Joining Wires

[nelmo]

I'm no sparky - is there a recommended method of joining 2 wires (for wiring to engine sensors) ?

 

I was planning on twisting them together, soldering and then heat shrink.

 

But the Emerald documentation suggests that crimping 'can' be better as solder can wander, or something.

 

If that is the case, is using butt connectors the way forward?

 

This site gives a good description of crimping but doesn't really suggest if it is better:

 

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Cable_crimping

Edited February 1, 2016 by nelmo

[Dave R]

If you don't know what you are doing solder can wick up the wire making the whole thing too stiff..... however ford used solder in the sierra loom and there are still some on the road.... my loom is home made and has been soldered for the last 12 years or so.... only had one fail, and that got very wet

[fry61]

For me any wiring in a possibly damp situation needs to be soldered, there is nothing more intimately joined than a soldered or welded joint; crimping can leave a tiny capillary for damp to track along. As said above solder worked on Sierras & continues to work on numerous kits.

 

Just make sure your iron is good & hot so to fusion of copper/lead/tin is quick & the wires are clean. I always try to throw away the first 15mm of the coductor & then strip, this ensures removal of any copper which may have slight surface corrosion due to moisture penetration.

 

BUT then again I am old school now & its a good few years/decades since sweating lugs on 19/064 cables.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Soldering is good unless they are modern signal wires.

They are very sensitive to differing resistances.

If you don't have anything as sensitive as Emerald management or similar you will be ok.

Edited February 1, 2016 by 2b cruising

[nelmo]

Thanks all. I have got an Emerald ECU so I think I'll go the crimping route... my soldering skills are also pretty rubbish.

[maccavvy]

buy a proper ratchet crimping tool. the cheap hand held jobs are rubbish

[megadodo]

I would always recommend soldering, I've worked on cars for nearly 40 years and I've never had a good solder joint fail. Resistance should be negligible and I have used soldered joint on low voltage signal cabling without issue. Soldering, like welding, does take a bit of both prep and practice. If you decide on crimping buy a good quality tool and make sure your connectors are designed for that tool. They may look the same but they 'aint! Use the right size connector for the wire, the stripped and twisted wire end should be a snug fit in the connector before crimping. Stagger multi wire joints where possible and support the loom properly. Consider connector blocks instead joints as this often makes repair and dis-assembly easier.

[Guest 2b cruising]

+1 for the ratchet tool.

Crimp size is easy, red small, red gap on toll. Blue medium, blue on tool. Yellow large, yellow on tool.

You can now get them with heat shrink insulator instead of hard plastic, highly recommended. Search the bay.

Whatever joint you use, use heat shrink for insulation.

Looked into the emerald and no different slaves to run from the same wires so solder can be used. Just do it as far from unit as possible because of heat. Wire soldering is the easiest soldering to do. Practice on the bench first and you will see just how easy it is. Same again, correct size heat shrink for insulation.

[agent_zed]

the soldered joints i did on my 2b haven't failed (yet) and that was 2007 when i made her, using the original sierra loom. I am no expert at soldering thats for sure but i managed to do it ok and as above make sure it is all clean. wiring should be secured anyway so just secure it close to joints to stop movement.

[Guest mower man]

Just to add my 2 pennorth ordinary copper cables are a breeze to solder bur modern stuff seems to have some sort of aluminium or at least non copper wire which does not like solder , its amatter of horses for courses the new stuff is crimp and older stuff or at least copper cables solder OR non ins crimp ,then solder and heat shrink for belt and braces approach mick

[philshelton]

I would always solder and heat shrink, I would also think this method far less susceptible to any resistance issues to a crimped joint should it get damp.

[brumster]

The way I've always approached things is to look to extreme fields like aerospace and motorsport (F1, touring cars). From what I've been told by people more in the know than me - with actual experience in those fields - they pretty much use crimping throughout. Obviously not a Halfords £5 crimp tool and a load of red bullet connectors, but you get my point.

 

I prefer to crimp myself. As CMA said, decent connectors, proper crimp tool, and always the right size for the cable. If I solder anything, I make sure it's going to be vibration resistant. And I tend to heatshrink it if access isn't a problem, particularly if it's likely to get grotted up.

 

But for DIY use, I think a bit of soldering isn't that bad. You have to think "fit for purpose", we're hardly all pushing the boundaries here in terms of performance, weight, longevity, etc...

[rthomas69]

I think you'll find that most F1 wiring is soldered joints into military spec connectors (well that's what we use, apart from large high voltage connectors which are a form of crimped connector). A proper soldered joint is far better than a crimped joint.

[Dave Ed]

Almost all aircraft wiring is crimped. Very few cables are soldered.

Providing the crimps and tooling are good quality you won't have any issues.

[fry61]

A decent solder joint is easily achieved by amateur builders -- the crimps need to be correct size for cable & set with the correct tool -- aerospace tooling is probably a whole lot better than our kit -- ratchet setting tool that will only release after going all way home is good but were the cable sizes & crimpsizes the same good match -- maybe it wont matter on our stuff 99% of the time but -----