And people are starting to recommend marine crimp connectors because they are better. And having used a few in my boat for a pair of heavy draw tolling motors, I got admit the anti-corrosion goo and built in heat shrink makes pretty sweet to use.
Sure, and you can wire your whole house in 6 gauge wire, but sometimes the cost isn’t worth the extra effort.
I’d use them on an RV, or maybe specific automotive instances, but if it’s just something behind the dashboard or in a passenger compartment, standard quick connections are just fine.
Solder is ideal for a permanent connection. Not all connections need to be permanent. For example, installing lighting in your house where the romex is pulled, and you’re needing to connect the fixture. Solder isn’t used for those connections, it would be a wire nut or wago. And the wago is both more secure and easier to verify.
Oddly solder isn’t best in most situations. Vibration and/or thermal cycling can cause solder to fail where crimps, wago or twist cannot fail. I learned it from Wil Prowse the solar/whole house battery expert where he compared crimps to solder.
It seemed obvious in retrospect because I have fixed many old electronics where the problem was a cold solder joint that needed a touch up with a soldering iron. Decades of thermal cycling from use cause micro fractures in the solder that get worse and worse.
By the time your wire reaches 200⁰ needed for your solder to melt, your insulation would already be burning. That’s not a plausible scenario, or you need to deliberately make a bad solder joint, cutting half the strands in the wire so it overheats in that particular place.
Solder can become a cold joint or melt. Typically with AC or cable connections you either want to use a crimp or a lever nut (wago). Replacable recepticles in houses used to use wire nuts, but Wagos give better holding force, work with stranded and solid, and you can get ones that have way more connections like a bus bar.
The superior technique is solder the strands together at the tip of the wire, then plug it into Wago so you can disconnect it easily when you need to add another wire.
Or well, crimp the ends and connect to a busbar with bolts, but that’s for wires where you calculate your electricity in kilowatts.
Hey all, I’m the kinda guy who does a stupid amount of projects … What’s the benefit of these besides being quick to connect ? Why not solder?
Solder should never be used for automotive or household wiring, or any very high current usage.
Screw terminals, crimp connectors, or wire connectors (lever nut, like the wago here, or wire nuts) should be used as appropriate.
Lots of people make the mistake of using solder when they shouldn’t, and it can fail after a while, causing disconnects, heat, and/or fire.
And people are starting to recommend marine crimp connectors because they are better. And having used a few in my boat for a pair of heavy draw tolling motors, I got admit the anti-corrosion goo and built in heat shrink makes pretty sweet to use.
Sure, and you can wire your whole house in 6 gauge wire, but sometimes the cost isn’t worth the extra effort.
I’d use them on an RV, or maybe specific automotive instances, but if it’s just something behind the dashboard or in a passenger compartment, standard quick connections are just fine.
Solder is ideal for a permanent connection. Not all connections need to be permanent. For example, installing lighting in your house where the romex is pulled, and you’re needing to connect the fixture. Solder isn’t used for those connections, it would be a wire nut or wago. And the wago is both more secure and easier to verify.
Oddly solder isn’t best in most situations. Vibration and/or thermal cycling can cause solder to fail where crimps, wago or twist cannot fail. I learned it from Wil Prowse the solar/whole house battery expert where he compared crimps to solder.
It seemed obvious in retrospect because I have fixed many old electronics where the problem was a cold solder joint that needed a touch up with a soldering iron. Decades of thermal cycling from use cause micro fractures in the solder that get worse and worse.
And even if it is permanent, AC wiring can heat up and mess with solder, so crimping or lever nuts are preferred.
By the time your wire reaches 200⁰ needed for your solder to melt, your insulation would already be burning. That’s not a plausible scenario, or you need to deliberately make a bad solder joint, cutting half the strands in the wire so it overheats in that particular place.
No, this is not true. Solder is brittle and any poor joint can cause a lot of heat. You should never use solder in household wiring.
Crimps, screw terminals, or properly rated electrical connectors only.
Solder can become a cold joint or melt. Typically with AC or cable connections you either want to use a crimp or a lever nut (wago). Replacable recepticles in houses used to use wire nuts, but Wagos give better holding force, work with stranded and solid, and you can get ones that have way more connections like a bus bar.
The superior technique is solder the strands together at the tip of the wire, then plug it into Wago so you can disconnect it easily when you need to add another wire.
Or well, crimp the ends and connect to a busbar with bolts, but that’s for wires where you calculate your electricity in kilowatts.