Houston area (along with DB's not from Houston) BS thread

strange...

 

What cigars you smoke today?

 

I'd fill the void with extra strands of wire, use the correct crimping tool like a green lee 1 shot, the wire will break before the crimps / lug gives out.

 

At least it's not to springish

 

Truth

 

i was talking about better current flow with solder, not better physical strength. with solder, you'll get higher surface area contact with the crimp.

 

I'll leave it alone but I'll throw my 2 cents. I've seen solder fail too many times & especially with vibrating equipment (a running engine), I've yet to see a properly crimped lug fail, but on my terminations I always go overkill with a shot of solder a good crimp, hear shrink (sometimes cold shrink) and a jacket if the terminals are close.

 

I am gonna test your solder vs a regular crimp of current flow though, now that you've sparked my interest.

 

I fully expect an engineering report at the conclusion of your testing.

 

So here's the next question. Should I sleeve the cables?

 

I always sleeve connections

 

well I've put an amp probe on a 600 amp motor with only lug connections (well over 100 times) & no telling how many 400 amp and lower current motors, all we use are crimped lugs with no solder. They vibrate to hell when they are running

If they could move & contact anything I would, even if it's just plastic conduit.

 

The connections will be crimped and heat shrinked. I was just thinking that the green insulation is going to stick out like a sore thumb in the engine bay.

 

It'll look pretty.

 

I suggest some of this over the green wiring.

http://www.techflex.com/prod_overexp.asp

 

we're on the same page. i wasn't saying only solder. i may have worded it poorly the first time. i meant fill the voids with solder, and then crimp it. i'm not a fan of straight solder either.

from a mathematical standpoint, the better contact patch will yeild better flow with lower temps. the potential to keep that from happening is that you move from a single connection, to essentially two different connections, with the addition of a new material. it may very well come down to solder quality (if there is a measurable difference)

 

here's what it'll look like

 

I thought you ment heat shrink. Sleeves would look cool

 

It's what I plan to do for all of my accessory wiring. I have 100 feet of it right now...

 

With aluminum (conductors) it might be but copper (what I use 95% of the time) current won't fluctuate as much with ambient temps changing, only with the load you put on the wire (not saying temperature won't have a say so in the current draw fluctuation [5% if that] but it is not as noticeable with a copper conductor).