Posted by Keith in Washington on Wednesday, June 26, 2002 at 10:47AM :
In Reply to: Heat shrink, solder, butt connectors posted by Gordon Maney on Tuesday, June 25, 2002 at 10:34PM :
I do not use crimp connectors on any high current circuts. Why? I had to rewire a Willys and I saw what crimp connectors do. The crimp makes a point of higher resistance which causes heat to build up. THe wires that I saw had the plastic cover melted and the wire insulation was melted off for 3/8 of an inch either side of the crimp joint. I was very close to a short with the fire wall on the main feed from the battery.
I use solder every joint that I make and put two layers of heat shrink tubing over most joints especially if their is any chance of abrasion. I try to solder all connectors on to the wire ends also. I will never use the wire splitters that pierce the insulation to make contact with the wire. They often partly cut the wire. I will skin the insulation join the two wires then solder and put heat shrink tubing on.