Does soldering really anneal the wire and weaken it? Can a crimp join really be as strong as a chemical bond? Today we dig into the fundamentals of both methods and find out once and for all which is best. --------------- Products used in this video: Dual Crimper Kit: www.haltech.com/product/ht-070300-dual-crimper-set/ Harness Sleeve Pack: www.haltech.com/product/ht-039300-harness-sleeve-pack/ --------------- Liked this video? Here are more like it: Dave's Wiring Vlog: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/f9Z-mbWSssW0YGg.html How to Ground Your ECU: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/n9tzfKZirdCshnU.html How to De-Pin every connector: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jNqPpaR6sLbQh3U.html

I have been rolling joints for the past 20yrs and I never had a problem

I solder all my wires with a blow torch on full pelt eh, once the insulation is crispy I know it's cooked correctly. The heat shrinks do a great job of holding the wires in place. It's been 5 days and my joint is still fine.

I noticed the problems many people encounter with soldering are mostly based on lack of training. Soldering, much like welding, needs a lot of experience. Steady hands, how much heat to put in the joint, what solder to use, how to interlace the wires, pre-solder cleaning, examining the flow of solder and so on. A crimp is far easier to learn. If the size of wire, the connector and the tool is right, you just need to strip the insulation, place all together and press the pliers. You can instantly see the result. At last if there is water involved, obviously a connection is going to fail someday, and in automotive fields there is plenty of it. So even a bad crimp or solder joint can hold just fine at first, but submerge it in water, give it some time, and you will see all kinds of errors on your dash. So without protection against humidity and vibration, there is no need to rank the 2 methods.

Fun fact: Wires already come annealed from factory. In production the copper strands are drawn through multiple dies, which lessens the diameter, but increases the hardness due to work hardening. If not annealed after each stage, the drawn copper strands would be really brittle, not something you want in a wire.

I worked doing wiring on submarines in the mid 1970s. We used full barrel metal lugs and the crimper drove a point into the connector. This was on small wires. I wired the main communications panel on the submarine Groton.

Crimping is the preferred method in the marine industry for a reason. This is what I was taught too. circuit boards get soldered, but joints, splices and most connector pins are crimped. Horses for course's

Definitely a great video, soldering joints in an area where there’s movement is going to cause premature failures where crimping wouldn’t, and high current areas are prone to solder joints cracking (dry joints) because of heat and current draw, great explanation from you for anyone to understand 👌

A ratcheting type crimping tool is best rather than the crush pliers type, a strong joint that looks 'factory'

My 2c. I was a bmw master tech. I used to solder everything. I felt like I had it to a fine art, having started on pcb kits as a teenager. BUT. One thing stood out to me over time that you couldn't dismiss. Several models had an externally mounted air temp sensor under the car that would get ripped off the car all the time. Even after cutting the loom back to good wire and soldering in the pig tail repair connector and sensor. The temp would always read 3-4 out. So I tried the open barrel crimp supplied in the pig tail repair/replacement kit as an experiment. Temp was bang on every time. The results were repeatable, over and over. So, much as this video explains. I became a crimp man where it should be crimped. Solder where it should be Soldered.

I usually solder because it works on pretty much any wire gauge. I find that crimps are a pain trying to find the right size for the different gauges of wires I may encounter. But in my experience, poor crimps have caused way more issues. Like wires damaged from crimping too hard or using the wrong size crimp and the wires are cut or the crimp is too big and the wire pulls out. I haven't had issues with corrosion when sealed with the glue lined heat shrink. I have been soldering since I was a kid, so maybe I am a special case, but I find soldering way easier and crimping half the time takes more than one go when the wires and crimps are really small.

