In article ,
Skipper wrote:

I replaced the two "C" batteries in my boat with a new bank of 8
six volt batteries. When I disconnected the old batteries, one of the
soldered terminals just fell off the wire. I tested a couple others
and I was able to pull most of them right off!
The terminals appeared to have been properly soldered and they were
all shrink wrapped. But the connections had failed.

*Proper* solder joints are more difficult to do than it seems,
particularly as you're mixing two or more metals in a humid,
vibration-prone environment. We have a few soldered connections on the
boat that must have been pretty good since they lasted 30 years, but
they're now failing. The only old crimps to fail were in the bilge --
and the wire corroded away, sometimes a distance from the actual joint.

I did some research and bought an inexpensive, mallet operated
crimper made by Ancor. I used it for all my crimps over 10 gauge wire.
It works perfectly and gives a good crimp every time. The research I
did says the pressure of the crimp actually welds the tinned wire to
the terminal.

That weld would be very slight.

Lots of people have told me to solder first and then crimp. I do
not think this is necessary. In fact, I think it might not give as
good a connection as the crimp by itself.

Solder than crimp would be entirely backwards. If nothing else, most
people would need to use a larger connector to get the wire in. Could
see soldering after crimping, particularly soldering primarily the
"outboard" end to seal against moisture and improve the surface area,
but since most battery connectors have only one open end, I'd not touch
them.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/