[scotty305]

I agree with joff. Most people who dislike crimping have probably seen the results of low-quality crimp connectors and tools used by people who haven't got much experience using them. With the proper equipment and training (or even plenty of trial and error), it is much easier (and faster) to make a very reliable crimped joint.


I have seen soldered joints in which the wire near the solder literally corroded and crumbled away, they were at least 3-5 years old and you could see yellow/brown traces suggesting that the flux had not been cleaned (I'd suggest using rubbing alcohol applied with a stiff-bristled brush, and then a rag to wipe clean). The solder joint was still intact but the wire immediately adjacent (where the flux had flowed to) had corroded and broken and there was lots of powdery residue.

There is a thick plastic-like heat shrink material (I think it's called SCR) that will do a better job of insulating and protecting joints (whether they are solder joints or crimped splices) compared to regular thin heat shrink. Dual-wall (adhesive) heat shrink is nice also.

If you are using cheap auto-parts-store crimp connectors (butt splices) with plastic surrounding the metal, heat the plastic up before crimping (use a heat gun if possible, or by breathing warm air on it if that's all you've got). Use the notched end of a universal crimp tool; the color-coded "insulated" crimp tool sections that are perfectly concave on both sides won't distort the butt splice enough and it won't grab the wire well enough.

That said, I've soldered more than a couple electrical connections in cars and haven't seen or heard of one fail yet; maybe I'm lucky. When possible I try to use crimps.