I only add solder to a crimp when I'm doing big battery lugs, (2ga or bigger) but I'm glad to hear that it's a bad idea for long term use. I'd say that keeping oxygen out is the most important thing for any connection like this, so if you can create an air tight seal with glued shrink tape that will help a lot. At the end of the day, oxygen and vibration are the main enemies to wiring for a vehicle that doesn't see salt water

A lot of good advice in the comments... Aviation uses crimps. The rigidity of solder makes wire susceptible to fatigue and break under repeat bending or vibe. Heavy automotive stuff I like to use both. e.g. crimp on ring terminal on a wire follow it up with a dab of solder where the wire sticks through on the ring side. You don't want solder wicking up into the wire on the other side of the terminal or you'll create a rigid point where it can break. Wire stripping is also super important. Any knicks on any of the strands and you should start over. One small knick creates a weak point for the entire connection to break. The best crimpers are the ratcheting kind with different jaws you swap in. Paladin, Greenlee, Daniels Mfg to name a few brands common in industry.

I do in-line twists + solder when I have the spare wire and space to do so. Direct copper-to-copper contact between the spliced wires, the solder is basically only there to prevent wires from pulling apart.

Crimping is the better way. Soldering is for when the former isn’t an option. The issues with solder causing local heating, stiffness of the wire or corrosion has caused many an issue. In aerospace it’s non existent and unthinkable as a wire to wire connection. Doesn’t mean soldering will fail. Just that it has more failure modes. Any connection where there could be flex solder should be specifically avoided or the flex physically mitigated by potting.

Your presentation is super concise, clear and smooth.

100% Agree great video. I also was just fixing some wiring on my car and used crimp joints.

Perfect clear explanation! solder has its place like for potting sensors and I’m glad you covered that! for most of the automotive industry use of good quality crimps are needed,solder is use specific and often is the cause of more problems than solutions having said that I’ll always solder if the correct tooling isn’t available though! Because my solder joints are better than 90% of crimps used in the automotive industry!!! but 99% of the time it’s crimps I use every day especially at home where I’ve got the gear! some high power gold plated connections are solder only but for these I use 60/40 tin/lead solder I’ve incorporated them in a few jobs even my own car! it’s fuel system can be switched to lithium for higher voltage(rc car batteries)lol and uses tiny connections 1/4 the size of equivalent capability Anderson connections

Thanks heaps for clearing up a common problem 💯👍

When I worked for Hyundai a few years back, we had a recall that required us to unwrap a harness and solder over a crimp that was a known fail point.

Thank you!!!! Bookmarking this so I can just post a link to win this argument whenever it comes up.

In a car crimp. In a pinch I have made a crimp with crappy pliers and then put a tiny dab of solder by feeding it in the opposite end that the wire enters just to ensure the crimp stays put. I make sure the solder does not make it out the back side where movement could break it. On large gauge wire I use the method I saw from Lincoln and Miller on welding wire. I use copper pipe and strip the cable as long as the terminal I am making. Feed the wire all the way through. Then press or hammer the pipe flat on an anvil. Shape the end with a grinder or belt sander and drill the terminal. Deadly strong and the best connection with the lowest heat. We would run these connections at 750A for hours upon hours when doing large diameter Sub Arc welds. My personal record was 14hours non stop. The connections crimped this way were cool to the touch!

A great explanation of the differences. Plus, just look at the terminations on a factory wiring harness - nearly always crimped.

I've been using flour and water to connect wires for 20 years and I've never had problems except once when my 2JZ baked a lovely loaf of bread in my fuse box.

I work as a dealership tech, and the repair manual says I have to use crimps when I do repairs. I've sworn to this method for the last 14 years and I will continue to do so, as I think it's easier and faster than soldering (I did plenty of soldering in my hobbies building PCs and model train tracks). My favorite crimps are the ones with shrink tube included for extra fast repairs. Of course, this method isn't perfect. I've had to redo my work several times, but it's a lot easier to do a repair in a cramped engine bay with crimps than soldering.

