Hope you enjoyed this video guys! Be sure to watch my, "Which Wire Splice Is Best" video below also. Thank you! th-cam.com/video/HJtGv73oMog/w-d-xo.html
@@jlrockafella Glad you enjoyed the video! Be sure to check out my extensive video playlists for many other videos of interest to you and share my channel with others. Thank you!
I've used these in the communications industry and was told by a tech rep for the manufacturer (not the same as the Amazon ones) to heat the solder band first. This is to keep the glue from bleeding into the actual splice before the solder does.
Hi Sam. These connectors don't have a lot of glue as you saw in their video. The band melts and flattens out, it doesn't go anywhere near the soldered area. Thanks for watching!
Hey can u do an endurance test on different styles of hand pop river tools to see which ones survive the longest please ? Maybe use some stainless steel rivers to put extra strain on them ? 😋😋 Cuz I’ve been watching reviews on amazon & people have so many complaints on so many rivet guns breaking during the first few dozen rivets ! 😐😐
It’s all about the technique! First, right tool for the right job. Use a miniature torch which creates a small pointed flame, easy to pinpoint the heat. Second, you are spot on by cleaning the wire before twisting the ends together, clean copper always solders better. That’s why you use sandpaper or a brush before sweating copper pipe. SO…after sliding the connector onto one of the wires, clean the striped wire, twist the two striped ends together, then preheat the connection, You can get the wire plenty hot with the pinpoint flame before melting the insulation. After it’s hot, quickly slide the connector over the heated splice, and proceed to heat the outside of the connector. When the solder melts you will have a strong soldered joint with the solder penetrating the wire strands. It took me a little trial and error but trust me, done right these connectors make a far superior connection than the crimped or heat shrink tubing method. In short, these connectors are the nuts man!
Thanks. I will try that, but since I have a heat gun with a one inch diameter nozzle, I'll need to block the wire insulation with aluminum foil. I will also dip the strands in flux, as someone else suggested. These connectors are widely used in the aircraft industry ( and not just Boeing) so obviously they are deemed adequate fir critcal connections which might vibrate.
I have these and I got a small heat gun but it heats up. Goes up to like 600 f. The solder in the middle really liquified and spread. Made a great connection. I even used one just as a way to seal another connection and the solder liquified and went into the other connector and improved it! They work well with a good heat gun.
Per the seller they recommend that your air temp be set between 752-1112 f. I think the solder ring melts completely at 280 f. 600 F is relatively close to the optimal temperature.
That was my question. is it better than a standard crimp connection? I have a tendency to over-do every project I have, so short of properly soldering the wires, which is a REAL pain, this, along with some shrink tubing over the top, I would think would be plenty.
@@phillamoore157 it’s definitely good enough to get you by I primarily use these for radio installations with matching the correct colored wires to the harness and after a year no issues still works fine
Thanks for your video, it was very informative. There is a way to significantly improve the connection...add a small amount of solder to the twisted wires before you add the connector - you don't need much. I tried it today and the small amount of flux allowed it to penetrate much more deeply into the wires.
Just buy quality connectors that come with flux and heat em hot enough (the video shows how to do it wrong, the outer part of the solder ring should melt completely and become silver - this is how you know it is how enough to actually adhere to copper)
Thanks for your well made video. I'm wasn't able to comb through all your comments to see if an engineer had weigh in on this. The joint is weak and superficial. Despite other users having use this in countless projects, this joint has a high failure rate. It would have been good to show a comparison of the joint using regular flax and solder. One of the viewers stared that they use a similar product in aircraft wiring, but that product melted at 700 degrees, which sounds like standard solder, and is professional grade. Cheers
We use similar solder sleeves on aircraft wiring. All airplanes have thousands of these as they're used where shielded wires have their shields terminated. Unlike these ones, when we melt them with our heat guns, the solder really flows into the wire. We usually use heat guns that can hit 700 degrees though. Perhaps the heat shrink on the professional solder sleeves are up to the job more so than these? I also noticed that ours have flux in the solder.... you'll see it bubbling out when the solder is flowing.
Hi Chris. I increased the level of heat for one test, and the connector started to burn and give off fumes, I cut it open after it cooled, and still no flow into the strands. I added flux for one test to see if all the solder flowed into the wire strands, and no luck. You have a superior connector. :-)
Same for U-Haul in the hitch bay when we do the wiring on vehicles, our connectors also have flux inside them but lower temps, say 300-350F as we use a butane torch.
@@electronicsNmore so at the end, you say that you predict the product produces low resistance connections. But thats a good thing, right?...yet per your inspection, the joining doesnt penetrate - so im confused if youre giving a thumbs up or down....
I love to use this connector for my project where it's not really matter to get the best joint. I simply use mini fire torch over it and then add another heat shrink over it after it cooled down.
Monolit brand is arguably one of the best of this type of connectors. I always prefer and use regular solder plus double layer heat shrink tubing (with and without adhesive) but sometimes doing the solder due to the location of the wire (lack of proper access to do a decent job and/or potential damage to other components/wires), using this method as an alternative worked fine for me.
Seems mildly better than a simple shrink wrap and solder with a less secure bond at the splice. Depending on the application this may be a good choice as it does seem a little faster to execute
Not really. If you have a portable iron already hot and ready to go it shouldn’t take any longer to solder them the proper way than it does to use one of these plus I know I have a good joint that way as well.
