Electrical solderless or soldered connectors

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Pawned

Pawned

N.R.A. Lifetime Member - And damn proud of it
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I have tried a myriad of different connectors for the wiring on my Duster.
I have not been able to drive or work on the car for most of the last year, and am starting to work on it a little, But I found there are quite a few connectors that have become disconnected, God only knows how.

I need foolproof connectors, soldered or solderless, to use on the can. I find that many times I must remove a female connector and squeeze the connector to give it better retention to the spade.

I have been working on the car for the last 10 years and have never found the proper/best connector.
I was an electrical engineer, a couple lifetimes ago, so I thought I knew what I was doing. Then again the equipment I worked on, never bounced down the lousy roads that the Duster drove on. Plus, I have not kept up on any new products that may have come down the line

Any help would be appreciated. Plus I could really use a new 2 speed wiper motor switch

I have used all of these at one point or another, the first pix seems to be the best, with or without an insulator. The connectors with the blue insulators are terrible, many times I remove the insulator and put a dot of solder at the top. The barrel connectors are great if I put some solder into it

Edward

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I use solderless barrel crimp connectors with heat shrink over the top and I crimp them with the proper crimping tool. Never have a problem. I absolutely hate butt connectors or any type of connector with an insulator that you crimp through. Solder will weaken and crack over time with vibration and is not fool proof.
 
TT5.9mag said:
I use solderless barrel crimp connectors with heat shrink over the top and I crimp them with the proper crimping tool. Never have a problem. I absolutely hate butt connectors or any type of connector with an insulator that you crimp through. Solder will weaken and crack over time with vibration and is not fool proof.
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Thanks, I did find that fit you solder only the tip of the wire in the connector, it does not crack, but if I solder the connector and wire leading into the connector it will crack. I need the push on female connectors. I hate crimping them over the plastic. And yes, I do have the proper crimpers. that is what is so annoying, sometimes when I crimp them properly it still cuts the connector from the wire
 
Proper tooling for connectors! I deal with this all the time at work. Can't tell you how many crimps come apart due to improper tools and worn out tooling. One size doesn not fit all! Good crimp tools are not cheap.
 
I find that bad solderless connectors are caused by poor crimping. You must crimp the "H" out of them and then double check your work by pulling on it. Use the right tool.
 
Pawned said:
Thanks, I did find that fit you solder only the tip of the wire in the connector, it does not crack, but if I solder the connector and wire leading into the connector it will crack. I need the push on female connectors. I hate crimping them over the plastic. And yes, I do have the proper crimpers. that is what is so annoying, sometimes when I crimp them properly it still cuts the connector from the wire
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You can get nice solderless crimp on style female spade connectors and with the correct crimp and some shrink tube it’s as good as any factory wire end.
 
Soldering is the most reliable joint/connection. On a car subject to vibration, it is a good idea to cover the terminal & wire with heat shrink to prevent movement.
 
Bewy said:
Soldering is the most reliable joint/connection. On a car subject to vibration, it is a good idea to cover the terminal & wire with heat shrink to prevent movement.
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Completely disagree. And if you read the instructions on aftermarket ecu wiring, they all recommend terminating the wire at the connector and a proper crimp.
Here’s one example,
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Have a look at a printed cct board. The connections are soldered, not crimped, because soldering ensures maximum continuity & reliability of the joint. Many wires are copper, but not tin plated. Non plated copper will oxidise in the atmosphere & lead to elusive high resistance connections. Soldering covers the joint with conductive solder & stops air getting to the joint & prevents corrosion.
 
I will agree that soldering has the highest conductivity, but in a vehicle it is not the best solution for a wire terminal end due to vibration. And printed circuit boards fail all the time at the soldered joints. Again one example, the Chevrolet abs module in all pickups after 2000. Common failure of soldered joints, either replace for $700 or disassemble and re-solder for a couple thousand miles, rinse and repeat.
 
That write up on not soldering the wire is for modern pin type wiring connectors not even similar to the old spade type. Never seen a circuit board that wasn't soldered.
There are also low temp solder push on connectors available now.
Use a good crimp and then do a good solder joint. Flux is a must.
 
TT5.9mag said:
I use solderless barrel crimp connectors with heat shrink over the top and I crimp them with the proper crimping tool. Never have a problem. I absolutely hate butt connectors or any type of connector with an insulator that you crimp through. Solder will weaken and crack over time with vibration and is not fool proof.
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Totally Agree! Learned that on Hogs.... they make some that are Aircraft quality, I believe I read that here...
 
I will say it again: a soldered joint is the most reliable way to connect electrical components/wires together. Reliable mechanically & electrically [ least amount of resistance in the connection ]. In some cases where vibration & movement is possible, mechanical support may be needed by way of a sheath or heat shrink, but that in NO WAY detracts from the benefit of a soldered joint. Wires in an alt, starter motor, sol, rel etc are soldered...& there is a very good reason for that. It is a no brainer....
 