I've soldered lugs on my 2 gauge welding cables, which have a large amount of current and amperage run thru them, and never had the joint fail. The crimped ones inevitably pull loose over time. In order to get a good joint, I'll hold them in a vise and fill the cup with acid core solder, while heating with a torch, then push the wires into it. I've also had to repair crimped automotive connections that have corroded over the years from being exposed to the elements. The ones on the coil pack of my 2005 Toyota Corolla were wrapped in an epoxy substance, but were corroded underneath it.

Right tool for the job. I've been saying this for a long time. When it comes to crimping, you can't run down to the local AutoZone and get some cheap crimping tools and crimps. When you're making a repair or building a harness, you should have everything planned out from the beginning to end.

Twist and tape is for emergency repairs only. I've had to zip tie a couple of 2 gauge wires together so I could battery weld. Winch controller switch failed cut twist and tape the wires until I replaced the switch the next day. I mainly crimp my connections, but there are times where soldering is easier. Likea 50 amp Anderson plug and small sized wire, crimping would kind of work but could easily fail whereas solder filling the terminal and dunking the wire in is a better bet. Marine/glue filled heatshrink is the only way to go anywhere on a vehicle.

One could add a stiffener to the harness adjacent to any splices. There's no excuse for having a splice in the middle of a harness where it is flexing or moving. Splices should be located where the harness can be made immobile.

Great vid!

As "Pins and Screws" said, soldering creates a stress point in every strand, where the solder wire interface is located. As the joint moves strands work harden and break in the end, this put more stress on the remaining strands and they break faster. Crimping forms a cold weld between the crimp and the wire strands, this means that the each wire strand is cold welded to each other and the crimp shell. Also with a lot of crimps the wire insulation is taken in to the crimp shell this provides the strands with more protection from movement so reducing work hardening and thus breakage. In cable forms in aircraft looms you won’t see many wires soldered to connectors, they are crimped to pins and then inserted in to the connector. Fully protected from vibration etc.

Just about as I'm about to do a bit of wiring on the truck; couldn't be better timed! Thanks!

In my country where we have high humidity crimping has always failed due to corrosion, maybe because finding good crimping materials and heat shrinks is difficult, I have always had to do soldering to have a long term solution. I agree with everything on the video, but sometimes the best solution is the one that you can reliably do with the tools at hand.

The way I had it explained to me a long time ago was you can't turn off the flux in a solder joint so with vibration in a car it'll fail where the wire leaves the solder from corrosion.. Also that solder is rarely if ever used in Aircraft due to this.. Really enjoy the tech vids thanks Matt.

Matt, slight tangent, but the wiring used in ships and planes (that I've worked with) has very fine strands as an offset to vibration. Some are silver plated as well. Prop shafts on ships have grounding assemblies with replaceable brushes to avoid static discharge. Worst I've ever seen in a car was a household "wire nut" used to splice a harness...

Remember though too that OEMs are likely RoHS compliant using lead free solder. Typically most diy folks use leaded solder which I believe holds up better.

Agree 100% Love your work 👍

I built a complete new harness for my dual-sport bike. All joints and connections are crimped, and I _didn't_ use sealed connector shells. Almost 10 years later, the wiring still works perfectly - although the _lights_ connected to said wiring have died many times over. Solid brass crimp connectors, TXL wire in many colors, and a ratcheting crimper; all told I spent about $50 and had a ton of leftover materials.

Thanks, enjoyed the video, About backfilling soldered joints to pins and placing them into a socket backfilling, 10/10... As for Chalice Blazeup's comment, He's been "rolling joints" for the past 20 years?? Are we rolling the same joints here??, "Never" had a problem, Chalice writes, "Old school is good," (I like old school) 'If it's working, don't fix it!!!" "If it's not broken, don't fix it,!!! Some of us out there, have "Had To" find better ways to connect two or more wires, Thank you, Haltech great update.

Intersting after many years of rallying where joints are under a lot of stress we basically dont solder for some fo the reasons you mention sloder joints break where the solder endsm Our preffered conection is crimp based but with and effective crimp tool. The tool we used was none that used the plastic at the end of the connector to the end of the join process. This bit of plastic was then compressed by the tool to enhance the mechanical strength of the join process.

