Re: Soldering lugs

[tom shay <tshay@IX.NETCOM.COM>]

David Roden wrote:

> At the risk of being flamed, I will admit that I have soldered most of
> the lugs on my cars for several years now.  In fact, (blush) I don't own
> a crimper of any kind.  Nor do I buy commercial lugs.
>
> I cut hunks of copper tubing, dunk the cables in flux, slide the tubing
> over the end of the cables, hammer the end flat, and squeeze the part the
> wire is in with a vise so they are small in diameter (this is hard to
> describe, sorry).  Then I heat them with a torch and dump in gobs of
> solder.  Drill the flattened end, and I'm ready for the terminal.
>
> I have never had one overheat -- but then I run 48 to 120 v at 350 to 400
> amps, not 192v at 1000 amps.

   David, it's hard to argue with what works for you.  But, experts in
the pros and cons of soldered versus crimped connectors favor the
crimped connection.
  Soldering experts (you might be one) find it very difficult to get
reliable and consistent soldered connections with large multistrand
cable.  Effective fluxes will corrode the copper strands.  Solder
will not get into most of the spaces between strands.  The solder
wants to wick up into the cable so that after soldering the
cable is rigid near the connection.
  Fortunately, the business of putting a lug on the end of a cable
is a very forgiving situation.  Incredibly poor crimped or soldered
connections will often work at least for a while if they don't get
badly corroded or pulled apart.  That's why it doesn't usually
matter if some sort of goo is used or not, what kind of crimper is
used, whether solder is used or not, whether quality lugs are used
or not, etc.
  So why should anyone bother to use good lugs and crimpers and
good techniques?  Reliability is the main reason.  A good crimped
connection protected from corrosion and not subjected to abuse
should last practically forever. The other reason is to minimize
voltage drop in the connections.

Re: Soldering lugs