i love this part! i worked in wire manufacturing plans and the NPI department so understand i may know more about this specific aspect of CA then some honkey ca installer. Also i'd love someone to prove me wrong //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
A properly crimped connection will NOT be flexible in the area of electrical contact. The wire within the crimp should form a "gas tight" seal between the strands and the connector. Solder will not flow into this area so it will not enhance the connection mechanically or electrically. Solder will NEVER form a 100% gas tight connection unlike a crimp. Another problem with solder is that is will bond the wire strands outside the crimp and lead to premature mechanical failure unless it is supported. Capillary action will draw solder quite a distance up the stranding of the wire and turn it into solid wire, which is a no-no in any environment, especially a car. Yes you can "support" it, but what does that mean - the support would have to consist of something that would prevent the stranded part of the wire from flexing at the point where it becomes "solid" due to entrained solder. where is that point exactly? no one knows unless you open up the wire. Then you need a heavy piece of heavy rubber to be a strain relief as heart shrink sure isn't a stress reliever. soldering just adds problems into the equation as well as being slower, harder, and more unreliable.
Since it will not enhance the connection in any way shape or form I see no reason to solder as it only can make the wire more prone to failure, takes longer, worse connection, etc.
ABYC standards:
(E-11.16.3.7), “Solder shall not be the sole means of mechanical connection in any circuit”.
"Solderless crimp on connectors shall be attached with the type of crimping tools designed for the connector used, and that will produce a connection meeting the requirements of E-11.16.3.3.” 11.16.3.8."
The reason why crimping is by far the superior method of making a good electrical connection is that a properly compressed connection (that means, the right tool, for the right size connector and the right pressure applied to the crimp) will make the wires & connector pretty much become one. Some people refer to this as a "cold weld"
This is what a proper crimp looks like if you cut it in half
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles/CrimpTools/GL.jpg
Note that there are no voids in the wire grip area for either terminal. If I had a better polishing tool, you would be able to see individual strands captured in the terminal wire grip barrel. The 500 microinch or so thickness of tin plating on each strand would be visible as squashed ovals traced in the copper surface. As you can see, the wires & connector become one. It eliminates all voids between wires, thus keeping any air out. This prevents corrosion, which is the #1 problem in electrical connections. Corrosion increases the resistance of the connection, which obviously is BAD.
Check out this article "This is NOT a crimper"...good information
http://www.terminaltown.com/Pages/Page7.html
This one also has a lot of good information.
http://www.aeroelectric.com/articles...rimptools.html
While soldering does "seal" most of the connection area, mechanically, it is a fairly weak connection, especially with all the vibrations of a car, which add to crimping being better. Another real problem with soldering and why the ABYC code recommends crimping over it is that in the case of a circuit or wire with
high electrical loads, the solder can often heat up enough to soften... combine that with wires that are vibrating... you can get a loose hot live wire inside a car... that's bad. A crimped connection, done properly, isn't ever going to come apart.
At the end of the day, there is 0 advantage to soldering, as a crimped connector is better electrically and mechanically, oh and easier and quicker to do to boot.
also most shops use the wrong kind of solder which makes it even worse to use it. again no reason at all to solder.
any shop that doesn't crimp their connectors or fuse their big 3 stay the **** away from as they are hacks and don't know even the basics of car audio. let alone anything advanced.
edit: For anyone who doesn't want to believe all the info i posted above chew on this: look at how high end manufacturers make their connections, Bentley, Ferrari, Mercedez, etc. all crimped. period. How connections on boats or planes are made, again ALL CRIMPS. no exceptions. go ask any ME/EE what is better. I come from a background of Wire Manufacturing for one of the largest at the time, companies in that field. Everything was crimped. Before anyone says soldering is fine try and back it up with some facts which dispute what i posted above. otherwise QFT. I don't mean to be a jerk but this is basic 101 shit. I'm no car audio guru but i know how to make a
simple connection the RIGHT way.
