On Sun, 04 Dec 2005 01:31:30 -0500, Larry wrote:
Snip
No. There are lugs with a solder cup instead of the open-hole-through
crimp with the wire ends sticking out towards the lug. The solder cups
can be filled, carefully, without running out the other end. Buy copper
lugs, not aluminum. You can't solder to aluminum anything.

Your cables are fine if the wire's heavy enough. What I like about
properly soldered connections is:
1 - no seawater can get to the connection as the solder makes a solid
connection across the whole surface of both lug and wires. There's no
gap like a crimp for moisture to get into and corrode all to hell.
Without moisture in the joint, the joint has no electrolysis.

2 - The connecting surface area of a crimped lug is the point contact
area between the outer conductors of the wire and the points at which it
touches the lug's interior.

Sorry Larry I cannot relate to your logic. Where does the pressure
come from to keep these "outer conductors" in contact with the
walls???
You have obviously never cut through a crimped lug , polished the face
and viewed under a microscope. Give it a try. Oh and do the same with
your soldered lug, fine polish mind I do not want you smearing that
solder over the voids ;-)

The connecting surface area of a soldered
joint is the entire surface area of both. They are fully bonded
together. The current gradient across the soldered joint is very smooth
with no hot spots caused by point contact crimping. No conductors of the
soldered joint were pressure snapped off during a crimping process. The
soldered wire, if you avoid "wicking" like you learn in a good soldering
class up into the conductors beyond the lug, is very tightly joined.

You say that you have used a "closed cup" lug. This indicates that you
are end feeding the solder at the cup - wire junction, and you do not
get any wickig? How do you guarantee that the solder has run to the
bottom of the cup? You may have a nice ring of solder around the edge
of the cup but how can you guarantee that all voids are filled?
You have obviously cut the insulation back to allow access to the cup,
how do you cover this open area? Do you tin the cable end first? How
do you do that without splaying the fine wires with your iron?
Just interested, as I say to each his own..
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Richard

Nb "Pound Eater" Parkend G+S