Been in turf (extremely wet conditions along with whatever chemicals you get from maintaining it) for the last 16 years. Every single solder joint even under the best weather protection has always been a green corroded mess. The movement of electrons from copper to solder alloy back to copper is a point for electrolysis to happen. Crimp with weather protection just fine and dandy.

I have more than 50 years of electrical and electronics maintenance and engineering experience. There is a time and place for both solder and crimp. I never lay two wires side-by-side and then solder; the earliest that I was taught that was in high school electronics class circa 1962. I twist the wires for a mechanical bond and then solder; solid wire is a Western Union connection. Crimped lugs with stranded wire are soldered where possible. High amperage Anderson connector lugs have the wire coated in rosin, crimped and then soldered making sure the rosin and solder get sucked into the lug. A slight amount of lead/tin will dissolve the copper in wires and vice versa. In over 50 years of automotive repair I have had a few crimped connections fail that the manufacturer made in a wiring harness and my solution was to wire brush, coat with resin, and solder with 60/40 lead/tin even though the crimp material is steel. In an industrial application there are rules about types of crimps, the mash type for insulated lugs and the piercing type for plain metal lugs. I have a 50+ year old VACO crimper that will crimp insulated lugs just fine even tho' the NEC and codes forbid it. I absolutely will not use the splices that use a very low melting alloy so that the wires can be joined using a heat gun without crimping. Remember the I2R heating at bad splices causing heating and corrosion.

Great video👍 Could we get a video on heat shrink and potting harnesses?

Over my years as a car mechanic (10 years) I've seen several times more failed crimp connections than solder connections but in every case the source is the same, vibration, water or a wire in tension. Seen extremely many OEM cables where the whole wire is pulled out from the crimp which is virtually impossible with a soldered joint, but here having heat shrink as an extra strain relief is important and not wicking a whole spool of solder on a small joint as it only need a little bit. The solder also helps to keep it watertight not allowing water to wick between the strands and into the insulation. So a strain relief and keeping it watertight is the absolute top priority.

My personal preference for an inline, wire to wire connection has always been soldering, but with resin lined heat shrink tubing to seal and support the joint. Of course, virtually all wires in an automotive harness have crimped terminals at the ends, so an extra one in the middle wouldn't do any harm, done properly.

Making a good quality crimp is more difficult than making a good quality solder joint, which should give pause for thought since most engineers seem to find making crimps easier than soldering 🙄. There is a big difference between the quality of crimps made in the field, vs. those made by robots using calibrated crimps machinery, crimps and wire of known dimensional consistency. In the field, for some types of crimp an ever so slightly undersize conductor needs to be inserted into a thin tubular crimp sleeve before being inserted into the crimp connector in order to ensure sufficient void elimination in the crimping process, but that is rarely done. The good old advise of tugging at a crimp to see if it is solid will only tell if it is mechanically secure; it won't tell you if the electrical contact is prone to failure and how much void elimination between the individual wire strands has been achieved. For a crimp to give a good reliable electrical connection, the copper strands need to be significantly deformed to, in effect, secure a cold fusion between the crimp material and copper conductor material. Poorly made crimp connections leave significant voids in between the individual round conductor stands, which is not enough deformation. Virtually all round copper strands inside the conductor need to be deformed from round into a virtually void-free hexagonal/honeycomb pattern structure. In essence, if you were to make a cross-sectional cut through the crimped section, it should not be possible to still identify the structure of individual conductor strands in the cross-section. Instead of giving the crimp a good tug, a better inspection of a crimp is under a magnifier; if the cable is manipulated and there is any indication of any individual copper strands moving ever so slightly, it is *not* a good crimp. Well-executed soldered connections are both mechanically and electrically more secure than crimps, but in vehicles they do *absolutely* need the cable to be securely supported along some stretch directly adjacent to the soldered connector in order to avoid any conductor movement due to vibration. If conductor movement due to vibration is unavoidable, a perfect or even good crimp is a better alternative, relying on the vibration to abrade any oxide film forming between the conductors inside the crimped section (this oxide film *will* form inside all but the most perfect of crimps).

