I boughr several spools of 12 and 14ga automotive type wire (stranded) and have had a bunch of gailures at the connections. I've tried solder and shrink type crimp on connectors with poor luck.

Where can a guy buy good ol copper wire like it was 1999 again?

Maybe buy marine wire? It's pre-tinned to fight corrosion, but it's spendy.

Use what you got wire wise, and just buy a tube of dielectric grease and use it liberally at your junction points. That will stop it unless you have a chlorine gas environment, like in a battery compartment on a salt water boat.

Use NO-OX-ID A-SPECIAL. It works better than anything else. Period. When used correctly, it stops all corrosion.

https://www.amazon.com/NO-OX-ID-Spe...amp;hvtargid=pla-1297861078935&psc=1

Junk the butt connectors they never grab right. Learn how make a good butt connection of the 2 stranded ends then direct solder, seal with heat shrink tubing. If you are actually getting corrosion failure instead of mechanical joint failure then this stuff is the ticket



Used this stuff on radio antennas connections to seal them. Bitch to get off.

You may want to wear a hazmat suit when using this stuff. It tends to get EVERYWHERE!

Heat shrink should be adhesive lined (3:1 minimum)

The 2:1 stuff is not adhesive lined.

Looks like a great preventive maintenance product, but not effective as a corrective measure. The description of its uses makes no mention of corrosion removal---just prevention.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/

I've tried de-ox and solder. It always fails at the edge of the connection with a white powder where wire was.

Could be the solder you're using. Can you show a link to the exact product? The de-ox, too.

Sounds like Never Seize. One dab and it will be in or on everything.


Clyde

This. Get tinned wire.

Copper on a boat turns green, tinned copper is way better because it turns gray/green...

Crimped terminals with the integral heat shrink aren't the only solution...there's a tradeoff between a decent crimp and electrical connection, and the hole you put in the heat shrink sleeve resulting from applying said good crimp.

Anymore I'm in the bare tinned terminal, electrical solder and black adhesive lined heat shrink camp for vehicles and boats. Get rosin-core solder meant for tinning electrical connections, and one of the pistol-shaped solder irons of healthy wattage. Also get a good set of crimps for bare terminals. It's easy to splice wire-to-wire or wire-to-tinned-terminal that way.

Any terminal block or other location of exposed wire and terminals on a boat gets painted with LPS-3 or CRC-400 after install. That helps a bunch. I stumbled into a gallon of LPS-3 locally for 12 bucks a few years back.

I started using dielectric grease on tune ups a couple years ago, now use it on everything. Good stuff

A few wraps of electrical tape first makes all the difference

When stranded wires are soldered some of the flux in the solder will wick up the strands under the insulation. Flux is made in many different formulations and some of them are not suitable for splicing wires because they remain chemically active and corrode the wire under the insulation over time. When you select solder for electrical/electronic work you're basically selecting the flux which is integral to the solder. Other than that, you select the tin/lead ratio which is less important...but I would recommend 63/37 for common electrical purposes. The flux type should be R0L0 for soldering wires.

Dielectric means non-conductive grease, use conductive grease and it will protect better.

What did you use it for? About all it's good for is spark plug and distributor boots.

I used NO-OX-ID for 20 years on battery backup systems, ground connections and battery connections. The NO-OX-ID we used was a thick grease that came in a tube. The battery backup systems lasted for many decades. It's a conductive grease and it will prevent all corrosion. I still use it today on my vehicles and on other electrical connections.

As as been shown, lots of electrical corrosion/electrolysis inhibitors available, they're useful. But for starters, try to find wire from a reputable manufacturer. Carol is one brand that comes to mind. I've used thousands of feet of it, good stuff.

Folks with better memory or that are in the business might name more.

Dielectric grease doesn’t impede electric flow but it does seal spark plug boots, battery terminals and other electric connections from corrosion.

Rosin core solder is one of the main culprits of corrosion on PCB’s and electronic connections. When soldering wires I use a can of flux dip the ends in the flux then use a straight 60/40 non flux core solder. Cleans all the oil and anti corrosion sealers off the strands.

Jeff, yep it does but you still have to cut the stuff off. 2 wraps tape, 2 wraps of mastic followed by 3 wraps of tape and that connection is damn near permanent and completely element proof.

In manufacturing that's heavily controlled, a solder pot without flux is often prescribed for tinning wires using the dip method, and no flux is used.

As far as fluxes causing corrosion on components and boards, the solution is to use the solder containing the correct flux for the application (followed by a proven cleaning regimen). Flux is not just flux...there are many different formulations.

I have been using rosin core, but to be fair, all the old belden wire I have is holding up well 20 years later. This new crap doesn't make it a year before it's a white powder mess. It acts like it's aluminum conductor.

I've made literally 10s of thousands of crimped Sta-Kon® connections while building control panels in a licensed UL shop.

They don't fail, it's the brand of product you're using and possibly the crimper tool and method.

I never use insulated connectors, I only dimple crimp.

Use:



And:



Put the smooth side down in the crimpers and the 'dimple' directly on the seam in the fitting. The seam should roll in securing your NON SOLDERED wire perfectly, every time.

