Weatherproof Connectors

[Rusty_S85]

I know this doesn't exactly fit under the topic, but we have discussed soldering vs crimping so I thought I'd share here an issue I ran into today.

I was installing a ring-tongue terminal on the EFI PDB's ground and discovered that Ford's wire isn't really a standard AWG. The #12 slot on the stripper didn't cut enough of the insulation to allow me to strip it. So I measured the wire at .086-.089" and then looked at the AWG table:

10 0.1019"

11 0.0907"

12 0.0808"

Turns out this wire is somewhere between #11 & #12. So I grabbed a #12-10 ring tongue terminal. But it was not a nice tight fit on the wire. And while a #16-14 terminal was a nice fit, the material of the ring was a lot thinner. So I went with the #12-10 terminal and crimped it on.

But I wasn't really satisfied with it, so I soldered it in. And I was surprised that the solder, which was applied to the end of the wire wicked through the terminal - as you can see on the pic below on the left. The pic on the right shows the other side of the terminal with the crimp, and the picture below shows how I support soldered joints with adhesive-lined heat shrink.

Yep when you heat the crimped fitting and apply solder it will wick through the wires. Its why you have to be careful cause if you keep adding solder it will keep wicking into the wire and you could easily end up with the wire being full of solder many inches past the connector.

What I like doing to ensure that doesnt happen is I leave a little of the wire exposed past the crimp so you can see wire between the insulation and the crimp. Then I apply solder on the other side of the crimp and when I see solder starting to wick into the exposed wire I stop.

This way if you ever have to replace the terminal down the road you can cut the wire off at the terminal and strip it back and use it. If it wicks too far then stripping becomes harder and crimping becomes harder as well.

[Gary Lewis]

Yep when you heat the crimped fitting and apply solder it will wick through the wires. Its why you have to be careful cause if you keep adding solder it will keep wicking into the wire and you could easily end up with the wire being full of solder many inches past the connector.

What I like doing to ensure that doesnt happen is I leave a little of the wire exposed past the crimp so you can see wire between the insulation and the crimp. Then I apply solder on the other side of the crimp and when I see solder starting to wick into the exposed wire I stop.

This way if you ever have to replace the terminal down the road you can cut the wire off at the terminal and strip it back and use it. If it wicks too far then stripping becomes harder and crimping becomes harder as well.

That's exactly what I did - added solder until it showed on the bare wire between the crimp and the insulation, and then stopped. So I'm confident there's no solder way back in the wire. However, I always provide support via the adhesive-lined shrink tubing anyway.

[Rusty_S85]

That's exactly what I did - added solder until it showed on the bare wire between the crimp and the insulation, and then stopped. So I'm confident there's no solder way back in the wire. However, I always provide support via the adhesive-lined shrink tubing anyway.

Thats good, I hate going behind my boss cause he prefers soldering everything even computer terminals when the manufacturer clearly states to just crimp with weather proof crimps then heat the built in shrink tubing to create the weather proof seal. But when I have to go behind him I end up cutting back 6 inches from the terminal he made up before I get to clean wire as he just loves pushing solder into the wires lol.

Big reason why I have grown to hate soldering terminals cause I used to solder everything, even crimp fittings I would place them and solder them without crimping. Now I crimp and only solder to keep the boss from complaining about using crimps and not soldering. Only time I will solder regardless is for vial circuits such as alternator wires, battery wires, fuel pump wires, etc. But non vital circuits like turn signal indicators or dome lights I will just crimp alone as they arent as picky if the connection isnt the best.

[Gary Lewis]

That's exactly what I did - added solder until it showed on the bare wire between the crimp and the insulation, and then stopped. So I'm confident there's no solder way back in the wire. However, I always provide support via the adhesive-lined shrink tubing anyway.

Thats good, I hate going behind my boss cause he prefers soldering everything even computer terminals when the manufacturer clearly states to just crimp with weather proof crimps then heat the built in shrink tubing to create the weather proof seal. But when I have to go behind him I end up cutting back 6 inches from the terminal he made up before I get to clean wire as he just loves pushing solder into the wires lol.

Big reason why I have grown to hate soldering terminals cause I used to solder everything, even crimp fittings I would place them and solder them without crimping. Now I crimp and only solder to keep the boss from complaining about using crimps and not soldering. Only time I will solder regardless is for vial circuits such as alternator wires, battery wires, fuel pump wires, etc. But non vital circuits like turn signal indicators or dome lights I will just crimp alone as they arent as picky if the connection isnt the best.

I started soldering in 1957. I turned 10 that year and got a crystal radio kit for my birthday. Over the years I've soldered connections in many other kits, like my KnightKit R100A ham receiver, Heathkit ham transmitter, Heathkit oscilloscope, etc, etc, etc.

In fact, I've soldered chips and transistors into many commercial computers, including DEC PDP-8's. And I built my own 8085-based microcomputer - and all of the connections were soldered.

So I'm very comfortable soldering. And yes, along the way I've had a cold solder joint or two, but I've learned why that happened and make sure it doesn't happen any more. Plus, I know not to continue pushing solder into a joint as I've seen how far it can go up the wire.

Given that, I tend to solder all of my connections on my trucks. And so far I've not had a failure. I do want to try crimping the terminals in the waterproof connectors, but joints in wires and to terminals like that ground will continue to be soldered - even if they are crimped.

[Rusty_S85]

I started soldering in 1957. I turned 10 that year and got a crystal radio kit for my birthday. Over the years I've soldered connections in many other kits, like my KnightKit R100A ham receiver, Heathkit ham transmitter, Heathkit oscilloscope, etc, etc, etc.

In fact, I've soldered chips and transistors into many commercial computers, including DEC PDP-8's. And I built my own 8085-based microcomputer - and all of the connections were soldered.

