60/40 Rosin Core Solder submersed in gas?

[Doward]

Doing my Walbro 255 upgrade, and I'd like to solder the connections - rather than crimp them.

Any problems with 60/40 rosin core, submersed in gasoline?

 

[suprageezer]

Thats a great all around blend. Make sure you use some shrink sleeving also. I would make sure you clean both ends with acetone first, put some kester 44flux on the ends and tin them ,(the flux in the solder is for flowing the solder onto the soldering iron not to flux the two parts being joined) then put a little more flux on the both tinned ends and solder them together, let it cool and clean with acetone to remove an excess flux, your soldered joints should be bright and shinny with no granular look to them, slide you shrink sleeving over the tinned connecting and shrink it down. Kester 44 flux in a non-corrosive all around flux, but you still want to remove as much as possible. Im not sure why your asking about submersion but if your shrink sleeved connection is going to be in gasoline you might wanna make sure you use teflon shrink sleeveing and ensure there is no way anything is going to get a chance to rub on anything in the liquid causing a short.

 

[Doward]

Hmm.. not sure what heat shrink tubing I have here (some red Autozone special, lol) - I hadn't considered the effects of submersing it into gasoline!

*edit*

Dasheng DRS-1 - http://www.dasheng.com/PDF/DRS1.pdf

 

[Supracentral]

I'll tell you, it's my experience that soldered connections are not an upgrade in high performance automotive apps.

Solder is brittle. Solder connections break due to movement and/or vibration. The OEM's & manufacturers, as a rule, use crimp joints for everything including many main battery connections without a problem...

I stopped using solder in automotive wiring a few years back and I've never regretted it.

 

[Jeff Lange]

As long as you use quality crimps, etc, no worries. I still prefer to crimp and solder.

 

[3p141592654]

Crimping done right is reliable.

Note that the crimps that just crush a tube around the wire with a $10 crimp tool are not what the manufacturers are using.

You want a fastener and crimp tool and that folds the metal tabs of the fastener over the wire to form a gas tight connection. The crimp pressure must be carefully controlled which is hard to do even with a hand held ratcheting crimper. The crimp size and wire size must be matched, and the fastener metals carefully chosen. There is a lot that goes into a good crimp.

IMHO, its easier to do a good solder joint than a good crimp connection. Both solder and crimp have issues with vibration and stress relief.

Like Jeff, I use a good quality crimp barrel with an inspection window for butt joints , then solder it with a no-clean flux (xersin multicore is my favorite but hard to find).

 

[suprageezer]

It just goes to show you, one can never posses too much knowledge. Solder joints are NOT Brittle, COLD solder joints are brittle; a cold solder joint is like using an open end wrench to torque your heads down. It takes the right knowledge and tools to do any job right. I am with Jeff on this I crimp and solder anything I work on, I'm a major lazy ass and hate to do things twice so I've learned to do most things right the first time. The person asked a question about soldering I felt since I am NASA certified in soldering I'd throw my two cents in and help educate the person and it sounds like he understood what I was saying especially about the shrink sleeve. You see wire that’s used on automobiles is stranded wire , so if you make your nice little crimp on the stranded wire using a terminal lug of your preference what will happen is each individual strand of copper wire will corrode over time causing some funky resistance issues. One more thing about soldering Nothing flying over our heads right now could be up there without soldered this and that’s, especially rockets, no car could ever create the vibrations that are created as a rocket is on its way up. Cars have crimped terminals because they are cheap and easy. Just to show you how lame some car companies are Fiat used to use white lithium grease to coat all the crimped connectors and terminals to prevent the individual strands from corroding, talk about resistance, freaken things caught on fire at these connections. I think if you were able to walk up to an F1 can and look at the wiring you'd find zero crimps, Is crimping good, sure it is with the right wire, lugs and crimpers that can be calibrated. The crimpers that squish a hole in the terminal or just squish it aint what I would call a quality termination. So bottom line is if I am going to work on a termination on my cars I’m doing it right the first time, and for me that includes soldering. Heres a link to a great NASA soldeing book in pdf form so you can d/l it.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/solder.htm

 

[Supracentral]

Note that the crimps that just crush a tube around the wire with a $10 crimp tool are not what the manufacturers are using.

IMHO, its easier to do a good solder joint than a good crimp connection.

I've seen more people screw up with a soldering iron than I care to remember. Yes, it is 'easy' to get a good solder joint if you have 1/2 a clue about what you are doing. But it's amazing how many people don't know what a cold solder joint is, or that overheating can make solder brittle, etc, etc.

With a quality crimp connector and tool, it's almost impossible to screw up. (Yea the $10 crimp tool from Wal-Mart wasn't what I had in mind... )

Either way, most cars that I've seen with 'do it yourself' solder work have just blobs of solder on two wires with electrical tape wrapped around them... Ugh.

 

[suprageezer]

So help edumacate them by throwing some links up to what a good solder joint looks like and what a cold solder joint looks like, Sheesh MOST folks come here to learn, whether its Supras or some other kind of skill they are looking for information to help educate themselves. One more tip you can't make a good solder joing with a black and decker solder gun it takes something along the lines of a weller soldering station the kind that has a nice sponge to keep your tip clean. Depending on where you live and the humidity Crimps are only good for a few years before every strand is corroded loosing contact with the terminal then it starts to cause resistence.

 

[jetjock]

I have to side with crimps. A crimped joint is superior if done correctly because the joint will be gas tight. There will be no corrosion, at least in the joint. I'm also forced to disagree about aviation. Soldered joints aren't generally allowed except for avionics work because they have multiple failure modes compared to crimped joints. You won't find any soldered wiring outside of avionics in aircraft. At least none I've worked on including the two I own. You want aerospace quality crimped joints buy AMP PIDG terminals and use the right tooling. The stuff isn't cheap but it's as good as it comes. That said solder has it's place. I've been soldering since I was a kid and own some pretty nice gear for doing it.

 

[Doward]

Everything's soldered up, and installed - working wonderfully

I prefer a solder joint to a crimp joint - BUT - I freely admit to having not seen any crimp better than the little plastic tubes + $5 walmart crimper Against that, I'll take my soldering any time!

 

[dbsupra90]

ive used dolphin connectors before, they are pretty nice.

still, i solder everything. why? well i have good equipment and i solder all day everyday so id like to think im decent at it. avionics is a whole different ball game. if you have issues you cant just pull over. even still, ive never had a solder joint fail and will continue to solder everything i do.

its just like anything else. even if it is the right way to do something, people still screw it up by doing it wrong.

 

[Zazzn]

Great spam batman! Even dug up this super old tread

 

[3p141592654]

Round two. Admins should lock this thread.