Thanks for telling us about E6000 glue. I had a plastic repair job that would not hold with Loctite plastic bonder or epoxy--both of those glues broke again rather easily--so I bought a tube of E6000 to fix it, and that stuff is holding amazingly strong. I often forget to be gentle with the repaired piece, but the E6000 allows it to flex without breaking again. Good stuff!
The ones I got were easy enough (TICONN) but my gripe was that it started to smell like burning plastic and I believe it started to damage the insulator. It was nice and shiny. At 700+ degrees it still took longer than it should have.
As you noted, the solder does not wick into the strands due to insufficient heat on the copper. Which means there's probably not an intermetallic layer between the solder and copper, a.k.a. a cold solder joint. I prefer to use a soldering iron and hand solder. After soldering, I use a file to smooth any rough edges, and then use HST.
Out of curiosity, I tried a hacky version of this. Dipped twisted copper in flux, spread it, coiled it with leaded solder wire, heated with 550C heat gun. Melting and soldering part worked, it messed up the insulation though. If it could be focused to single tiny point, it could work similar to this. Bond was really strong, I couldn’t break it with my bare hands.
I've been curious about these for a few years now, but haven't tried them. I've been doing marine electrical work for over 30 years and have worked with most types of connections and terminals. While these heat shrink & "solder" connectors are surely better than the plain crimp connectors, for sealing out moisture, I still think they are not as good as 3M (or similar) crimp heat shrink connections. Here is why: 1) ABYC does not allow soldered connections on boats, as the vibration can loosen/break the soldered connection over time. 2) your cutaway was great and it shows air space/voids between the strands of wire, and the solder only seems to "coat" the outside and doesn't fully get inside between the strands. This can lead to higher resistance and voltage drop, especially with higher amperage wires and devices. 3) the time factor for heating and melting the solder. Sure, if you are doing just a few wires and you aren't in a hurry, its not a big deal. But if you are doing a large project rewiring an entire boat, or even rewiring under a center console of a boat, you would be spending a tremendous amount of additional time carefully heating each connection. And if you had large bundles of connections in a tight space, it would be even more challenging. 4) ABYC has a chart with wire gauge and a "pull strength" for wires and cables in a crimped connector. It would be interesting for you to compare pull strength of these solder units to a 3M crimp and heat shrink connector. For reference: ABYC= The American Boat and Yacht Council is a non-profit organization which sets standards for the safe construction and maintenance of boats in the United States. It is a standards development member of the American National Standards Institute.
Thanks for doing this video. I saw these connector and was wondering how they would perform. I'm guessing that they would be perfect for on the spot emergency repairs
The solder alloy is bismuith based which is ideal for low temperature soldering but it's weaker than 60/40 solder and has higher electrical resistance!
I sometimes see Amazon reviews of crimp connectors with people complaining that "the solder doesn't melt"! Always amusing, though Amazon have removed the ability to reply to reviews, so there's no way to tell people about their error. I think I'll have to buy some of these to try out. I noticed that one listing shows the suitable AWG and a conversion to mm that is completely wrong. I presume it would be best to trust the AWG specs. Thanks for the tests!
@@soundspark I generally only buy crimps from places like Farnell and Digikey. The branded ones like TE are quite expensive but often worth it. Otherwise, I often get the own-brand crimps from CPC/Farnell (Multicomp, Pro-Power). Haven't had any issues yet. My main concern about cheap unbranded ones is the metal - i.e. conductivity, corrosion resistance, galvanic compatibility, ductility, strength.
I have some eBay versions and I can confirm they don't melt very well at all. They don't perform as well as they do in this and other videos on TH-cam so I can only conclude that ther are some bad copies being sold. For example, non of the eBay versions will melt the solder with a moving flame from a lighter.
Bought these on amazon but, wasn't sure how to use them. My first inclination was to crimp the middle like you do with butt connectors. Then my intelligent side kicked in and I thought, it may be better to get some instructions which brough me to your channel. Great video. I can now tackle my project with confidence. If everything else in life was this easy, what a breeze life would be. Duly impressed so I subscribed to see if you post other subjects I may learn from. Don't disappoint me...Thx...Regards . SM
@2:10 I'm so glad you mention this, so many times I've seen so called experts whinge and gripe about problems soldering because the wire is so dark you'd think its been in mud, I've oft told them to use fine grit sand paper, but the blade is good too :)
Great video! Can't say the same about the product. Seems to be a good way to make unreliable hard to find faults. Three things that are very important when splicing wires. 1. Gas tight connection between the strands. This solder doesn't flow or wet enough, making the connection unreliable and prone to corrosion and a bad connection over time. There is also a risk that it will de-solder it self once you start putting current through it and it heats up due to contact resistance. 2. Gas tight bonding of the heat shrink tube to the wire insulation to prevent moisture ingress. 3. Mechanical tension relief of the solder joint by the proper wetting and bonding of the heat shrink to the insulation. This fails on all points. This will lead to a voltage drop over the joint, heating it up, potentially melting the solder and the hot glue and de-bonding the joint. This tends to be exponential in nature and may lead to a complete failure quite rapidly. The bad bonding of the hot glue to the insulation will lead to moisture ingress and since the joint will heat and cool due to increased resistance it will act as a moisture pump sucking in moisture with every heat cycle. The moisture will condense and be trapped in the joint. It will then progress along the wires inside the cable insulation causing oxidation and eventually failure. Very hard to find this type of fault. Use solder and professional grade shrink tube with glue instead. In critical or hot applications the glue needs to be insensitive to heat i.e. not hot melt and of the correct type for the insulation material so it provides good wetting and bonding. It takes marginally longer to do it this way compared to this "all in one" product and it's a well proven, reliable method.
