FWIW, all of my 30A PP connectors are soldered, not crimped, as originally recommended by Wayne for those who choose not to spend the money on a purpose-built crimper for PowerPole terminals. I have not had any trouble since I started soldering PP connectors for my KPA100 fifteen years ago. I currently have about a dozen PP cables in the shack.
To solder the terminals on the wires, I put the stripped wires in a vice, ends pointing upward. Slip the connectors over the exposed wire and align them to easily slide in to the housing later. I heat the terminal on the end and feed solder in through the small opening at the "top" of the terminal (when it is in the vice) so it flows down into the inside of the terminal and into the wire strands. That way there is no solder on the outside of the terminal or on the contact surface above where I add the solder. Solder on the outside of the terminal makes it hard to slide into the housing but it can be desoldered/filed down if needed. Solder on the mating terminal surface means it won't mate properly and the terminal needs to be replaced. PP connectors depend upon clean, flat mating surfaces for a proper, low-resistance contact. That is lost if a layer of solder is allowed to flow onto the terminal. Properly done crimps that exclude all air and water vapor molecules from between the wire and terminal are as good as solder and they are a lot faster to make, especially with a little practice. That's why they are widely used in manufacturing where time is money. 73, 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 Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
