On Sat, 08 Dec 2007 12:53:04 -0600, Ignoramus21145
wrote:

On 2007-12-08, Karl Townsend wrote:
...
I have a similar ratcheting crimp, and I am very satisfied.

I'm curious if I'm the only one...

I've historically had maybe 1 in 20 or 1 in 50 crimps pull out later. Then a
MISERABLE time finding what went wrong. So, I gave up. I solder all my crimp
connectors to the wire.

I do this only on very safety critical things or where there is
contamination, flexing etc, like trailer wiring. Supposedly, a good
crimp does not need soldering. I never had any crimps pull out, but
then, I never had a situation where crimp was taking any serious
mechanical stress.

i

This is exactly where a *good* crimp is the better termination. Solder
wicks up inside stranded wire, making it nearly certain to eventually
break due to fatigue if there is repeated flexing. A good crimp is
gas-tight, so corrosion is not an issue. However, it is not easy to
consistently make good crimps with a hardware-store-type single-action
(not compound leverage) crimper.

For heavy wire like welding cable or battery leads, I use a hammer
crimp tool. Not this exact model, but same idea:
http://store.solar-electric.com/hacrtoforlal.html
Hit with BIG hammer, make good crimp. Drag welder around by leads,
the crimps won't pull out!