Running a few amps of current over the wire and performing a voltage drop test would be valuable. Compare the results to a normal soldered joint and unspliced wire.
like your video... never use this connection in a water ( a spa, by ex): I used it with a 24 volt led and after one year, the connection started to be corroded.
Thanks for explaining how to use these things. I've never understood that. I have some crimp connectors with the glue in them, and that brand (whose name I don't recall) does seem to stick a little better than what I think you were seeing, since the glue stretches between the heat shrink and the insulation a bit before peeling off.
You can go to the same temperature as you would with your soldering iron using the hot air station. 300 centigrade is fine. You can also use flux to deoxidize the wire ends. Perhaps your issue with the solder not wicking to the core is because your temperature isn't high enough? Using a LNG lighter is definitely bad as the temperature is over 1300 centigrade.
Not sure if I understand your test results and your conclusion! I do realize nothing out there is perfect but I wish you could give more insight as to how this product compares with others in the market.... at least in general. Are there other connectors that the glue adheres better? Your video is great.... just could not get the conclusion out of it. Thanks!
I looked through some of the comments before posting. Like someone said these could be put in a small box with a lighter to be used for emergency repairs. No special tools needed and pretty secure. After seeing this I wonder if you might be interested in testing some heat shrink with glue to see how well that bonds to the cable compared to these. Also perhaps do some testing to show just how good these connections are electrically and mechanically. Like you said in the video I know these will work well and have low resistance, but how about just twisted wires with heat shrink with glue? I don't know if anyone actually does this but I think it would be interesting to see what the difference would be.
I really like the way you twisted the wires together, leading to a true mechanically strong joint. Most professionals and even car manufacturers use crimped joints that are simply fanned together. In the past I've been disappointed when I twisted wires together because the connector needs to accept the bigger thickness of twisted wire, and the heat shrink doesn't always shrink enough on the ends to give a water tight joint at either end. I share the concern about inadequate soldering, especially as the solder is a low temp alloy which might be vulnerable if the joint lives in a hot area prone to huge temp swings.
Best video reviewing these, also you use the best technique. Wrap twist is much better than push mingle, I think. A wrap like that will be good without any solder. Now that I've seen cut open I regret buying a box of these. I will use them but my preferred now is a straight uninsulated crimp junction with marine grade heat shrink over it after. Don't like the insulated crimps either. Blind crimping.
Great idea but not perfected yet. I avoid these. Although, in an emergency one would be glad to have them. I use a crimped connection with some dielectric grease and heat shrink tubing. Always give your connection a tug to be sure it’s connected well. (Crimp & Tug)
Glad you enjoyed the video Jeff! Be sure to look over my extensive video playlists below for many other videos of interest to you, and most importantly take one minute to share a link to my channel with others. Thanks th-cam.com/users/electronicsnmoreplaylists
You would get a better glue connection to the wire jacket by cleaning it with alcohol and scuffing it up lightly to remove any grease or oils left over from manufacturing and handling. Most wire jackets are glossy so not so good for gluing. Wear surgical gloves before stripping the wires to avoid getting oils from your hands onto the clean wire jackets. A pull test would be interesting, that's the only way I can see this fail. Nice video.
ok So the solder was just around the outside of the wires, But is that good enough, or don't you like these things? Should I use these to solder my TPS sensor wires into my ECM wiring or should I use a regular soldering iron and heat shrink tubing?
Great product and video. Question - how do you use this product when the wires are different in size? I just combined a thick one to a small wire. The thick one was twice the size as the other. How would you use this connector them together?
Apologies - I missed that bit of your voice over (too much tactical skipping forward!). I was genuinely intrigued so I gave it a go myself, this morning. I definitely got proper penetration after adding flux. I did learn that if I added too much, the clear heatshrink would swell up into a small balloon and ultimately pop a small hole through the side that flux ultimately oozed out of. In terms of technique, I did use an intermediate temperature that made the heatshrink and glue activate, and was enough to get the flux to melt and flow, before I increased the heat to a level where the solder would flow. Perhaps it was this approach of liquifying the flux and letting it do its thing before melting the solder that worked for me. When I pulled mine apart, the solder had flowed up inside the cable insulation as well as through the full cross section of the splice. Like you, I did the glue ends first as I didn't want liquid flux running out the ends.
The adhesive does not seem to really bond with the insulation, but since it's shrink wrapled tight, I guess it's good enough to give thd IP68 rating claimed,
Nice that you dissect it. I saw PF first since the image stuck out more, and then I clicked on your name since you were the top comment and then I came here and I was like how did I miss your video first. The thumbnail image looked too cluttered and small while PF was big and simple. I am giving you a suggestion but take it as you will. Felt like the title was too long which it was cut from the bundle. since the only thing it shows was "Amazon's #1 Best Selling Solder Seal Connector Any" from "Amazon's #1 Best Selling Solder Seal Connector Any Good? Find Out!" Maybe better if "Amazon's #1 Selling Solder Seal Good? Let's Test It!" (not the best title but it fits) The thumbnail should have been in bigger letters like PF and a close up on "Solder Seal Connector" than the entire box since you are not reviewing the box. I am trying to help but if you feel I am wrong then ignore it.