No solder, no gobbledygook, no tape, no nuttin but your crimp fitting and wire.

If you need waterproofing and/or insulation, cut a short section of shrink tubing and slip it over the wire prior to crimping your fitting on. You should be able to slip the shrink right up over the crimped throat of your fitting. Your finished job will look like a pro did it.

Dipping your wire in a little No-Ox wouldn't hurt anything if your connection will be in a damp or humid location.

Good brand:

For joints that can be exposed to moisture the shrink tube with adhesive in it is best, I have numerous underground splices that are going on twenty years that I just used well splices on.

I use the method for insulating connections on larger electric motors.
You should be able to sink a razor knife through the outer layers of tape and the mastic, make a single deep cut and peel it back like a banana right down to your first tape layers. Wear a glove when making that cut!

For any use of automotive wire I prefer marettes with a dab of di-electric grease on the wire twist. Of course this is not always possible due to space constraints. Those damn crimp on thingys are a recipe for disaster. My electrical service kit is marked on top. USE MARETTES - HINT.

For any vehicle application (car, truck, boat, plane...) soldering is not recommended. Use crimp-on only.

According to what standard?

The fused joints might crack.

And a crimped splice might fail.

There ARE standards, compiled by industry experts and not shadetree mechanic word of mouth.

Well why did my 04 Jeep door/lock/ window control wires break in the boot?

Wha?

Union labor?

Hell i don't know that is what was taught back in auto mech in the 60's.

These days they can't even get insulation to stay good.

Federal Aviation Administration:
Aircraft Electrical
Wiring Interconnect
System (EWIS)
Best Practices

Additionally:

According to ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) "all connections between connector and wire need to be mechanical crimped."

Yes..if only to prevent the twist and black tape.

I would refer you to J-STD-001, IPC-A-610, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and maybe a few others. In some cases manufacturers prescribe deviations from these standards by contract and engineering documentation which the IPC standards recognize and endorse.

NASA recognizes a soldered splice, but prescribes certain methods.

I have reviewed FAA's Advisory Circular 43.13-1B CHG 1, and that document does provide some detailed guidance on the use of crimped splicing devices but does not prohibit soldered splicing techniques. I noted also it was released with Change 1 in 1998.

I'm using burndy crimpers and quality components and have tried everything known to man to combat the issue.... but any wire exposed to atmosphere.....even when cut turns to junk. My method isn't the problem, it's a material issue.

I just need to know who still makes quality wire....not Chinese garbage.

None of this is getting solved after 8 am today though, I'll be elk hunting for the next 30 days.

This is what I have always heard and is the method I use. Automotive restoration experts I have read say soldered connections cannot withstand the vibration of the automotive and especially the marine environment. A proper crimp with heat shrink is the correct way to do connections subject to vibration.

Lets not leave out ABS, American Bureau of Shipping, whose code on wiring has been adopted in it's entirety by US Coast Guard, all of which must comply for a vessel to be insured.

All the current wire sucks.

Wirebarn, waytekwire, and riwire all sell American made - not great but not awful.

Ancor makes okay stuff. Their marine grade wire still works pretty good but the corrosion is going to get into the ends without the proper use of the previously mentioned products and proper methodology.

As for soldering or mechanical - they both work just fine if you know how to do them correctly. All of the modern requirements for mechanically crimped connectors is simply due to the fact that no one knows how to solder or what products to use for various applications anymore.

What's your background Geno?

USN ET5, electrical/computer researcher at the community college/4 year tier 2 research university/6 year tier 1 graduate research university.

Cool thanks.


Figured you had experience in the field.

I've regularly used marine grade wire and it has always worked very well. For my purposes for my motorcycle, boat or pickup and various trailers, for any wire exposed to the elements, I've used marine grade wire, with a variety of crimps and then covered with heat shrink tubing. For my boat trailer I did this along with the liquid electrical tape. I'm no 12 volt expert; but, for these rudimentary applications this process has worked quite well for me.

You're very welcome. My most recent got paid to play thing was making low cost high sensitivity remote sensing arrays for marine underwater mapping use, both normally towed and mounted to unmanned surface and underwater vehicles.

Thanks for the responses. I'm pretty savvy in low voltage electrical and have only recently been having problems with corrosion. In the last 20 years I've had about zero soldered and aqua sealed connections fail.....but the last dozen or so spools of wire have been a disaster. They simply suck.

When I was a kid and hung out at my grandad's Deere dealership I was often told I couldn't do this and couldn't do that (never stopped me, though) on account of insurance company policies. I figured then that insurance companies would one day run our lives down to the most minute detail...and I really haven't abandoned that notion altogether.

I hate those corksoakers.

Humorous, but true!

It used to be good enough to select between acid core and rosin core solder depending on tbe purpose. The choices these days can be overwhelming when you have no guidance.


BTW...what's an ET5???

United States Navy Electronics Technician Petty Officer Second Class

Funny, but when I read it the first time, in my mind's eye I saw a crow with an atom and two stripes just as you intended. Then when I saw ET5 again, I thought "huh?"

AX2 here, 76-80, P-3C Weapons Systems Tech.

LOL - it happens.