[Fot] Electric connections

[Duncan Charlton]

Chris,

People who have built homebuilt aircraft can get pretty particular about
making failure-resistant electrical connections.  One local homebuilder was a
regular writer for the EAA magazine.  He suggested 1) use military-spec wire
or similar (more strands in each conductor and the insulation was Tefzel or
Teflon, ie: fire resistant), 2) strip the wire back using a stripper that cuts
the insulation at a bevel, 3) "tin" the wire using solder before assembly,
making sure the solder wicks up under the insulation (not easy to do with PVC
insulation), 4) insert and crimp (with proper crimp tool), 5) touch with the
soldering iron to close up the gaps between the terminal and the conductor,
and 6) add heat-shrink tubing for strain relief.  Several of these steps allow
the strain to be spread more evenly rather than allowing all the flex to occur
where the conductor enters the crimp.

Duncan
(Texas)

On Aug 7, 2013, at 2:13 PM, Christopher Bock wrote:

> Amici
>
> What is the best practice for electric connections, crimp or solder?
>
> Chris
> _______________________________________________
> fot at autox.team.net