Superior to most connecting methods I've used, short of actually soldering the wires together, and heat shrinking. Would be interesting to see how much stronger the connection is compared to just twisting and shrinking method... My guess would be that it is 2 to 4 times more secure, maybe more? Great video...
This is soldering and shrinking, just easier but it comes with its cons, you can solder manually and then use heat shrink that contains glue at both ends so you get the same end result but with stronger and better electrical connection on the inside
@@gianseven pretty much exactly what I said above. Actually soldering and shrinking is far superior to any other method! This falls short of that because the minimal amount of solder used in the product, fails to flow within the strands of wire, nor does it achieve the same level of bond as actual soldering would...
How much tensile strength do you need out of a 22awg splice? Lots of strength discussion but does this device allow a good conducting splice? If so then should work in most DIY situations (Im not building space craft at my house).
Why do you say, “This connection is low resistance” when showing both wires? Which one am I to guess is the one you mean? And resistance to what? Water? Electrical flow? Thanks for the tip!
When you have 2 bright shiny copper wires twisted together, and solder enveloping the entire connection, it will be a very low resistance connection based on the results from my other video below. Thanks for watching! th-cam.com/video/HJtGv73oMog/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Troy! Be sure to look over my extensive video playlists below for many other videos of interest to you, and most importantly take one minute to share a link to my channel with others on social networking sites. th-cam.com/users/electronicsnmoreplaylists
Hope you enjoyed this video guys! Be sure to watch my, "Which Wire Splice Is Best" video below also. Thank you!
th-cam.com/video/HJtGv73oMog/w-d-xo.html
In that video you included resistance, do you have any idea what these would be
Very good details, great audio with no annoying background noises👌
@@jlrockafella Glad you enjoyed the video! Be sure to check out my extensive video playlists for many other videos of interest to you and share my channel with others. Thank you!
Well presented, no hype, no music just down to earth every day chatter and I learnt a lot from it, many thanks.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Be sure to share. Thank you
I've used these in the communications industry and was told by a tech rep for the manufacturer (not the same as the Amazon ones) to heat the solder band first.
This is to keep the glue from bleeding into the actual splice before the solder does.
Hi Sam. These connectors don't have a lot of glue as you saw in their video. The band melts and flattens out, it doesn't go anywhere near the soldered area. Thanks for watching!
Great video and really like the tips! Looking forward to your next video!
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching
Hey can u do an endurance test on different styles of hand pop river tools to see which ones survive the longest please ? Maybe use some stainless steel rivers to put extra strain on them ? 😋😋 Cuz I’ve been watching reviews on amazon & people have so many complaints on so many rivet guns breaking during the first few dozen rivets ! 😐😐
It would be cool to test these vs the crimp type connectors and test which is the most waterproof
🤗
Lol, I was hoping that you did a video on this!
Had them on my boat trailer for along time never had one fail. Been in alot of salt water. Lights still working
It’s all about the technique!
First, right tool for the right job. Use a miniature torch which creates a small pointed flame, easy to pinpoint the heat.
Second, you are spot on by cleaning the wire before twisting the ends together, clean copper always solders better. That’s why you use sandpaper or a brush before sweating copper pipe. SO…after sliding the connector onto one of the wires, clean the striped wire, twist the two striped ends together, then preheat the connection, You can get the wire plenty hot with the pinpoint flame before melting the insulation. After it’s hot, quickly slide the connector over the heated splice, and proceed to heat the outside of the connector. When the solder melts you will have a strong soldered joint with the solder penetrating the wire strands. It took me a little trial and error but trust me, done right these connectors make a far superior connection than the crimped or heat shrink tubing method. In short, these connectors are the nuts man!
After all that
Just solder it?
I will add the preheat to make mine work better, but too many steps. Not buying again.
Thanks. I will try that, but since I have a heat gun with a one inch diameter nozzle, I'll need to block the wire insulation with aluminum foil. I will also dip the strands in flux, as someone else suggested. These connectors are widely used in the aircraft industry ( and not just Boeing) so obviously they are deemed adequate fir critcal connections which might vibrate.
I love this kit. Will never be without. Cheap enough and easy to use. Solid connections. I use it on my Goldwing all the time.
Thanks for the thorough demonstration. I'll probably still use these, but in addition to solder.
100%
I have these and I got a small heat gun but it heats up. Goes up to like 600 f. The solder in the middle really liquified and spread. Made a great connection. I even used one just as a way to seal another connection and the solder liquified and went into the other connector and improved it! They work well with a good heat gun.
Per the seller they recommend that your air temp be set between 752-1112 f. I think the solder ring melts completely at 280 f. 600 F is relatively close to the optimal temperature.
Note: We suggest the temperature that the hot air gun should set about:400-600℃ (752-1112°F)
Regardless of how “deep” the solder goes it’s still a good connection have been using these for years and no problems at all from countless projects
That's good to know! I am going to use these in a situation where there's just not enough room to solder, so hopefully they work.
