Hot Rods Soldering electrical connections 101

OK, so I went and looked at the specifics of that hand crimper. First, it's only rated for a 1/0 max size. That may be adequate, but the 'better' large crimps use thicker metal (not the thin terminals they show) so that sizing may be suspect. Second, the dies are pretty narrow, I've seen this type cut the terminal in half, at best you should do two crimps to be sure of a good crimp. Third, the tool is only 15" long! Those handles can't be more than 11", if you're getting a good crimp on a 1/0 it's going to be a real rasslin' match...

And just like the smaller wire sizes, you do need the right crimper/die for the size. In a lot of cases with manual crimpers, they're designed for a specific crimp, if you substitute you can run into problems. One reason hydraulics became popular is they'll crimp a wider range of types and will generally do it in one crimp.

FWIW, I've got three of these 'cheap' hydraulic crimpers and I tested every one when I got them. No issues....

The main difference between these and the full-pro units (besides price and a UL rating) is the pro units have auto-release which these lack. Just make sure you quit pumping when the dies fully touch.

 

Do yours have the hex dies? The ones I'm seeing all have round.

 

One does (wasn't paying attention... LOL), that why I bought the second one. The round dies will work, if you do a partial crimp just until the crimp starts to squeeze out to the sides, then re-set turning it 90 degrees in the die for finishing you'll get nice crimp. You can run into this with the hex dies too so it shouldn't be a deal-breaker. You can have this issue with almost any crimper that uses dies.

Want top-of-the-line dieless crimping? Here ya go.... Anderson Power Products - 1368 - Hydraulic Crimp Tool, 3/0-#10 AWG, UL Recognized, CSA Certified, Black Handle - Allied Electronics & Automation
Try not to have a heart attack over the price.... and this is the small model.

 

I have used all three of the pictured crimpers. I have the HF kit, another hydraulic kit from eBay, and the hammer type. I’ve used the large handle type too, that’s what we have at work. Here is my perspective as a professional truck technician. The large handle type crimpers work fine, IF, you have room to swing the handles, like if you are repairing cables on the truck. The hammer type works great if you have the cable out and have a good surface to beat on, bench, anvil, floor, etc. The hydraulic ones work great in tight spaces if you have dies that are large enough for the job, at times we ran into 4/0 cable at work.

 

Well I ordered the 10 ton hydraulic, $40 shipped. My HF is out of stock, and it's $70. Need to make a battery cable, will report back with photo, if it looks OK.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

That is a nice crimper, the old shit is the best! On the other hand I have made hundreds of quality crimps with the other type hand crimper, maybe the truck shop was using terminals that didn't work well with the crimper? My experience has been that shops change hardware vendors often. We changed to Imperial Supply and they are awful in regards to quality (as are a lot of things these days). I also have used the "hit it with a BFH" type crimper too, just didn't like the looks of the crimp.

 

A correctly crimped terminal on a battery cable, there's no way anybody is going to pull the terminal off by hand. If you look at one of those sacrificial cross section pictures, the individual strands of the cable are hardly visible anymore, the whole connection is even gas-tight. That's one reason why soldering isn't necessary or even desirable.

 

One last post...

This has been mentioned in passing, but more detail to clarify it may help. Shrink tube performs multiple functions, but it's most important one is providing strain relief. The wire insulation is the most important thing for protecting the wire from vibration damage and to a limited extent, bending failure. Any time the insulation is broken, you have a possible vibration failure point at the exposed wire, and this is particularly true of soldered joints. Shrink tubing can alleviate this, but unless it presents the same or more resistance to bending as the wire insulation, it may not do the job. You're trying to continue that bending resistance onto the connector so that the wire still thinks it's fully insulated. Which if it's done right, it is.

If you're using some of the thin shrinks that are out there, I'd suggest doubling or even tripling it to insure getting enough thickness to match the resistance. When buying shrink tube, also look at its 'shrink ratio'. A 2/1 won't be as thick when shrunk as a 3/1 or higher.

If you're providing an alternate form of strain relief, this may not matter but it's still good practice. On small wires (up to #10), if not doing this you should have a mechanical means of support within about 6" or less of the connectors. As wire size goes up, this becomes less important, but wiring should be routed/secured as to prevent unneeded movement.

 

Truck64, that is why I always suspect crimps on battery cables! And now do my own. We checked everything and everything seemed to be right! Possibly the terminals had been upgraded or downgraded. But the dies , the terminal and the cable were all the same.
I agree a “ good “ crimp is great! The problem I ran into was a bad crimp….that looked good!
I tried this, because it was easier than my old way. But due to failure of the crimp I went back to my old habits!






Bones

 

I like soldering battery terminals to big fat wire. I got my solder pellets and my flux, all that stuff. And this heavy shrink wrap to cover the joint. Looks, (almost) like a pro did it.

 

Just came across this today may solve some members problems.

WATERPROOF "Low temperature heat shrink soldier connectors". A lot of tips and guys using these in the comments even on AVIONICS.

DISCLAIMER: Adam is NOT me and I am not him posting under a pseudonym

 

I've got a craftsman soldering gun and always struggle with anything over 14 gauge, the glowing tip just won't heat the wire hot enough to melt the solder that came with the kit. Now the wire is to hot to handle like 2 1/2 inches out, but it just doesn't melt the solder, so what I was just doing yesterday was melting the solder on the glowing tip and rolling the heated wire into it, seams to work but a time consuming practice.
I also use butt connectors, but I take the metal guts out of the plastic housing, when done crimping I slide the shrink tube over it, it makes for a much slimmer joint to be able to fit into wire loom.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ You can get non insulated butt connectors. Might save a little time.

 

My hydraulic crimper arrived a couple weeks ago, finally got a chance to try it yesterday. Just my golf cart batt cable, probably 4awg, good for a first test. The crimper does have the hex dies. The terminal was a tight fit on the cable, had to push it on, I could shake the cable without it coming off. The first dies I tried were too large, dies bottomed out without squeezing the terminal. The next size worked, here is the result. Is this what I should expect? Feels tight..

Blurry photos, my specialty.

 

I crimp about 2/3 then rotate the crimp in the die for the rest as that will eliminate the 'ears' you get doing it in one shot.

 

I'll try that next one. Crimper works great. Only complaint is it takes two hands to pump it, so the cable needs to be held securely somehow. Just like most electrical work, you need three hands.

 

Second try, earless. More better.

Picture quality, no better..