Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

In article CyVih.19$%M1.14@trnddc08, "Pop`" wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

The answer to question #1 depends on exactly what you mean.

The (US) National Electrical Code explicitly approves the use of solder in
splices, provided that the splice is both mechanically and electrically secure
_without_ solder.

IOW... it's ok to make a splice with solder, but it's *not* ok to make a
splice *only* with solder.

Another way to look at it is that solder is approved under the NEC for making
splices, but only in places where it isn't needed. g

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

I agree with Doug. Crimp first, then solder just to seal out the
envirnment.

Another way to look at it is that solder is approved under the NEC for
making
splices, but only in places where it isn't needed. g


Interesting perspective but makes a lot of sense.

How about welding where its both mechanically and electrically secure? We
already use Cadweld for grounding and spot weld in appliances.

In article , "# Fred #" wrote:

Another way to look at it is that solder is approved under the NEC for
making
splices, but only in places where it isn't needed. g


Interesting perspective but makes a lot of sense.

How about welding where its both mechanically and electrically secure? We
already use Cadweld for grounding and spot weld in appliances.

I seem to remember reading that welding was ok, but I can't find a citation in
the Code for that right now, so I may be wrong.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

"Pop`" wrote in message
news:CyVih.19$%M1.14@trnddc08...
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's
of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Solder has gone the way of the blacksmiths.

Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!

"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!


Actually if I wired up my own house I would not hesitate to use solder. Its
just make the connections stronger, less resistance and reliable if its done
right. Over the years I've seen mechanical joints failed much more than
mechanical joints with solder. You have solder used on copper pipes that
outlasted the pipes itself. You have silver solder on the bike joints (light
steel tube with tensile strength somewhere around 150,000psi) that would
take a fair amount of stresses. And there would not be any electricity
generated without solder.

# Fred # wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!


Actually if I wired up my own house I would not hesitate to use
solder. Its just make the connections stronger, less resistance and
reliable if its done right.

"If it's done right." It is easy to mistake a solder-only joint for a
physical joint that's soldered. Lay one wire atop another and join with
solder. Electrical connectivity is great, but the joint has no stuctural
strength. As to resistance and reliability, when both are done right, there
is no difference between a solder joint and a wire-nut joint.

Those two being equal, the choice comes down to other factors: Ease of
"doing it right," expense, tools, power, noxious fumes, equipment,
experience, time and labor, etc.

Over the years I've seen mechanical
joints failed much more than mechanical joints with solder. You have
solder used on copper pipes that outlasted the pipes itself. You have
silver solder on the bike joints (light steel tube with tensile
strength somewhere around 150,000psi) that would take a fair amount
of stresses. And there would not be any electricity generated without
solder.

Granted, soldering copper pipes works well (it has to). But why are copper
pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with plastic? And racing bikes
cost 100 times more than a Schwinn, perhaps because of the soldering?

HeyBub wrote:
# Fred # wrote:
"HeyBub" wrote in message
...
Pop` wrote:
Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

....

Actually if I wired up my own house I would not hesitate to use
solder. Its just make the connections stronger, less resistance and
reliable if its done right.

"If it's done right." It is easy to mistake a solder-only joint for a
physical joint that's soldered.

Completely erroneous. If "it's done right" the wiring positions and forms
are clearly visible and easily distinguished.

Lay one wire atop another and join
with solder. Electrical connectivity is great, but the joint has no
stuctural strength.

No, actually it does have a fair structural strength. It's flexing and the
memory properties of solder that make it require the use of a physical
connection also.

As to resistance and reliability, when both are
done right, there is no difference between a solder joint and a
wire-nut joint.

Wrong again.


Those two being equal, the choice comes down to other factors: Ease of
"doing it right," expense, tools, power, noxious fumes, equipment,
experience, time and labor, etc.

Especially time and expense. ...

In article , "HeyBub" wrote:
But why are copper pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with
plastic?

Ten reasons.

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
4. Cost
5. Cost
6. Cost
7. Cost
8. Cost
9. Cost
10. Cost

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Malcolm Hoar" wrote in message
...
In article , "HeyBub"
wrote:
But why are copper pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with
plastic?

Ten reasons.