@@mattmgarza sounds good! I use these for radio installs never had a issue good tight weather resistant connections 👍
That was my question. is it better than a standard crimp connection? I have a tendency to over-do every project I have, so short of properly soldering the wires, which is a REAL pain, this, along with some shrink tubing over the top, I would think would be plenty.
@@phillamoore157 it’s definitely good enough to get you by I primarily use these for radio installations with matching the correct colored wires to the harness and after a year no issues still works fine
You just gave me my hope back
Seems like maybe a tube of heat shrink over it after heating this connector could be an extra layer of security with regards to the sealing??
I just always put a heat shrink tube on over the connector to make it a little more secure
just got given a set of these. They seem perfect for keeping on a motorbike with a small lighter and a multitool
Thank you!
Glue acts like an O-ring in this application😎
EXACTLY!
Thanks for your video, it was very informative. There is a way to significantly improve the connection...add a small amount of solder to the twisted wires before you add the connector - you don't need much. I tried it today and the small amount of flux allowed it to penetrate much more deeply into the wires.
Just buy quality connectors that come with flux and heat em hot enough (the video shows how to do it wrong, the outer part of the solder ring should melt completely and become silver - this is how you know it is how enough to actually adhere to copper)
@@goury Where can I buy the good ones at?
Thanks for your well made video.
I'm wasn't able to comb through all your comments to see if an engineer had weigh in on this.
The joint is weak and superficial. Despite other users having use this in countless projects, this joint has a high failure rate.
It would have been good to show a comparison of the joint using regular flax and solder.
One of the viewers stared that they use a similar product in aircraft wiring, but that product melted at 700 degrees, which sounds like standard solder, and is professional grade.
Cheers
This is a pretty good splicing product .
We use similar solder sleeves on aircraft wiring. All airplanes have thousands of these as they're used where shielded wires have their shields terminated. Unlike these ones, when we melt them with our heat guns, the solder really flows into the wire. We usually use heat guns that can hit 700 degrees though. Perhaps the heat shrink on the professional solder sleeves are up to the job more so than these? I also noticed that ours have flux in the solder.... you'll see it bubbling out when the solder is flowing.
Hi Chris. I increased the level of heat for one test, and the connector started to burn and give off fumes, I cut it open after it cooled, and still no flow into the strands. I added flux for one test to see if all the solder flowed into the wire strands, and no luck. You have a superior connector. :-)
Same for U-Haul in the hitch bay when we do the wiring on vehicles, our connectors also have flux inside them but lower temps, say 300-350F as we use a butane torch.
@@electronicsNmore so at the end, you say that you predict the product produces low resistance connections. But thats a good thing, right?...yet per your inspection, the joining doesnt penetrate - so im confused if youre giving a thumbs up or down....
These Ones is NOT proper English? Where do people come up with that term? It's just These & Ones does NOT belong behind the word THESE!
@@1OFGODSOWN chill..
These connectors are sweet. Very handy. And by the way they do actually have solder in them that melts and solders the wires when heated.
I am about to start re wiring a motorcycle. Thanks for this review. I don't plan on using this product, but it would be great for other projects.
Glad it was helpful!
i needed to know if i could use a lighter with this since i dont own a heat gun. thanks for showing both ways!
I've used these connections for rewiring my boat trailer lights. They were water tight and work well in fresh and saltwater.
Thanks for the confirmation Ben!
I Use glue lined heatshrink tubing and solder them together before I put the shrink tubing over.
Usually what I do. :-)
I love to use this connector for my project where it's not really matter to get the best joint. I simply use mini fire torch over it and then add another heat shrink over it after it cooled down.
They're very useful connectors. Thanks for watching! Be sure to share the video link with others.
@@electronicsNmore yup.. that's for sure
Monolit brand is arguably one of the best of this type of connectors. I always prefer and use regular solder plus double layer heat shrink tubing (with and without adhesive) but sometimes doing the solder due to the location of the wire (lack of proper access to do a decent job and/or potential damage to other components/wires), using this method as an alternative worked fine for me.
I got them and they work pretty darn well
Seems mildly better than a simple shrink wrap and solder with a less secure bond at the splice. Depending on the application this may be a good choice as it does seem a little faster to execute
Not really. If you have a portable iron already hot and ready to go it shouldn’t take any longer to solder them the proper way than it does to use one of these plus I know I have a good joint that way as well.
Thanks for telling us about E6000 glue. I had a plastic repair job that would not hold with Loctite plastic bonder or epoxy--both of those glues broke again rather easily--so I bought a tube of E6000 to fix it, and that stuff is holding amazingly strong. I often forget to be gentle with the repaired piece, but the E6000 allows it to flex without breaking again. Good stuff!
The ones I got were easy enough (TICONN) but my gripe was that it started to smell like burning plastic and I believe it started to damage the insulator. It was nice and shiny. At 700+ degrees it still took longer than it should have.
As you noted, the solder does not wick into the strands due to insufficient heat on the copper. Which means there's probably not an intermetallic layer between the solder and copper, a.k.a. a cold solder joint. I prefer to use a soldering iron and hand solder. After soldering, I use a file to smooth any rough edges, and then use HST.
