Tools and techniques for auto wiring

[07GTS]

yea those colored crimp terminals are not proper crimp terminals IMO, they can work just fine but if not crimped right will only cause issues, a proper crimp is with proper terminals and pliers and the terminal crimps around the wire securing it like that first brass terminal joiner pictured

 

[_R_J_K_]

i prefer to solder and use heatshrink for anything i want to last.

theres is nothing wrong with soldering,

whether you should crimp or solder a joint together.

The solder killer for automotive use more so than bonding is vibration cracking the join apart. Apart from being really difficult to standardise and make a repeatable solder join, the solder can crack in unpredictable ways if it wicks up the wire. There's also not a lot of options for strain relief with soldering. Typically not a problem in the middle of the odd wire, but bunched in a tightly packed loom it's problematic.

 

[Immortality]

These....

Are definitely not for a high quality wiring job.

 

[Immortality]

And if you use these in a car you probably deserve a good arse kicking!

 

[Lex]

These are crap!

 

[lmoengnr]

The only soldering in aircraft is found on wires/components attached to circuit boards, everything else is crimped(swaged).
Soldering is allowed for temporary repairs only.

 

[_R_J_K_]

they can work just fine but if not crimped right will only cause issues

These....
Are definitely not for a high quality wiring job.

They can work fine, but because they're usually the easiest bottom of the barrel common denominator ones available wherever people use them in a lot of ways they shouldn't be. These people usually don't even buy the (usually cheap) tool to do the job. The female spade terminals are good for fuse boxes you might want somewhere else in the car. Usually I'll pull them out of the plastic and use my indent crimper with some heat shrink though.

Speaking of which, these butt connectors that use the same tool can also be good for bigger wires, particularly the nylon ones - the hard plastic ones that are slightly clear, not to be confused with the heat shrinkable ones - if you don't want to remove the insulator. Jaycar sells both the insulated and non-insulated version of these, and for some dumb reason the uninsulated ones are way more expensive. I do these with the indent crimper too.

 

[Immortality]

I have no issue with copper type crimp lugs and use them all the time, add some heat shrink and it's a great joint.

I too use the spade terminals for simple wiring jobs but I'd never use one for something critical

 

[_R_J_K_]

The only soldering in aircraft is found on wires/components attached to circuit boards, everything else is crimped(swaged).
Soldering is allowed for temporary repairs only.

For regular soldering yes, that's correct. The Raychem and TE solder sleeves are really really different from the cheap ebay ones though, I assume they (the Raychem ones at least) comply to some kind of aviation standard more easily as they end up being closer to being potted and completely sealed which changes things slightly.

https://www.steinair.com/product/18-solder-sleeve-wpigtail/
http://shop.avionics.co.nz/m83519
https://www.pilotshop.com/catalog/elpages/edmosoldersleeve.php
https://shop.midwestpanels.com/product/raychem-solder-sleeve-125/
https://shop.boeing.com/aviation-supply/p/D142-51=7S
https://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/soldering-sleeves_11-07902.php

EDIT: One of those sites has an interesting document from CASA about solder sleeves. Pretty damned detailed: https://www.steinair.com/wp-content...thiness-Bulletin-AWB02-009-SOLDER-SLEEVES.pdf

 

[_R_J_K_]

Apparently NASA standards are (suspiciously) easy to find too:
https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2 books/links/sections/files/407.pdf
https://workmanship.nasa.gov/lib/insp/2 books/links/sections/406 solder sleeves.html
https://nepp.nasa.gov/index.cfm/14616