What the heck is happening in this world I was thinking about this subject this morning I didn’t say anything to everyone about it and then this video comes up 🤯👍🍻

Who knew this was Matt's last video for Haltech. Good luck with your new job at Turbosmart Matt.

I’m on the preference of soldering, but would also argue that this has been due to poor availability of good crimps. Wires twisted, fluxed then soldered definitely get good mechanical bonding and good oxidation prevention too. Check the nasa join method and it addresses some of the issues with side by side wire soldering.

I was water well driller pump installer for over 20 years and we crimp the connections and use heat shrinks and the connections last underwater or not forever more or less and the connection is strong enough I’ve pulled up a pump all the wire and hundreds of feet of pipe when the pipes broken off the pump. So I can pretty much guarantee my crimp connections are superior to any others.

Great vid thanks. Soldering onto crimped connectors: I’m curious if there’s been a thorough study on the strength and health of crimped connectors that have had some solder added, done well with flux and protected with dielectric grease and heat shrink. Is the crimped wire really damaged in this case? The reason why this is an interesting question is that us amateurs often risk doing an insufficient crimp. For example I always do a pull test on my crimps, but how much force to use? I can usually pull apart my crimps with a fair bit of force but the judgement on how much force to use is too unscientific, so my insurance is dielectric grease and heat shrink protection over the top of the additional solder added to my crimp. Probably an overkill! but seems the most solid option to protect against moisture, vibration and oxygen. A lab based study would be so interesting.

ballsy to tackle this one. definitely gets the experts on the interwebs fired up

I used to swear by solder only, now I prefer crimp. Probably because at that time all I owned was a soldering iron. Depending how flexible the copper strands are, thick strands usually end up meaning you need to twist longer wires together and after soldering you end up with sword that doesn't flex in your harness. If you can keep the twist joint short I don't mind so much using solder. Solder has its place but its not all the time

I've been enjoying this debate for decades now and I am 110% convinced there is no right answer. IMO it is a purely personal issue based mostly on the situation and there are more factors involved. I find a solder joint to be better resistant to corrosion but a crimp is WAY faster. In either one I have found that if the joint will break it will inevitably be right near where the insulation was stripped outside of the actual splice. This can be mitigated with a crimp that also takes in a bit of the insulation or a well wicking solder that will be pulled up into the strands under the insulation via capillary action. I find solder joints to be better resistant to moisture buildup from condensation but they can also not always be an easy joint to make due to physical location (ie under a dash). I've taken apart multiple crimps and found corrosion inside the connector (most often with butt connections). I've had situations where the crimp induces noise into a circuit and the ONLY way I was able to get rid of it was to solder the joint. A solder joint where the wires are just laid against each other with the solder used as a filler or glue is relying 100% on the solder as a structural material...which it is not. If I solder I twist the ends together first. Form a mechanical bond first. Sometimes I even combine the two options and I will use brass tubing and slide it over the bare ends as if it were heat shrink. I'll slide in a small piece of solder and then crimp the whole thing tight. A quick hit with the soldering iron or a small torch and the solder fills the joint. This way I get all the mechanical advantages of the crimp and the solid electrical connection of the solder. Really I think there is no "best" here. it depends on what you're working on, what you're looking for, how much time you have and how you were taught. Add in a little stubbornness and we have a situation with people camped out on both extremes with no one being right.

looks like soldering hot glue is going to replace best over both of these in many small applications. just learning though and enjoyed the video. very informative. thanks for sharing.

My only issue with the crimping method is finding somewhere to purchase said barrel crimps when I need a couple real quick, not 1,000 next week, other than that I love them. On the other hand though, there's something satisfying about the process of soldering, I can't say it's relaxing while my hands are shaking like I'm detoxing but when it comes out right there's a little sense of accomplishment

I hated crimping and only soldered until I finally got a good quality crimping tool. I always had issues with the simple plier type crimpers. Bought some ratcheting with different heads and love them.

