In article ,
T i m wrote:
I doubt any of the plug in connectors inside your computer are soldered.
They will all be crimped.

Yes, 'now', but that certainly wasn't always the way (and I'm talking
in general now) and do you think they are now 'always better' for
being crimped, or simply that they may be quicker for the manufacturer
to make?

How far back to you want to go? And yes, in general a properly made crimp
on a connector is better than a soldered joint to the terminals. Heating
the cable through soldering stresses the end of the cable.

I believe there are some instances were crimping is supposed to be
better than soldering but that isn't because of the actual connection
in most cases but the environment (heat and / or movement of a cable
near a soldered connection etc).

It's also possible that the crimping process is easier to mechanise
but again, that's nothing to do with the final quality of the solution
(when both are done optimally).

As an aside, when I was racing RC cars, some drivers would *solder*
the battery wires into (and out of) their cars because *any* connector
(itself soldered or crimped) would potentially add both resistance and
unreliability. I did solder the speed controller directly to the motor
but used (soldered) 30A Anderson Powerpole connectors on the battery
(with a captive 'O' ring keeping the two together). Never ever had any
of them fail in use.

You'll note I'm talking about a plug in connector. Like the BNC in
question. Not the difference between something soldered direct.

However, the whole soldering (or not) issue doesn't really cover
things where the density means that it's not easy (and so reliable) to
solder by hand, and especially where re high density IDC (rather than
crimp) connections are concerned.

You are less likely to find a bad connection where the crimp has been
made onto the insulation than with a connection that was designed to
cut through it.

Maybe if I was making up BNC connectors all day and had access to the
best components and tools available I'd use crimped ... but I think
I'd be looking hard for another job (having had to make 'batches' of
cables over my career) ... ;-)

BNC crimp tools, being mass produced, are relatively cheap for a top
quality one. Unlike more specialised crimp tools which can be very
expesive.

--
*Succeed, in spite of management *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.