Alot of Bikies would disagree... I would say for all intents and purposes perhaps the application should be looked at before the decision is made
 
Here's some posts about crimping open barrel terminals (aka F-type, or W style)

Checking crimps

Lets Talk Open Barrel Crimpers - Reviews and Discussion

A bit of Wiring 101

Do soldered joints have a place? Of course.
Should terminal connections be soldered? In most cases no - for the reasons listed - but it depends on the terminals and the wire support.
A lot of wires are not well supported. That's a big problem on cars that have been owrked on a lot. The cables may have been supported at one time but now are not. Strain relief is important. Shrink wrap can help but its not a substitute, more of a belt and suspenders IMO.

There's a post about splicing per Dodge instructions (1990s?) using open barrel splice connector, soldering, and heat shrink. But on those there is no crimp for the insulation.
 
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i have found in most cases that the loom is usually good, unwrapping a 50 year mopar loom you find the middle looks like it wut there yesturday and the inulsation on individual wires is rarley brittle. its the last 6 - 12 inches that has existed unwrapped or exposed under body or under hood, that is the problem
i have tended to do a lineman's spilce with heat shrink to add in a new length of the same colour and have used OEM style crimp on connectors with the kind of rubbery style boot that you slip onto the wire first when it is appropriate.
for modular plastic, ebay will find you a "50 different style" multi tool set for removing "Tanged" connectors that fit into modular plastic holders you will only ever use about 4 of them but for approx $7...
or make your own by grinding down hacksaw blades on a wheel or belt and inserting them into cork or nylon as a handle.

a wholesale swap of loom or even just connectors to a new modern type is a big job. keep in mind everything there, kinda worked fine for 20 30 40 years until somone messed with it, added in those horrible blue snap lock connectors or the car was left standing unused..thats the killer usually.

any car this age will have some corrosion/tranish/virdigris on the connectors... clean it off with a little brass brush and use a smear of vasaline/petroleum jelly when you re connect
or crimp on new connectors to all your new lengths of wire at the comfort of your desk, with appropriate boots on and then have a day of linemans splice and wrapping. doing sets of each boreing repetative action gets you pretty good pretty fast at each skill.

if you need to wrap the loom use original style cling tape with no adhesive.
but never unwrap all of your loom at once. you can make a right mess.

if you do unwrap you may well find that chrylser did the odd junction iteslf hidden out of sight, when one reel of yellow with black trace ran out, and they spliced on the start of the next.

good for another 50 years

Dave
 
I crimped my connections, then soldered, then heat shrink. Should last longer than me
I used packard connectors that also had an extra folded over tab that appears to keep continuous tension against the “blades”. If that helps, only time will tell, hopefully a good long time.
 
Maybe I should have explained, I rewired the car. Using single wires, no wire looms. I have what looks like a rats nest behind the instrument cluster. But I am able to follow each individual wire from one end to the other, this way finding the problem with the terminators/solderless connector.
I bought this car 10 years ago, because my very first car was a 71 Duster. I bought the car to work on, to give me something to do (which I find pleasurable) I rarely take it to any events.
This last year, due to physical conditions, I did not drive or work on the car. I have started up again.
I have been told because I wired the car, as I have, no one will buy it. Which is ok with me, as I have sons-in-laws that both want it as is.

I have schematics that I modified to show my changes from the original and many 'as built' schematics that I drew up showing additions of my own
designs.
Although, since I started this thread, I bought a couple boxes of connectors and started experimented in different ways to crimp. some better some worse
 
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If you want to talk about the most reliable type of connection with respect to solder vs crimp, go look at aircraft and military equipment in general. They are soldered. HOWEVER, as already stated, vibration will kill a soldered joint, which is why the wires/pins are all the way in the connector housing and fully supported.

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Vibration at the joint is kept to a minimum. Most people aren't going to use mil spec connectors on their duster (though I have seen it and I would do it), so we are stuck with blade/barrel connectors generally. These are going to vibrate like crazy and get tossed, pulled, moved etc. in that case, a good stranded wire on a "properly" crimped connector will be absolutely fine and it's the proper thing to do. Solder on those connectors isn't required. Properly supported (shrink wrap, even double layers) they'll work great but again, they need to be done properly.

So, just as people are saying, right tool for the job, it's also the right connection for the environment in which you are working.
 
The connections are only as good as the tool you use! JMO!
 
This is the junction replacing the firewall plugs. I can see what is going on and it is so much easier to test connections than trying to squeeze my arms to the firewall connector and then trying to find the correct wire to test with my meter.
I am sure a lot of you will not like this. But it makes life easier for me.

I have had 4 or 5 people at car shows asking me to rewire their cars like I have mine. I have always refused, but offer to help them do it themselves. so far, no takers.

I really need to relabel the connections


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Don't use those insulated connectors. Use the non insulated and shrink tube them.

Always use a toothed crimper on non insulated. This Klein 1005 is a great tool.

www.kleintools.com

Crimping and Cutting Tool for Connectors - 1005 | Klein Tools

The Klein Tools Crimping and Cutting Tool crimps both insulated and non-insulated 10-22 AWG terminals and connectors. The tapered nose which is great when working in tight spaces. The wire cutter in the nose specially hardened for long life.
www.kleintools.com www.kleintools.com

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No solder required. Solder is not a good conductor. There are times I use solder to help "lock" a connection, it is not used to improve the connection.
 
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