Crimping vs. Soldering

PSI · 04-02-2013, 05:13 AM

Crimp every time! Years ago I would have said solder, until I wired a 20B into an aircraft and was educated in no uncertain terms by those in the aviation industry. This was reinforced recently when I had a road race engine come back due to a loss of all oil pressure - as it turned out the engine was perfect but the terminal soldered to the wire on the pressure sensor, and shared by the gauge/idiot light/ecu had become corroded from the flux and lost continuity half way through a race, after being soldered 2 years and many race meetings earlier! It was not the terminal itself, but the connection between the terminal and the wire. I guess the flux turned into an insulator over time. A decent pull on the terminal broke the wire clean off.

04-02-2013, 05:13 AM	#18
PSI The Newbie Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 18 Rep Power: 0	Crimp every time! Years ago I would have said solder, until I wired a 20B into an aircraft and was educated in no uncertain terms by those in the aviation industry. This was reinforced recently when I had a road race engine come back due to a loss of all oil pressure - as it turned out the engine was perfect but the terminal soldered to the wire on the pressure sensor, and shared by the gauge/idiot light/ecu had become corroded from the flux and lost continuity half way through a race, after being soldered 2 years and many race meetings earlier! It was not the terminal itself, but the connection between the terminal and the wire. I guess the flux turned into an insulator over time. A decent pull on the terminal broke the wire clean off.