Pigtails and soldering or crimp new pins? (1 Viewer)

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PNWTreeOctopus

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Ok Planning out my NSS harness plug “plug-ectomy”. So far I’m still inclined to do this job myself. Cliffs notes: aging NSS plug had corroded connectors, is causing all sorts of electrical faults (dash lights, reverse lights, and shifting issues)...needs repair. So...

I have found a quality connector (Deutch 8pin “waterproof”) it come in a couple of flavors: Pigtail which involves soldering the wires in the engine compartment or a crimp version, which involves crimping tiny pins in the engine compartment. I’m not an old hand at soldering, but I do know which end gets hot. Ive soldered in the engine compartment on this rig already and its been successful. However doing 8 wires in this spot is not really getting me excited.

So I welcome the opinions of this community on what you would do. Crimp or Solder? The goal obviously being that I don’t want to do this again.
 
Thanks! If only you made a NSS “plug-ectomy” kit. ;)
 
You could splice the pigtail wires to the harness and avoid soldering. A splice crimping tool is more common than connector contact crimper.

If you go the pin route you will need to make sure you can pull enough slack in the harness for the new connector to meet or you'll have to splice anyway.
 
I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy, so i like to solder. Spending and extra $20 and getting a better iron from amazon vs harbor freight was a great investment. But, for tight spaces i prefer some sort of crimp and seal or crimp solder and seal connectors. Simply crimp each end and put the heat gun (harbor freight) on it. I just did this on my starter relay and the gun will melt the solder.

So yes, order the pigtails.
 
I looked more closely at the crimp solder and seal connectors, but I’m worried that I wont be able to properly apply the heat without overheating everything else. The demos Ive seen from places like Summit Racing, make it look easy, but its always one wire that can be easily rotated over a stable heat source. My heat gun is the HF special, but I wouldn’t say it is particularly precise as to where you can apply the heat. Things will be in such a tight space, this is one of my biggest challenges. I’m currently researching tiny heat guns...suggestions welcome.

The NSS plug side is pretty easy, I can do that on my bench.
 
Properly executed crimps means the correct connectors. I personslly find all the connectors to be a lot. Soldering is nice for junctions of multiple wires, different size wires etc. With a good soldering iron, soldering can be pretty fast. Personally, i find having one soldering iron over multiple connectors to be easier. If i have my iron out and hot, I'll throw a dab on my terminal ends as well. If not, i live with just the crimp.

That being said, both have their pros and cons. Well soldered, well crimped, both will serve any connection well for a long time. If you have the correct crimpers and connectors, crimp away. If you can solder them, solder away.
 
As @NLXTACY was alluding to, there are reasons that solder is not used in vehicle harnesses, and it's not primarily due to costs. When a stranded wire is soldered it loses its flexibility and becomes brittle at the transition point, which can cause problems in a system that sees a lot of vibration. Like, for instance, a car, or especially an off-road vehicle. As for cost, if that's all OEM's cared about they would use cheaper solid wire, but again, it's not as flexible. Car manufacturers go to lengths to make sure the wiring can withstand vibrations. Follow their lead.
 
Properly done crimps last way longer than a properly or improperly solderconnection.
In other words use the crimp option, but the most important thing to do no matter which technique you use is there must be a proper strain relief for the connection.

Vibrations are your enemy.
 
@-Spike- Crimping is absolutely used to reduce manufacturing cost. Crimping is well suited for high volume crimp machines that can make 1000's of crimps in a short period of time. It would take rooms full of people soldering to keep up with the rates crimp machines can accomplish.
 
Before it turns in to an argument of what the military does and what NASA does etc, just think of it this way. if your wire is the same style as the truck came with, you can use the same method used then and get similar results. If you are using more modern wires (high strand count silicone) for the least amount of resistance and high amp then look to the methods used where those are applicable (like drones etc). Not saying you need to upgrade to silicone, the 80 doesn't experience the vibration extremes that require it and it is expensive so you need a good reason to justify it.
 
Key word in all this......properly. Most problems in either method are a result of it not being done properly. If done properly, crimping or soldering will last a very, very long time without any issues.
 
@-Spike- Crimping is absolutely used to reduce manufacturing cost. Crimping is well suited for high volume crimp machines that can make 1000's of crimps in a short period of time. It would take rooms full of people soldering to keep up with the rates crimp machines can accomplish.
While crimping is cheaper, it's not a volume issue. Automated soldering is a thing. And in this case, the cheaper option happens to also be the better option.
 
While crimping is cheaper, it's not a volume issue. Automated soldering is a thing. And in this case, the cheaper option happens to also be the better option.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. I don't know of any automated equipment that will solder a contact/terminal/splice/ferrule onto a wire.
 
I am generally in the solder camp, but in this case you will probably save a lot of frustration crimping the connectors. Since the whole reason for this is corrosion, I would be shocked if you found the wires to be nice and shiney. More than likely the copper strands will be black. Soldering wires with that kind of corrosion is a nightmare when you have good access to the wires. It's even less fun when you don't.

The key here is you need the proper crimp tool for the connector pins you are going to install. Trying to do it with a general crimp tool will not give you good results. If you do not want to buy the proper tool, go with pigtails instead.
 
Get an 8pin Delphi/WeatherPack connector and these and don’t look back.

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For me, if the wire is still long enough, crimp. If it needs to be made longer, I solder and use waterproof heat shrink.
 

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