So I'm very comfortable soldering. And yes, along the way I've had a cold solder joint or two, but I've learned why that happened and make sure it doesn't happen any more. Plus, I know not to continue pushing solder into a joint as I've seen how far it can go up the wire.

Given that, I tend to solder all of my connections on my trucks. And so far I've not had a failure. I do want to try crimping the terminals in the waterproof connectors, but joints in wires and to terminals like that ground will continue to be soldered - even if they are crimped.

Let me know how that works cause I am leaning towards soldering my terminals as well after crimping but I am a little apprehensive with the rubber weather seal and how it will handle the heat of a solder iron heating the terminal that is crimping it up to 800 - 900 degrees to quickly fill the terminal with solder.

[Gary Lewis]

I started soldering in 1957. I turned 10 that year and got a crystal radio kit for my birthday. Over the years I've soldered connections in many other kits, like my KnightKit R100A ham receiver, Heathkit ham transmitter, Heathkit oscilloscope, etc, etc, etc.

In fact, I've soldered chips and transistors into many commercial computers, including DEC PDP-8's. And I built my own 8085-based microcomputer - and all of the connections were soldered.

So I'm very comfortable soldering. And yes, along the way I've had a cold solder joint or two, but I've learned why that happened and make sure it doesn't happen any more. Plus, I know not to continue pushing solder into a joint as I've seen how far it can go up the wire.

Given that, I tend to solder all of my connections on my trucks. And so far I've not had a failure. I do want to try crimping the terminals in the waterproof connectors, but joints in wires and to terminals like that ground will continue to be soldered - even if they are crimped.

Let me know how that works cause I am leaning towards soldering my terminals as well after crimping but I am a little apprehensive with the rubber weather seal and how it will handle the heat of a solder iron heating the terminal that is crimping it up to 800 - 900 degrees to quickly fill the terminal with solder.

You don't need to heat to 800 or 900 degrees. Wikipedia says "Alloys commonly used for electrical soldering are 60/40 Sn-Pb, which melts at 188 °C (370 °F)".

My Weller soldering station has a dial calibrated in degrees F, and I usually keep it around 450-500 as that allows it to melt the solder quickly on smaller wires w/o melting the insulation. But on things like that ~#12 wire I cranked it up to 700 as that reduces the time to melt the solder, which reduces the heat transfer to the rest of the wire.

As for the seal, so far I've not crimped the seal into the insulation crimp. Instead I've had it a few inches down the wire until after soldering and then slid it up against the insulation crimp. And in every case it has gone into the connector w/o sliding back. Nor was it harmed in the soldering process.

But as said above, one illustration I found shows crimping the seal to the insulation, so that would have it subject to a bit of heat. However, since even the insulation doesn't melt I'm sure the seal won't either.

[Gary Lewis]

You don't need to heat to 800 or 900 degrees. Wikipedia says "Alloys commonly used for electrical soldering are 60/40 Sn-Pb, which melts at 188 °C (370 °F)".

My Weller soldering station has a dial calibrated in degrees F, and I usually keep it around 450-500 as that allows it to melt the solder quickly on smaller wires w/o melting the insulation. But on things like that ~#12 wire I cranked it up to 700 as that reduces the time to melt the solder, which reduces the heat transfer to the rest of the wire.

As for the seal, so far I've not crimped the seal into the insulation crimp. Instead I've had it a few inches down the wire until after soldering and then slid it up against the insulation crimp. And in every case it has gone into the connector w/o sliding back. Nor was it harmed in the soldering process.

But as said above, one illustration I found shows crimping the seal to the insulation, so that would have it subject to a bit of heat. However, since even the insulation doesn't melt I'm sure the seal won't either.

Well, I take that back. My dial is sitting at 600F for small wires.

Anyway, I got the IWISS crimper in this morning so I did a trial crimp and then soldered it. Perfect! (But I did forget to tin the wire before crimping. )

[Machspeed]

Well, I take that back. My dial is sitting at 600F for small wires.

Anyway, I got the IWISS crimper in this morning so I did a trial crimp and then soldered it. Perfect! (But I did forget to tin the wire before crimping. )

Looks like a good crimp, Gary!

[Pete Whitstone]

In fact, I've soldered chips and transistors into many commercial computers, including DEC PDP-8's.

DEC PDP-8! Memory lane there. I work on the software end, but taught myself to program Fortran on a DEC VAX (PDP-11).

[Rusty_S85]

You don't need to heat to 800 or 900 degrees. Wikipedia says "Alloys commonly used for electrical soldering are 60/40 Sn-Pb, which melts at 188 °C (370 °F)".

My Weller soldering station has a dial calibrated in degrees F, and I usually keep it around 450-500 as that allows it to melt the solder quickly on smaller wires w/o melting the insulation. But on things like that ~#12 wire I cranked it up to 700 as that reduces the time to melt the solder, which reduces the heat transfer to the rest of the wire.

As for the seal, so far I've not crimped the seal into the insulation crimp. Instead I've had it a few inches down the wire until after soldering and then slid it up against the insulation crimp. And in every case it has gone into the connector w/o sliding back. Nor was it harmed in the soldering process.

But as said above, one illustration I found shows crimping the seal to the insulation, so that would have it subject to a bit of heat. However, since even the insulation doesn't melt I'm sure the seal won't either.

Oh I know, but my soldering iron doesnt have an adjustable temp its a 900*F iron that is always 900*F when fully heated. Its why I get my solder ready and tin the iron first to improve heat transfer so I can quickly get the solder in before putting too much heat into the wire itself.

If I can find a quality adjustable soldering iron I might pick one up for use at home as I also want to get an adjustable DC power center so I can bench test electrical circuits during assembly