Out of curiosity, I tried a hacky version of this. Dipped twisted copper in flux, spread it, coiled it with leaded solder wire, heated with 550C heat gun. Melting and soldering part worked, it messed up the insulation though. If it could be focused to single tiny point, it could work similar to this. Bond was really strong, I couldn’t break it with my bare hands.
I've been curious about these for a few years now, but haven't tried them. I've been doing marine electrical work for over 30 years and have worked with most types of connections and terminals. While these heat shrink & "solder" connectors are surely better than the plain crimp connectors, for sealing out moisture, I still think they are not as good as 3M (or similar) crimp heat shrink connections. Here is why: 1) ABYC does not allow soldered connections on boats, as the vibration can loosen/break the soldered connection over time. 2) your cutaway was great and it shows air space/voids between the strands of wire, and the solder only seems to "coat" the outside and doesn't fully get inside between the strands. This can lead to higher resistance and voltage drop, especially with higher amperage wires and devices. 3) the time factor for heating and melting the solder. Sure, if you are doing just a few wires and you aren't in a hurry, its not a big deal. But if you are doing a large project rewiring an entire boat, or even rewiring under a center console of a boat, you would be spending a tremendous amount of additional time carefully heating each connection. And if you had large bundles of connections in a tight space, it would be even more challenging. 4) ABYC has a chart with wire gauge and a "pull strength" for wires and cables in a crimped connector. It would be interesting for you to compare pull strength of these solder units to a 3M crimp and heat shrink connector. For reference: ABYC= The American Boat and Yacht Council is a non-profit organization which sets standards for the safe construction and maintenance of boats in the United States. It is a standards development member of the American National Standards Institute.
Thank you for the video. Perhaps this is more for low current application.
Great video, straight to the point and very clear. I'll stick to butt splices or traditional soldering
Thanks for doing this video. I saw these connector and was wondering how they would perform. I'm guessing that they would be perfect for on the spot emergency repairs
You're welcome! Thanks for watching
Definitely better than crimp connectors!
@@Quickened1 A good crimp is tough to beat. These are emergency use only, imo, and not appropriate for any permanent jobs.
The solder alloy is bismuith based which is ideal for low temperature soldering but it's weaker than 60/40 solder and has higher electrical resistance!
thats interesting!
How can anybody trust this?
I sometimes see Amazon reviews of crimp connectors with people complaining that "the solder doesn't melt"! Always amusing, though Amazon have removed the ability to reply to reviews, so there's no way to tell people about their error.
I think I'll have to buy some of these to try out. I noticed that one listing shows the suitable AWG and a conversion to mm that is completely wrong. I presume it would be best to trust the AWG specs.
Thanks for the tests!
You're welcome!
@@soundspark I generally only buy crimps from places like Farnell and Digikey. The branded ones like TE are quite expensive but often worth it. Otherwise, I often get the own-brand crimps from CPC/Farnell (Multicomp, Pro-Power). Haven't had any issues yet.
My main concern about cheap unbranded ones is the metal - i.e. conductivity, corrosion resistance, galvanic compatibility, ductility, strength.
I have some eBay versions and I can confirm they don't melt very well at all. They don't perform as well as they do in this and other videos on TH-cam so I can only conclude that ther are some bad copies being sold. For example, non of the eBay versions will melt the solder with a moving flame from a lighter.
This was a great and informational video. It's going to help me for a car radio install so thankyou 👍🏽
I would like to see a comparison between these inexpensive Amazon connectors and the pricey professional ones.
Where can I get the good professional one at?
Bought these on amazon but, wasn't sure how to use them. My first inclination was to crimp the middle like you do with butt connectors. Then my intelligent side kicked in and I thought, it may be better to get some instructions which brough me to your channel. Great video. I can now tackle my project with confidence. If everything else in life was this easy, what a breeze life would be. Duly impressed so I subscribed to see if you post other subjects I may learn from. Don't disappoint me...Thx...Regards . SM
@2:10 I'm so glad you mention this, so many times I've seen so called experts whinge and gripe about problems soldering because the wire is so dark you'd think its been in mud, I've oft told them to use fine grit sand paper, but the blade is good too :)
Ya for soldering it's important I guess flux should remove the oxidation but I assume a good crimp wouldn't mind to much I guess it's worth testing
Very useful just what i needed to know as i am the worst solderer.
Very thorough. New to this. Was nice taking that crimper off the order!!!
Nice demo! Thanks for sharing. I wonder if cleaning the insulation with alcohol would make a better adhesive bond
Yes, that's suggested for older wiring. My wire was fresh off the spool.
Great video! Can't say the same about the product.
Seems to be a good way to make unreliable hard to find faults. Three things that are very important when splicing wires.
1. Gas tight connection between the strands. This solder doesn't flow or wet enough, making the connection unreliable and prone to corrosion and a bad connection over time. There is also a risk that it will de-solder it self once you start putting current through it and it heats up due to contact resistance.
2. Gas tight bonding of the heat shrink tube to the wire insulation to prevent moisture ingress.
3. Mechanical tension relief of the solder joint by the proper wetting and bonding of the heat shrink to the insulation.
This fails on all points.
This will lead to a voltage drop over the joint, heating it up, potentially melting the solder and the hot glue and de-bonding the joint. This tends to be exponential in nature and may lead to a complete failure quite rapidly.
