Question on Crimping Terminals.

[Kiwi_ME]

Originally Posted By: George7941
Consider a ring terminal used for grounding an accessory you have just installed underneath the vehicle where it will live in a very harsh environment. If crimped, moisture will still wick into the wire strands and will invariably lead to a "green" death at the terminal. Soldering and heat-shrink will prevent moisture wicking.
Sure, but it doesn't prevent water ingress of the bolted connection. My 2009 car has several exposed crimped and bolted lug ground connections which we all know are destined for eventual failure, however rather than soldering my solution is so saturate the crimp and threads with silicone grease. Since the wire is an exposed braid there is no point in using shrink tube and it complicates future inspection.

They did pay attention to the the battery terminals, which were sprayed with some sort of water-resistant yellow coating. I need to figure out what they used as it looks like an ideal solution.

 

[George7941]

Originally Posted By: brianl703

As far as waterproofing goes, silicone dielectric grease or Nyogel 760G (available as Ford Terminal Grease) or some other type of grease designed for the purpose works fine.


Grease is good for a while, maybe even years depending on the environment, but it eventually gets contaminated with moisture and corrosion will set in.

 

[George7941]

Originally Posted By: Kiwi_ME
Sure, but it doesn't prevent water ingress of the bolted connection.


If you are referring to water ingress into the threads of the bolted joint or the contact surfaces of the connection, it has nothing to do with solder vs crimp.

Soldering does seal up the end of the terminal closest to the bolt. The wire end can be sealed up with heat shrink.

 

[brianl703]

Originally Posted By: George7941

Grease is good for a while, maybe even years depending on the environment, but it eventually gets contaminated with moisture and corrosion will set in.


I'm not so sure about that. Silicone grease is hydrophobic.

 

[Scott_Tucker]

Ive been a professional tech for 20 years this is my educated opinion.

First off, I live in California so the requirements of an electrical connection here is different from say, Michigan.

A properly crimped connection is generally a better electrical connection than one that has been soldered. The cold-welding action of the crimp tool again the relatively soft copper wire/aluminum crimp connector provided a better electrical connection than solder.

The only time I use solder is when I want to ensure that the connection will not pull apart because the wire is in tension. Any other situation and solder will make it weaker. Solder tends to wick up the end of the copper wire and makes it brittle. This is not ideal for vehicles because they tend to be subject to a lot of vibration. Static components such as home stereos are not subject to this vibration and therefore the same rules do not apply. This is also why twist-on wire nuts should never, ever be used on a motor vehicle.

I always use heat shrinkable tubing when I can to seal out moisture. If the proper diameter is selected for the wire size it seals really well especially the stuff that has epoxy on the inside to the tubing. It also provides some protection against the connection coming apart due to tension.

The biggest mistake I see in the field is people who select a connector whose crimp end is too large for the wire gauge being used. This provides a weak crimp which may, as the original poster suggested, open up and the wire will fall out.