RobertMacy wrote:
On Sat, 28 Dec 2013 17:08:06 -0700, Stormin Mormon wrote:

This article says soldering is less desirable
than crimps for Anderson Power Pole terminals.


http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/12/...ectronics.html

I was taught that soldering is far better than crimp.
What's your thoughts?


I've addressed this over and over...Crimp is better than solder:

Years ago when I was involved in the security industry, I worked with
alarm installers who pulled wire, made connections, and HAD the years of
experience of PRACTICAL installs. They made the comment to me that crimp
is the BEST connection, and solder will tend to fail, and definitely
NEVER solder a crimp connection because it loses its 'goodness'.

Sadly, being an arrogant youth and being skilled at soldering, having a
degree from Stanford, and jsut generally knowing 'I' knew better; I
didn't listen. So, when I installed my security system in my home, I, of
course, soldered the connections. I wrapped wires a good one inch with
at least 5 twists and flowed the solder on beautifully - classic high
qaulity workmanship. Ten years later, a false alarm, reset no problem.
month later another false alarm, reset too, and more and more often
until once a week a false alarm. I went around and resoldered all my
connections and guess what no more false alarms for you guessed it
another ten years. ...From this experience, I learned a lot of respect
for people who may not have degrees, but have to do the work everyday,
and learn from THEIR experiences.

Also, look at the phone company. they don't solder, they also use
mechanical pressure to maintain contact. After all, that is ALL soldering
does. It maintains some semblance of 'sealing' and mechanically
constraining the connection you made by simply twisting two wires together.

CONCLUSION: *IF* you want a reliable connection to last for years,
CRIMP!!! and follow the directions.

Plus, and this can get really, really bad. If your soldered connection is
passing power and starts to fail, you guessed it!, it will unsolder
itself for you! Seen that, too.

In the mean time, I'll fix bad crimps by soldering.

Greg