Another advantage is the repeatably of good crimps (providing the correct tool and crip ect) can take out some of the human error that could occur with solder, however for the average Joe either would be fine for club or street cars.

Hey Matt great video. I feel it would have been worth noting that if your going to use a Glue heat shrink on the solder joint. That it does add some strength to the connection. Or maybe it doesn't, common sense says it does but your the expert. It's true that it adds the same value to both Crimp and Soldered connections. But wasn't covered in this video.

I am a retired automotive engineer. Prior to my retirement in the early 2000s, most wire-to-wire connections were "twisted bare wire". 1-1/2 to 2 turns over the bared wire and adhesive backed cloth tape. A second layer of protection was applied. Either non-adhesive PVC tape or convolute tubing. This works well on stranded wires 18 AWG through about 12 AWG and has been used for over 50 years. Smaller wires are now common but I suspect they are crimped.

Soldering guru here, the way you solder I agree stick to ur crimping tools. I will stick to my rosin core leaded solder, properly twisted together wires that are then rosin fluxed and soldered with leaded solder. It makes a nice shiny connection strong chemical bond and that shit is like black it just don’t crack! 25 years soldering in automotive applications. I’ve never had a solder joint returned.

Good video. And you didn't even get into the topic of multi-strand vs solid wires. Generally accepted that multi is better for low voltage (i.e. 12v) and that a solder joint has made that part of the wire a solid, and therefore increased the resistance. As some others have mentioned though, proper waterproofing of the joint is probably more important than anything else, otherwise in time corrosion will eat it away and you'll have no join anyway (especially if you don't wipe off the flux on a solder join). Glued heat shrink is amazing stuff.

What do you use for back potting the wires?

I read that solder can cause resistance in wires?? like injector, map, maf, wideband wires... one would think a crimp would do that same thing? Whats your take on the cheaper butt splice connectors? I know they have their place..ex. trailer light wiring.. i would never use them in a engine harness.

The solder that wicks up the wire is the main problem here. It generates a very rigid interface between the clean wire and soldered part, which is almost certain to work harden, fatigue and break when exposed to vibrations. Crimps also have a quite rigid interface, but it is more gradual, and since it does not creep up the wire, it is closer to the joints so the two ends of the wire stabilise each other. Also, soldering flux - which also gets wicked up the wires ahead of the solder - can be corrosive, so cleaning it after soldering is recommended in electronics. I recommend using crimps whenever possible. In fact, I would PREFER twisting the wires together to soldering - but I'm not talking about your simple twist, I would use a lineman splice (a.k.a. Western Union splice) for this. Secured by some heat shrink (preferably glue-lined) it is mechanically quite strong, it is a very good electrical connection and is quite durable.

In Heavy Commercial Vehicles, especially waste transfer, soldering is preferred as water is least likely to enter the join and corrodes. Solder is a problem when the join is in a location that is susceptable to flexing, causing it to crack. Easily prevented by securing the harness correctly.

Hey, what type of epoxy did you fill that connector shell with?

I just learned this (probably why it was showing up in my recommended tab). After thinking about it. Anytime there is a massive gauge wire joint, maybe something like an industrial application or the power lines outside your home, I have never seen 2 large gauge wires soldered together, they are ALWAYS crimped mechanically. There must be a reason for that. My intuition always lead me to believe that a proper solder joint must have a lower resistance, I'm not sure, but that may not be true. I am assuming a properly crimped connection must be nearly identical.

I like to solder, but I like to hook the wires to create a slight mechanical lock before I melt some wire in.

where do you get the open barrel crimps from? i cant find it at any of my local shops

This debate stems from the time when soldering was the only option, outside of twist and tape, for cost reasons. Today we have the machines to make precision tools and open-barrel crimps very cheaply. As with running in engines, soaking motorcycle chains in kerosine and cooking them in oil, and other old timey techniques, technology has come to a point where there are better to do it, or not do it at all.