The bad bonding of the hot glue to the insulation will lead to moisture ingress and since the joint will heat and cool due to increased resistance it will act as a moisture pump sucking in moisture with every heat cycle. The moisture will condense and be trapped in the joint. It will then progress along the wires inside the cable insulation causing oxidation and eventually failure.
Very hard to find this type of fault.
Use solder and professional grade shrink tube with glue instead. In critical or hot applications the glue needs to be insensitive to heat i.e. not hot melt and of the correct type for the insulation material so it provides good wetting and bonding.
It takes marginally longer to do it this way compared to this "all in one" product and it's a well proven, reliable method.
Thought I made a bad investment in these, but your technique in applying the heat made them a good investment. All of your vids are top[ notch. Thx!
Glad you like them!
This is why I use old school soldering and black heat shrink tubing instead
very good! i was using a small torch-which was too hot.........
I'd be curious to see how/if the low-melt would bond to an already soldered splice.
Running a few amps of current over the wire and performing a voltage drop test would be valuable. Compare the results to a normal soldered joint and unspliced wire.
Results would be very low based on my previous wire splice testing video.
He did say he tested this type of connection in a previous video and the resistance was very low which means next to no voltage drop.
like your video...
never use this connection in a water ( a spa, by ex): I used it with a 24 volt led and after one year, the connection started to be corroded.
Thanks for explaining how to use these things. I've never understood that. I have some crimp connectors with the glue in them, and that brand (whose name I don't recall) does seem to stick a little better than what I think you were seeing, since the glue stretches between the heat shrink and the insulation a bit before peeling off.
Have you compared the penetration of twisted wires vs untwisted wires?
Great video, thanks for taking the time. Would you use this on your own repairs??
Excellent video eNm! Another connector that I was not familiar with. Thanks! 👍👍😉😉
You can go to the same temperature as you would with your soldering iron using the hot air station. 300 centigrade
is fine. You can also use flux to deoxidize
the wire ends. Perhaps your issue with the solder not wicking to the core is because your temperature isn't high enough? Using a LNG lighter is definitely bad as the temperature is over 1300 centigrade.
Really like the razor blade corrosion trick
The way I do it is I use the connector then a extra shrink wrap over it.
I have some of those from years ago, but without the outer bands. I wasn't very impressed with them and your video shows why I never used them.
Agreed, looks like one of the worst solutions out there, but maybe useful to keep some with a lighter for emergencies.
A superb connection.
Not sure if I understand your test results and your conclusion! I do realize nothing out there is perfect but I wish you could give more insight as to how this product compares with others in the market.... at least in general. Are there other connectors that the glue adheres better? Your video is great.... just could not get the conclusion out of it. Thanks!
Have you tried dipping the wires in flux to get better solder flow?
if you want it to flow through the strands add a little dab of flux on there. takes care of that very well
I was just wondering about if that other heat gun would work. I've bought several of those after watching your old video. 👍
I tested the mini heat gun on one red connector. I held the connector up against the nozzle, and it took a couple minutes to flow the alloy.
I looked through some of the comments before posting. Like someone said these could be put in a small box with a lighter to be used for emergency repairs. No special tools needed and pretty secure.
After seeing this I wonder if you might be interested in testing some heat shrink with glue to see how well that bonds to the cable compared to these. Also perhaps do some testing to show just how good these connections are electrically and mechanically. Like you said in the video I know these will work well and have low resistance, but how about just twisted wires with heat shrink with glue? I don't know if anyone actually does this but I think it would be interesting to see what the difference would be.
Excellent video with great detail
I really like the way you twisted the wires together, leading to a true mechanically strong joint. Most professionals and even car manufacturers use crimped joints that are simply fanned together. In the past I've been disappointed when I twisted wires together because the connector needs to accept the bigger thickness of twisted wire, and the heat shrink doesn't always shrink enough on the ends to give a water tight joint at either end. I share the concern about inadequate soldering, especially as the solder is a low temp alloy which might be vulnerable if the joint lives in a hot area prone to huge temp swings.
Best video reviewing these, also you use the best technique. Wrap twist is much better than push mingle, I think. A wrap like that will be good without any solder. Now that I've seen cut open I regret buying a box of these. I will use them but my preferred now is a straight uninsulated crimp junction with marine grade heat shrink over it after. Don't like the insulated crimps either. Blind crimping.
Great idea but not perfected yet. I avoid these. Although, in an emergency one would be glad to have them. I use a crimped connection with some dielectric grease and heat shrink tubing. Always give your connection a tug to be sure it’s connected well. (Crimp & Tug)
How do you know your not crimping threw some if the strands? That's why these are better...
Thank you for the review, added to the shopping list
You're welcome! Be sure to share the video link with others. Thanks
Spoiler Alert: Yes. I’ve used many time and it works flawlessly.
So it’s really good heat shrink. Keep soldering snd use this as a cap.
Great example, thank you!
Glad you enjoyed the video Jeff! Be sure to look over my extensive video playlists below for many other videos of interest to you, and most importantly take one minute to share a link to my channel with others. Thanks
th-cam.com/users/electronicsnmoreplaylists
Try roughing the insulation up where adhesive makes contact.
Low resistance is what I want. Strength, I dont need. Thanks
i wish all TH-cam videos were this detailed and useful.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Thank you!
