lee627•3mo ago

Hot take: crimp connections are fine with proper prep

I've been seeing a lot of guys in here lately saying crimp connectors are garbage and you should only solder. But I've been doing avionics installs for 12 years now and I've seen the opposite. Back in 2018 I had a customer's audio panel start cutting out at Sky Harbor because a solder joint cracked from vibration. I switched to quality crimps with a proper Deutsch tool and never had that problem again. The key is stripping the wire clean and using the right die for the wire gauge. Soldering has its place in testing rigs but for flight hardware, a good crimp joint holds up better to heat cycles and shaking. Has anyone else had more failures from solder joints than crimps in the field?

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riley_coleman83mo ago

Man that's exactly what I've run into too. I was working on a buddy's boat electronics a few years back and the factory solder joints on his radio harness were all cracked from the engine vibration. Swapped them out with good crimps and heatshrink and it's been solid ever since. People just need to use the right tools and not cheap out on the connectors.

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wadeyoung3mo ago

Vibration kills solder joints every time on marine stuff, crimps are the way to go.

1