Solder is great for Tefzel shielded wire. The shield only using the solder sleeves with ground wire.

I've seen a few testings where soldering is far better then crimping in terms of resistance.. But crimping is a lot easier and quicker.. A good twist is as good or better than a bad crimp ..😂😂😂. I've done the Twist in and emergency.. But never as a permanent.. I would love to see you do a resistance test to actually see which is better before actually claiming one is better over the other .. My personal opinion is both are excellent as long as both are done right .. I prefer to solder due to finding it easier to do a better job without the need for specialist tools ..

Like everything else, different wire connection procedures has their place. Electricians use wire nuts for building wiring, electronics use solder and crimp and automotive and marine also use both along with compressing a screw or a piece of metal with a screw against the wire. I work in the salt water marine field and a good mechanical connection is just as important as any other field but corrosion is very high in this field. We use heat shrink with a hot glue for general wiring but you must use the correct crimpers to prevent tearing a hole in the insulation or you defeat the purpose of the glued heat shrink. I think the glue also adds strain resistance and breaking from working the wire at the connection. With battery cables we crimp then solder. The solder seals the mechanical connection to prevent salt and moisture intrusion. When salt water gets into a connection the water may dry out but the salt doesn't evaporate. It stays until the connection corrodes away. Using the cheaper open PVC type crimp connectors may be OK for some things but I think they invite weakening and wire breakage from vibration not to mention corrosion. I sometimes use solder and shrink tube with glue, especially if the wire is smaller than 18 AWG. I don't know what mm that is but it is getting small. I find it too easy to damage the smaller wire and promote breakage at the crimp point.

I prefer soldier, I do feel it's more reliable of a connection, and significantly less prone to oxidation/corrosion. In my teens I preferred crimping, quick and easy, but I've had to go back a few times to solve random issues on vehicles. The amount of times I've troubleshooted something down to an old crimp is not insignificant. You don't see a ton of crimps, and if you do it's normally in a wire harness, or simply repairing a bad section of wire. But they do fail, they corrode, and it's a frustrating issue to deal with as I always find myself defaulting to questioning them crimp. There are better crimps, there are worse crimps, I hate the double ended butt connectors ... When given a chance I prefer to solder, they are less prone to oxidation/corrosion. However there are downsides to soldering, more time consuming, difficulty working with in tight spots, and frustrating to lay on your back, only to solder something under the dash above you. Situations like that, crimps are acceptable, they see limited exposure to elements inside the cab. Weak solder joints are almost always user error, and lacking the experience to know when a joint is good/bad that is fair, everyone learns somewhere. My issue with crimps is they always oxide/corrode leading to a faulty, to semi faulty connection. This is why I dislike them, and to me personally this is an advantage to soldering even before die electric grease/shrink tubing come in. You can use both on a crimp as well, but you risk the same issues as corrosion when you put die electric grease on some type of crimps. However I'm not an expert on either, my young brother is an electrical engineer. He only uses crimps in his line of work, he likes them, but he works in a very controlled environment. For some things crimping is the only real options (tight spaces) but when given the option I prefer to solder, again though some stuff like speaker wire, or items in a cab don't exactly benefit from solder.

@4:59 you show back filling a sensor plug what is it your using?

If there's any vibration, no solder for me. If the connections are potted or fastened down tightly, then solder is a good choice. Better to twist the wires before soldering to get good wire-to-wire contact as solder is more resistive than copper. In high amperage or sensitive sensor circuits, it can make a difference. I often use dielectric grease in my crimp connections to make sure no corrosion occurs between the two.

Crimping is good for one wire maximum two. If you wanted to crimp a three-core cable, you would be increasing the size of the original diameter extremely, which can cause placement problems. In that case, it is better to solder.