You're welcome Dan! Please share. Thanks
You would get a better glue connection to the wire jacket by cleaning it with alcohol and scuffing it up lightly to remove any grease or oils left over from manufacturing and handling. Most wire jackets are glossy so not so good for gluing. Wear surgical gloves before stripping the wires to avoid getting oils from your hands onto the clean wire jackets. A pull test would be interesting, that's the only way I can see this fail. Nice video.
ok So the solder was just around the outside of the wires, But is that good enough, or don't you like these things?
Should I use these to solder my TPS sensor wires into my ECM wiring or should I use a regular soldering iron and heat shrink tubing?
Thanks for making this video. I bought some of this and melted it the first time I used it. haha. Oops.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge
Great product and video. Question - how do you use this product when the wires are different in size? I just combined a thick one to a small wire. The thick one was twice the size as the other. How would you use this connector them together?
Great video man. Thanks for posting.
Glad you enjoyed the video! Be sure to check out my extensive video playlists and share my channel with others. Thank you
Could this be used to repair outdoor Christmas lights?
Can I use such connectors to extend the turbo charge sensor wires in the car.
How about dipping the ends of the bare wires in some flux first and seeing how much better the solder flows?
He said it makes no difference.
I applied one drop of kester "no clean" liquid rosin flux, and saw very little if any improvement.
Apologies - I missed that bit of your voice over (too much tactical skipping forward!). I was genuinely intrigued so I gave it a go myself, this morning. I definitely got proper penetration after adding flux. I did learn that if I added too much, the clear heatshrink would swell up into a small balloon and ultimately pop a small hole through the side that flux ultimately oozed out of.
In terms of technique, I did use an intermediate temperature that made the heatshrink and glue activate, and was enough to get the flux to melt and flow, before I increased the heat to a level where the solder would flow. Perhaps it was this approach of liquifying the flux and letting it do its thing before melting the solder that worked for me. When I pulled mine apart, the solder had flowed up inside the cable insulation as well as through the full cross section of the splice. Like you, I did the glue ends first as I didn't want liquid flux running out the ends.
The adhesive does not seem to really bond with the insulation, but since it's shrink wrapled tight, I guess it's good enough to give thd IP68 rating claimed,
I am able to get mine hot enough with a heat gun that the solder does penetrate the wires nicely.
Operator error, I have used these and you must give it a chance to flow deep.
Can I use these connectors for 120VAC single portable induction stove?
Did you ever test the resistance of these connections?
Nice that you dissect it. I saw PF first since the image stuck out more, and then I clicked on your name since you were the top comment and then I came here and I was like how did I miss your video first. The thumbnail image looked too cluttered and small while PF was big and simple. I am giving you a suggestion but take it as you will.
Felt like the title was too long which it was cut from the bundle. since the only thing it shows was
"Amazon's #1 Best Selling Solder Seal Connector Any"
from
"Amazon's #1 Best Selling Solder Seal Connector Any Good? Find Out!"
Maybe better if
"Amazon's #1 Selling Solder Seal Good? Let's Test It!" (not the best title but it fits)
The thumbnail should have been in bigger letters like PF and a close up on "Solder Seal Connector" than the entire box since you are not reviewing the box.
I am trying to help but if you feel I am wrong then ignore it.
Your voice reminds me a lot of Billy Crystal. If you're old enough to recognise the name, you'll hopefully take it as a compliment. Great video!
I was expecting to see the voltage and resistance test but I guess you had the wires twisted together too so probably not to bad
Yes, since the wires were twisted together tightly, I knew the connection was going to be good based on my other wire connection testing video.
Yes that is what people commenting negative are not realizing
Superior to most connecting methods I've used, short of actually soldering the wires together, and heat shrinking. Would be interesting to see how much stronger the connection is compared to just twisting and shrinking method... My guess would be that it is 2 to 4 times more secure, maybe more? Great video...
This is soldering and shrinking, just easier but it comes with its cons, you can solder manually and then use heat shrink that contains glue at both ends so you get the same end result but with stronger and better electrical connection on the inside
@@gianseven pretty much exactly what I said above. Actually soldering and shrinking is far superior to any other method! This falls short of that because the minimal amount of solder used in the product, fails to flow within the strands of wire, nor does it achieve the same level of bond as actual soldering would...
Thanks for watching!
It seems marginally better than twisting and shrinking (which is not appropriate in any situation except emergencies).
How much tensile strength do you need out of a 22awg splice? Lots of strength discussion but does this device allow a good conducting splice? If so then should work in most DIY situations (Im not building space craft at my house).
Why do you say, “This connection is low resistance” when showing both wires? Which one am I to guess is the one you mean? And resistance to what? Water? Electrical flow? Thanks for the tip!
When you have 2 bright shiny copper wires twisted together, and solder enveloping the entire connection, it will be a very low resistance connection based on the results from my other video below. Thanks for watching!
th-cam.com/video/HJtGv73oMog/w-d-xo.html
Electrical
Excellent video. Thank you.
Thanks Troy! Be sure to look over my extensive video playlists below for many other videos of interest to you, and most importantly take one minute to share a link to my channel with others on social networking sites.
th-cam.com/users/electronicsnmoreplaylists
Pull test would have been nice
I only use those on 18ga & smaller wire.
What if you pre solder the leads that are being connected?