Crimp or Solder?
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Hello,
I procured from FilaStruder one DUET-E controller board which arrived with a package of crimp-pins and connector shells, and a couple pairs of 1-wire cylinders each having a plastic cup. I presume that these are provided for both the high-power connections and possibly the dry-circuit themistor connections.
The question I have, are these to be crimped or soldered to their respective wires?
Thanks in advance
3mm
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This'll let the cat out of the bag! Both methods are valid. Crimps are often preferred where there is lots of motion or flex on the cable. Tinning wires can give a stress raiser in the wire that can fail. Never tin wires for screw terminals or before crimping. Soldered joints give good electrical connection but must be fully stress relieved if there is likely to be any motion or resonances. If a kit was supplied with crimps I'd go with crimping.
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The little cylinders with plastic tubes on the end are boot-lace ferrules, and are typically crimped in place.
I have seen them occasionally just placed on the wire, and then semi-crimped by screwing the terminal down on them, but that defeats the purpose of them, to protect the wire and keep the strands neatly contained for ease of installation and prevention of crossed terminals due to stray strands.
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DocTrucker & Hey_Allen,
Thanks for the replies.
Hey_Allen, you answered my question exactly. I've never seen these type wire ferrules before. I visited the URL you cited, tracked down the tool and have one one on the way.
3mm
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A good crimping tool is a must, take care when stripping the fine wires, I have a tendency to take a couple strands in the process. There are extra crimp pins. Maybe the folks at Duet could provide a source for a crimping tool.
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this is the one a lot of us in the UK Use and it isn't expensive they have warehouses all over so should be easy enough to obtain
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-jst-sh-connector-crimping-tool.html
Failing that they can be had from Amazon just search for ht225 or JST SH crimp tool
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I wouldn't be too worried about twisting the strands of a wire together and screwing it tightly (no solder or ferrule) into a screw terminal, this will work just fine. The ferrules are a nice addition and do keep your wires tidy and make connecting and disconnecting easier. But I have never had an issue with poor connection or wire heating by just screwing wires into screw terminals, as long as no loose strands poke out and you do them up tight (whilst holding the terminal block againt the torque as you tighten - they are only soldered onto the pcbs).
As for the molex plugs (or dupont plugs if you use them) crimping works great once you have the knack of it, the first few crimps you do will fail miserably as you may not get the crimp well positioned in the tool, or have too much/too little stripped wire in the crimp, or fail to remove the crimp from the tool in such a way you don't bend/stress it or pull the wire out. Initially I crimped (badly) then added a drop of solder just to sure. Now I crimp well and its quick and it works.
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My twopence worth. Putting the wires straight into the terminal block kind of works but there are a couple of issues. Firstly, there is the danger that a stray strand may "escape" and could potentially cause a short. Secondly, when you tighten the screw, the wires tend to "fan out" so you don't get 100% contact. Boot lace ferrules negate both of these issues. You can get specialist crimping tools but for only 4 ferrules, it hardly seems worth it - I just used a "universal" crimping tool which did an adequate job.
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A good crimping tool is a must, take care when stripping the fine wires, I have a tendency to take a couple strands in the process. There are extra crimp pins. Maybe the folks at Duet could provide a source for a crimping tool.
EdKirk,
Yep,, I agree. I have different crimpers for the variety of connectors I've used over the years. I no longer purchase the US mfr'd crimpers, just too expensive for what they do, while they do last forever and look really impressive (among all their bretheren) on the shelf. I have one crimper that cost $800 and, yeah, I used it maybe 30 times? So that works out to be around $800/30 = $26 bucks per crimp. Too bad I couldn't eat'm too.
Hah
3mm
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this is the one a lot of us in the UK Use and it isn't expensive they have warehouses all over so should be easy enough to obtain
https://hobbyking.com/en_us/hobbyking-jst-sh-connector-crimping-tool.html
Failing that they can be had from Amazon just search for ht225 or JST SH crimp tool
Dougal1957,
Thanks for the links, actually I have the so-called 'Dupont' crimper which, of course, was mfr'd in Communist China (seems America has forgotten all about those stinky Communist ways, can't beat'm, so buy…from'em!). I wonder where the 'Dupont' moniker originated. Dupont manufactures Nylon, fabrics, etc...right? Just another mystery in the world of aliens.
3mm
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I suspect DuPont (TM) invented the DuPont connector.
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Hi,
I have purchased this tool…
What of 3 sizes I have to use?
