Spade connectors - crimp or solder?

[PaulD]

Starting to build up my system (Omni Pro II) and I am curious how most of you approach the connections to the screw terminals on the circuit boards. I intend to use spade connector to make connections easire to work with (vs hooking each wire around the screw connection). My past experience with crimp on connectors has been mixed (in automotive applications). They often work OK in the short term but sooner or later, the connection often becomes a problem. With that thought in mind, I was considering soldering each connector on the wire.
Is crimping a common practice or do you go all out and solder the connector on the wire?

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

If you want the best spade connectors/crimp combination use AMP spade lugs with their ratcheting crimp tool. I have a very old one and couldn't find it online. Rember, you can NOT use solid wire for this.

Common practice here is to just use the plain wire on the terminal screws. If you do have stranded or a lot of solid, you can twist (not to tight of one) and solder the wires together before you terminate them on the terminals. You can also tin the wire if using stranded.

 

[upstatemike]

I have been through the phase of soldering to make "extra good" connections and over the years have learned not to waste time on things that are only really "better" in my mind as opposed to reality.

First off, do the Omni-Pro screws have the little plates (sort of like square washers) under the screw heads? If so, you don't need to "wrap" the wire around the screw. Just slide it in under this plate and tighten.

If they are just screws then go with crimp spades. If you have had problems in the past it was probably due to the tool you used to do the crimping rather than an issue with crimped connections in general. Get a good crimping tool and you will have no problems.

 

[PaulD]

I have been through the phase of soldering to make "extra good" connections and over the years have learned not to waste time on things that are only really "better" in my mind as opposed to reality.

First off, do the Omni-Pro screws have the little plates (sort of like square washers) under the screw heads? If so, you don't need to "wrap" the wire around the screw. Just slide it in under this plate and tighten.

If they are just screws then go with crimp spades. If you have had problems in the past it was probably due to the tool you used to do the crimping rather than an issue with crimped connections in general. Get a good crimping tool and you will have no problems.

Yes - the Omni Pro II screws use the little plates under the screw head.

I was looking for a quick way to disconnect and reconnect wires in the near term. It will be awhile before my new house is ready for a permanent installation so I am pulling the pieces together and going thru a learning process by hooking it up temporarily in my current house. As part of this process, I expect to be moving stuff around a lot so I wanted quick connect/disconnect. Most wire will be solid so I will just use the "clamp it under the screw head with no hook" approach.

PS...I am also in the "make it bullet proof" camp and typically go for overkill when I build stuff. May not really be better but I sleep better at night.

 

[upstatemike]

If you are going to change them alot you could get some wear and tear on the wire ends. I would just leave the ends a little extra long so you have room to go back a quarter inch if the ends get ratty or break. If you use crimps with solid wire be sure to use the correct size for the wire gauge. If the crimp is too large it will not stay on a solid conductor.

 

[huggy59]

You can usually strip the insulator off crimped lugs and solder them, too, if you have to.