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
4. Cost
5. Cost
6. Cost
7. Cost
8. Cost
9. Cost
10. Cost


Especially now that the price of copper has gone out the roof. Also plastic
can be installed much quicker than rigid copper pipe.

In article , (Malcolm Hoar) wrote:
In article , "HeyBub"
wrote:
But why are copper pipes being replaced (union rules permitting) with
plastic?

Ten reasons.

1. Cost
2. Cost
3. Cost
4. Cost
5. Cost
6. Cost
7. Cost
8. Cost
9. Cost
10. Cost

You forgot the 11th reason: cost.

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

In article , "HeyBub" wrote:

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

There are no "pros." Some "cons" that come to mind a

1. Skill required,
2. Extra equipment,
3. Need source of electricity,
4. Too easy to do it wrong,
5. Too easy to mistake a solder joint for a physical connection,
6. Deadly fumes,
7. Extra expense,
8. Extra labor

Heck, after looking over my list, soldering should be outlawed!

But then all of your copper plumbing would be leaking ;-)

--
|~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
| Malcolm Hoar "The more I practice, the luckier I get". |
| Gary Player. |
| http://www.malch.com/ Shpx gur PQN. |
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is
legal (I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is
electrician's tape sufficient?


--
Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really
care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when
you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge.

- Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm)

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is legal
(I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is electrician's
tape sufficient?


Don't see why not, tape is used on high voltage splices and you see a lot of
it in old houses too. BTW, the best high voltage splices are done with lead
(solder) - its a dying art form much like using lead on auto body repair.

David Nebenzahl wrote:
Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is
legal (I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is
electrician's tape sufficient?

Use several layers and keep the tape under just enough tension to
stretch and mold itself to the joint. Only things better would be
spaghetti tubing or heat shrink.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's
of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is legal
(I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is electrician's
tape sufficient?

Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely unacceptable.
Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box above an
incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

Skip the solder, use wire nuts.

Bob M. spake thus:

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...

Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's
of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is legal
(I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is electrician's
tape sufficient?

Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely unacceptable.
Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box above an
incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

OK, then how about cloth electrician's tape? That's what they used way
back when, when soldering was the way it was done. I've seen some
tape-wrapped joints that were intact to about this day.


--
Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really
care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when
you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge.

- Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm)

FWIW, my parents house (built in 1957, we bought it in 1961) has
soldered connections wrapped with the old friction tape they used back
then, and haven't had the least problem with any of them. Larry

"lp13-30" wrote in message
...
FWIW, my parents house (built in 1957, we bought it in 1961) has
soldered connections wrapped with the old friction tape they used back
then, and haven't had the least problem with any of them. Larry

It's been a LONG time but my understanding was when solder was used to join
power wiring, a RUBBER tape was put over all the bare copper to insulate.
The rubber tape used didn't stick all that well. "Friction" tape (cloth
with "tar") was put on top of the rubber to hold it in place and to protect
it from FRICTION.

The idea was to duplicate the way the original wiring as insulated which was
rubber next to the conductor and cloth to protect the rubber.

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...


Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely
unacceptable. Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box
above an incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

OK, then how about cloth electrician's tape? That's what they used way
back when, when soldering was the way it was done. I've seen some
tape-wrapped joints that were intact to about this day.

Same answer. Stay with wire nuts.

My 50-year-old house has soldered/taped joints and as I come across them, I
peel the tape off and put a wire nut on it. If I'm wiring up something,
I'll break the solder joint, add the new wire and wire nut them.

Bob M. wrote:
"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...


Dunno what the NEC says but experience says tape is completely
unacceptable. Over time it loses it's stickiness and if it's in a box
above an incandescent light, it will get baked, becoming dry & brittle.

OK, then how about cloth electrician's tape? That's what they used way
back when, when soldering was the way it was done. I've seen some
tape-wrapped joints that were intact to about this day.

Same answer. Stay with wire nuts.

My 50-year-old house has soldered/taped joints and as I come across them, I
peel the tape off and put a wire nut on it. If I'm wiring up something,
I'll break the solder joint, add the new wire and wire nut them.

Do you tape the wire nuts?

David Nebenzahl wrote:
Pop` spake thus:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.

