DIY Wiring Loom Kit

[twinturbo]

Cut it to exact length... Crimp it...

I would be soldering any midloom joins.

TT

[Superloom]

Offcourse to some of the connectors, it will be soldered...
Thanks
SuperLooms

[snapper]

Crimping is considered ( I quote a leading Ford Senior electronics Guru) a better more durable method for Automotive looms.
Soldering can cause local brittle joints and be more liable to breaks and failures.

The professional crimpers are much much better than the cheap Halfords type, I have used a twin ratchet crimper to good effect.

[Land Locked]

Originally Posted by snapper

Crimping is considered ( I quote a leading Ford Senior electronics Guru) a better more durable method for Automotive looms.
Soldering can cause local brittle joints and be more liable to breaks and failures.

The professional crimpers are much much better than the cheap Halfords type, I have used a twin ratchet crimper to good effect.

I have occasional dealings with some fellas who maintain aircraft (things like 747's) and they all tell how they were taught to never solder a joint. Apparently still current too as the standards forbid soldered joints. Until just recently I was a big believer in soldered joints in automotive wiring.

That said, I'd rather solder than just twist the wires together, but it's no substitute for a well crimped joint. I have over the last few years purchased a fairly full set of crimpers. Money well spent IMHO.

(Hope my ramblings make some sense)

[mark]

I agree with the crimping comments, not as bad as some people make out but a proper ratchet crimping tool is absolutely essential

Saying that im just finishing off my wiring now and any joints have been soldered then covered in heat shrink

[Chris_]

Technically speaking properly crimped joints are better than soldered. But that is assuming you use suitable sized crimps for the cable, which incorporate strain relief for the cable. However, weatherproofing can be problematic so personally for vehicle wiring i prefer neatly soldered, heatshrinked immobilised joints as well.

In my experience, soldered joints only fail when they are a bit bulky and exposed to vibration.

Slightly more on topic, and I hate to sound pessimistic to superlooms about all this but it sounds a lot like you are selling bundles of wire. Have you got any pictures of the made up looms? What are they loomed in? sleeving, spirawrap, flex conduit?

Cheers
Chris

[Enoch]

I am by trade an electronic engineer. I did a 4 year apprenticeship at the Royal Aircraft establishment Farnborough. In all my time there I don't think I ever crimped a connection on any aircraft, it was always soldered and sleeved. Every cable was tied in to a loom, we spent months learning how to lace up a loom correctly. I would always solder and sleeve wherever possible, a decent sleeved joint is impervious to water ingress, a crimped connector is not. Either that or don't drive under water