Rockford Fosgate 2/0 Wire

[Mikesmith0890]

damn.. thats a helluva price.. id love to pick some up.. Best price ive seen on RF 2awg (not 2/0) was $2.10 a foot. and u have to buy a 20ft minimum and in 10 foot increments after that.. still not a bad deal

[creyc]

I heated them up in the vice with mapp gas and melted some solder into them until they were about a third of the way full, and then stuck the wire in while the solder was still a liquid. Once they cooled down I crimped them too. Made a nice fit.

I hate to say it but you likely made a pretty poor electrical (and possibly mechanical) connection by doing that. As soon as you stick the 70º F wire into the pool of molten solder, it immediately begins cooling and isn't properly sucked into the wire. The result is a "cold joint", a brittle and unreliable connection caused by heating the solder itself, instead of the parts to be soldered.

That said, your one saving grace was that you crimped them afterwards, which should make them reliable from a mechanical standpoint. Unfortunately there's a whole mess of garbage solder inside there too, just adding resistance and reducing the amount of power that will flow through the connection.

Now you know, eh? In the future, and for best performance, when making these don't bother adding solder to the joint. The ring terminals you bought are designed to be crimped, a superior connection technique to soldering anyways! If you don't have the proper tools to perform a good crimp THEN I would consider soldering as an alternative, but don't use both.

[01 S-10]

I hate to say it but you likely made a pretty poor electrical (and possibly mechanical) connection by doing that. As soon as you stick the 70º F wire into the pool of molten solder, it immediately begins cooling and isn't properly sucked into the wire. The result is a "cold joint", a brittle and unreliable connection caused by heating the solder itself, instead of the parts to be soldered.

That said, your one saving grace was that you crimped them afterwards, which should make them reliable from a mechanical standpoint. Unfortunately there's a whole mess of garbage solder inside there too, just adding resistance and reducing the amount of power that will flow through the connection.

Now you know, eh? In the future, and for best performance, when making these don't bother adding solder to the joint. The ring terminals you bought are designed to be crimped, a superior connection technique to soldering anyways! If you don't have the proper tools to perform a good crimp THEN I would consider soldering as an alternative, but don't use both.

1. How do figure those terminals are not meant to be soldered?

2. how do you figure crimping is a superior connection?

Edited March 4, 2009 by 01 S-10

[creyc]

1. How do figure those terminals are not meant to be soldered?

2. how do you figure crimping is a superior connection?

We use those same terminals at work (for a commercial electrical contractor) and the manufacturer supplies crimping specifications in a datasheet. Sure there's a very slight chance his crimp terminals may be different, but because he got them from a welding supply store it's a pretty safe bet they're crimp-on.

Secondly, crimping is better on large gauge wire for a multitude of reasons. It's somewhat well known but I'll gladly point out the reasons to the best of my memory. Electrical solder should not be solely relied upon to make a mechanical connection on large parts. (such as these cables) Use it to make electrical connections if you wish, but these connections must then also be mechanically supported as well. Also, solder will flow upwards slightly into the cable during the heating process as it is sucked into the wire. This can cause the cable to become stiff and prone to failure over time at the site of the connection due to long term vibration without any sort of strain relief. Again, don't use solder as a SOLE mechanical connection.

Finally lets not forget the electrical aspect of it. Most solder is made of a mixture of tin and lead. (ROHS not including lead) Both tin and lead are far inferior conductors of electricity than copper. The BEST electrical connection would be a pure copper weld (cadweld), or a direct copper-on-copper connection, via a wire nut, crimp, or otherwise. When you start enveloping these conductors in a less electrically conductive substance, such as solder, you are only increasing resistance, decreasing long term reliability and reducing the amount of power you can flow through the connection. Granted, it doesn't make a HUGE difference, but every little bit adds up. Hope you learned something.

P.S. it seems audioque gets it, read this:

http://www.audioque.com/aq/leadwire.htm

Edited March 4, 2009 by creyc

[troy]

darvex is the shit for elctrical needs. however i dont buy wire from there

[creyc]

darvex is the shit for elctrical needs. however i dont buy wire from there

qft!

darvex is in my favorites for sure