Can't answer the question (a good one, by the way), but it brings up
another, even more interesting, question in my mind: assuming it is
legal (I'd suspect it is), what about insulation for the joint? Is
electrician's tape sufficient?

Yes, in some locales, assuming it has the proper markings and approvals.

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?
Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about 6
inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered K&T
wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the science/physics/howto's of
soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about 6
inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered K&T
wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

A Weller gun will do the job quickly, without melting the
insulation, providing the wires are clean. Why would you have so
many wires joined together?

Whatever theory says, I've never soldered because it's difficult to
unsolder, short of clipping the wires, and I've never seen anyone
else do it.

Father Haskell wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about
6 inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered
K&T wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

A Weller gun will do the job quickly, without melting the
insulation, providing the wires are clean. Why would you have so
many wires joined together?

Actually, no, a Weller would be a poor choice that that application. The
heat transfer is too slow and would create the aforementioned problems.


Whatever theory says, I've never soldered because it's difficult to
unsolder, short of clipping the wires, and I've never seen anyone
else do it.

It's easy to unsolder IFF it's done right g. There's that caveat again:
"If ... "

Pop` wrote:

Father Haskell wrote:

wrote:

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:


Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Hmmm,
What about physical strength, flexibility. Stiff solder joint may crack
and break. Wirenut just can dangle in the middle of run, you use wire
nut to splice within junction box. Simple experiment. Make a solder
joint and wirenut joint. Then measure resistance across both and
compare. If you want to do more, heat the joint and measure again.
See any difference? You will need a meter which can read lot less than
one Ohm on the scale.

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 19:28:22 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Father Haskell wrote:
wrote:
On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 18:34:10 GMT, "Pop`"
wrote:

Kind of silly I suppose, but I was just wondering:

1. Does code allow soldering for residential wiring where you live?
2. Where do you live?

Please, I'm not trying to start a debate over the
science/physics/howto's of soldering or its relative pros/cons.


Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Too much work when a wirenut works fine. And you'd need about 500 to
1000 watts of soldering iron to solder a bundle of 4 or 5 #12 wires.
By the time you do it, you'd probably melt the insulation back about
6 inches and would have to tape all of that. The old cloth covered
K&T wires were intended to handle the heat of soldering. New plastic
coated wires will melt the coating.

A Weller gun will do the job quickly, without melting the
insulation, providing the wires are clean. Why would you have so
many wires joined together?

Actually, no, a Weller would be a poor choice that that application. The
heat transfer is too slow and would create the aforementioned problems.


Whatever theory says, I've never soldered because it's difficult to
unsolder, short of clipping the wires, and I've never seen anyone
else do it.

It's easy to unsolder IFF it's done right g. There's that caveat again:
"If ... "



I just tried to solder two #10 stranded wires on my car with a Weller
Gun. I could not get enough heat from it. I finally got out and old
"soldering iron". That iron is 100w I believe. Even that took too
long. I finally put a propane torch on the iron and got it really
hot. I like to solder on cars because the wires corrode otherwise.

Pop` wrote:

Actually, no, a Weller would be a poor choice that that application. The
heat transfer is too slow and would create the aforementioned problems.

Not if you tin the wires first.

Father Haskell wrote:
Pop` wrote:

Actually, no, a Weller would be a poor choice that that application.
The heat transfer is too slow and would create the aforementioned
problems.

Not if you tin the wires first.

Still wrong, I'm afraid. It helps but won't alleviate the problems.

In article . com, "Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, "Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

I always thought the reason for not soldering was after-the-fact heat.
Depending on the lead/tin ratio of the solder, it can have different
melting points. If a soldered wire heats due to a heavy load, it may
be hot enough to break the solder joint if the solder used had a low
melting point. Just what I was taught.

Bob

Bob wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:

In article . com, "Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?


More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

Hmmm,
Skin effect is dominant on RF range. 60Hz is not RF. Is it?
We use pipe instead of solid wire on RF application.

Finding the keyboard operational
Bob entered:

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com,
"Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

I always thought the reason for not soldering was after-the-fact heat.
Depending on the lead/tin ratio of the solder, it can have different
melting points. If a soldered wire heats due to a heavy load, it may
be hot enough to break the solder joint if the solder used had a low
melting point. Just what I was taught.

