In the aerospace, marine and land-based commercial electronics industry firms I worked with, we shifted from soldering to crimping for two reasons:
1) Crimping is faster than soldering and, if done correctly, yields a reliable electrical connection. 2) Soldering requires more training to use soldering tools properly than does a crimp tool, soldering is slower and it requires an environment where it's safe to do so. Bottom line is that, in many situations, crimping is more cost-effective in a manufacturing environment and it's easier to train workers to make properly crimped connections. But, when done properly, soldering is at least as good. But beware: just because you can tug on the wires and they don't come loose, that does not mean you have a good crimp or a good solder joint. A crimped connection must have a large part of the connector squashed so tightly against the wire that all air is excluded over a large surface area where the wire and connector touch. Similarly, soldering requires that solder flow and bond a large part of the wire and connector together. Novices often have a nice looking solder fillet where the wire exits, but no solder inside the connector bonding the length of the wire inside to the connector. Bad crimps often produce a tight bond over only a small area of wire. In either case that forces the current through a smaller cross-section where the wire and connector touch. The increased resistance drops voltage and produces heat. Heat promotes corrosion in the surrounding areas until the connection fails - either the wire becomes brittle and breaks out of a crimp or it melts the solder. In extreme cases the connector shell itself may deform or melt. Ron AC7AC ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