What about corrosion resistance? Even with shrink tube, I see crimped connections with corrosion that sometimes goes up inside the insulation at least an inch. I've never seen corrosion on a properly soldered joint with shrink tube. I suspect that the little bit of solder that wicks up the wire helps protect it from oxidizing.

I have done them all Twist and tape Solder Crimp There is a time and place for all three wonderful techniques 🤪

Question, can you elaborate on "open barrel crimps"? I'd never heard of them before just now and what I called a crimp seems to exclusively be a closed type.

Mmmmm. A concise video I can send to all the people who swear by soldering. We love to see it.

We've always crimped and soldered. The only time that I have had trouble is when using poor quality wire (the aluminized crap). Citing a commonly failed solder joint on an OEM vehicle is not a bad way of going about building some proof, but I would have liked to see you guys perform an actual test proving one is better than the other.

How about liquid tape and heat shrink? Is that combination detrimental?

Where can I buy a reasonably small number of the "open barrel crimp" things? I search for them and find tons of tools, but none of the small copper pieces to use to make a connection.

For extreme applications like a pro mod car I use crimp terminals and then put a dot of solder right on the end of the wire. it don't wick past the crimp.

and this is why I use speeduino. I am pushing 50, have the same truck for 30, been soldering the joints, and have yet to have a problem.

When using a loop type terminal on a high current joint I will use a crimp terminal then solder the cable that is protruding from the terminal.

5:00 Hang on, what is back-podding, what is the material used, and what are reliable brands for that? 6:03 What are some good quality glue-lined heat shrink brands?

what about water proof solder crimps, the ones you just heat and it solders and shrink wraps in one?

60/40 solder joints are made long before the copper reaches annealing temperatures; the poor vibration resistance is due to solders brittleness. A properly crimped connection forms a cold weld, permanently bonding the surfaces together. Clean surfaces and correct tooling are required.

I've been using both in certified radio, telecoms and aerospace work for the last 50+ years. It's a case of horses for courses: The design engineer makes the decision, you work to the specification. If you do use crimps, buy the correct tools, rather than cheap stuff; if you solder, make sure to clean the joint before heat-shrinking it. In my line of work there are no lap-joints.

I'm big on soldering, but mostly because it is extremely rare that I see a well done crimp joint. Few people have open barrel crimpers, few people even have the correct tools to crimp a parts store style crimp. Most crimps in the automotive aftermarket are done by amateurs using the smash style crimpers on plastic insulated crimps that are cheap and nasty. I've had many of those pull free in my hand, rarely has a solder joint failed. But OTOH I can both crimp and solder well and the crimps are far more common.

The simply answer to this is that either method makes a reliable joint if done correctly, for "most" applications. Done correctly also includes that solder, nor crimp, is supposed to be a mechanical bond, only the electrical bond. With either if the wire is subject to flexure stress, the job was not completed. Wire routing and fastening down is often overlooked, then the blame placed elsewhere.

Yes but also there is another factor- how often a hobbyist (occasional user) makes a bad solder joint compared to making a bad crimp. My experience is that (for occasional users) bad crimps are more common than bad solder joints. For occasional users, I think the lowest failure connector is an IDC connector (like a WAGO).

Solder that creeps into the strands produces a jagged sharp fulcrum where vibration will work harden the conductor at that point and more likely cause a failure.

I both solder and crimp, but I only solder under certain circumstances. 1: the joint is in a straight part, not in a bend. 2: I can actually fit glued shrinksleeve around it (no tape) 3: its not moving once installed. As long as those requirements are met, solder is fine for me. Anything else, I do indeed crimp. But still have the shrink sleeve as a requirement.

I've been using crocodile clips for 20 years and never had a problem.

My first day on the job as a mechanic at a major airline I was told that soldering wires together would get you fired. I had a soldering iron in my toolbox and was told to take it out to my car or cut the cord off and throw it away.

I use soldier most of the time because my experience has shown that crimps fail a lot sooner ( maybe I’m doing it wrong) but especially on all my trailers I soldier my connections, no problems for years and years