Bob

Surface effect at 60Hz is not a factor.
I also heard that the reason that power joints are not soldered is the
possibility of failure due to heating.
Bob

--�
--�
Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times
www.moondoggiecoffee.com

In article . com, "Bob" wrote:

Doug Miller wrote:
In article . com, "Father
Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

More surface contact? Electrons tend to flow on the surface of a wire
more so than in the center for some reason or another.

Not at only 60 Hz in residential wiring, they don't. The skin depth at 60Hz is
somewhere around 7 mm, IIRC, so a wire has to be more than a half inch in
diameter before there's any skin effect at all at 60Hz.

I always thought the reason for not soldering was after-the-fact heat.
Depending on the lead/tin ratio of the solder, it can have different
melting points.

Well, yes, but the melting point of tin/lead solder is at *minimum* 361
degrees F
http://store.whittemoredurgin.com/7800solderq.html

If a soldered wire heats due to a heavy load, it may
be hot enough to break the solder joint if the solder used had a low
melting point. Just what I was taught.

If your wires get within a hundred degrees of melting the solder, you have far
bigger problems than the solder...

--
Regards,
Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

It's time to throw all their damned tea in the harbor again.

I always thought the reason for not soldering was after-the-fact heat.

If you know how to solder, heat should not be a factor. Or you could use
heat sinks. With that said I do screw up with too much heat on occasions.

Depending on the lead/tin ratio of the solder, it can have different
melting points.

I always used 60/40 (60 for tin) electrical solder with rosin core. Melting
temperature around 440°F.

If a soldered wire heats due to a heavy load, it may
be hot enough to break the solder joint if the solder used had a low
melting point. Just what I was taught.


Have not seen solder melt under normal conditions. If the electrical load is
that heavy I would think your wires are under sized.



Bob

Finding the keyboard operational
Doug Miller entered:

In article . com,
"Father Haskell" wrote:

wrote:

Why would you want to?

Better contact and less electrical resistance.

Can you explain how solder between two copper wires provides a lower
resistance connection than direct contact between the wires?

It's negligible at the voltage and current that we are talking about here
but the decrease in resistance is from the increased surface area in
contact.
If you were to just lay 2 wires next to each other, the area of contact
would be very small, just the tangential area. Twisting the wires together
will increase the area but soldering will provide the most.
Bob
--�
--�
Coffee worth staying up for - NY Times
www.moondoggiecoffee.com

If you were to just lay 2 wires next to each other, the area of
contact would be very small, just the tangential area. Twisting the
wires together will increase the area but soldering will provide the
most.

If you lay two solid wires next to each other parallel and in contact you
have two cylindrical shapes whose contact point is a single line. In the
real world, given malleable materials pressed together the metal will
deform microscopically and the line becomes a tiny bit wider than just the
infinitessimally thin line of pure geometry. I don't think that twisting
the wires changes this. Now the two cylinders take on a spiral shape as
does the line of contact but it's still just a line. The twist provides
the pressure only. Solder properly applied (sufficient heat) is going to
vastly increase the conductive contact between the wires.

Properly done the direct copper to copper contact should still be there as
well as the good mechanical tightness from the twist. The solder would
only add conductivity as well as prevent the twist from loosening.

No one has suggested using wire nuts AND solder. Make a good twist
connection with a wire nut, carefully unscrew it without loosening the
twisted wires, apply solder with good heat and just enough to flow into the
twists and not enlarge the overall joint, then put the wirenut back on
(should still grip the same) and put on the usual precautionary electrical
tape over the wire nut. A joint like that should last the ages. I once
used this technique for a junction box that was going to become fairly
inaccessible. Wire nuts alone would have been fine but, at least to me,
this was added peace of mind.

Many years ago, when computers were
room-sized, and consumed megawatts of power,
I was on the wiring installation team.

We used 4/0 cable, and all connections
were made with copper squeeze clamps.
( then wrapped with fish-tape and cloth as I remember )

When we asked about soldering the connections,
the power engineer gurus claimed that
lab tests proved best connections were
copper-to-copper compression.

Of course we're talking controlled environment.
No humidity, water, salt, etc.
rj