a lot of margin in the wire gauge and connectors they specify for any given circuit. Vehicle designers go looking for every penny and every gram they can strip out. But it's not unreasonable to want high-quality repeatable machine-produced crimps. I'm commenting more from a process and repeatability standpoint.Ĭontinuing this here to avoid further hijacking of the Car Repair Support thread. ~80C of margin doesn't sound like a margin worth betting on to me.Īs you say, soldering has its place, but dealer techs aren't EEs who can make that judgment. ![]() Click to expand.As you say, many solder blends start to soften up at 183C.
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