Heat shrink solder butt connector test.

These things are great ,so glad i stumbled on them a few years ago

The automotive brand I work for requires that we technicians use their approved versions of these solder shrink connectors. As someone who’s pretty good at soldering, I say to hell with those and use traditional solder and water proof/sealed heat shrink. However, most technicians who can’t or don’t l like to solder love these things.

what if you were to add a bit of flux in there ?

Bought some of theze on Amazon and couldn't get the solder to melt. Think I need a better heat gun with that small nozzle.

the real test is to do a heat connection then do a std solder connection, then load both of the test pieces with current until failure. You will likely be surprised at the result.

Why would anyone what to connect their butt?

Most of them work well with a hot air station. Flux the wires for better results. Only thing I found was they didn’t work well at lower gauge like 12 and below. I’ve used hundreds of the 16g and up and they are awesome.

Très bon video camarade Bigclive comme d'habitude. Bravo monsieur continuer le bon travail. Très informatif. слава укгаини.

The solder looks to me to be similar to pewter

I had some of these fail. I stay with butt connectors with glue lined heatshrink

These things are shit.

I use these in an industrial environment all the time.
Basically there are two things.
One the heat was too low.
A little hotter two
You don't need it to go through the center of the wire as power is only actually on the outside of the wire.
I know that sounds weird right.
But your power is all around the outside of the wire not the inside.
Thus the current flow in a wire is concentrated on the surface of the wire, as the current in the middle is repelled more than any other currents. Normally the effect is negligle, but design of high current wires is tricky. The electricity or current travels in the outer surface.
Keep practicing you'll get the hang of it.
If you go too hot you'll melt the heat shrink and it will bubble open.
Like the old saying goes.
"Nothing worthwhile comes easy"

I love using these. Use a lighter tho

Well im just wishin they had these when i was under the car dash in the 80s....

Bought some of these of Temu, they are useless.

Handy in a pinch but people who swear by them and use these regularly for all their wiring are asinine. Worst of all you commonly see these in engine bays where you wouldn't even need high current to cause a problem. I try to avoid them altogether if possible, just to avoid an complacency of thinking it's "good enough". I'd rather just twist the wires and wrap in electrical tape if in a pinch, then go back and redo it properly later. Doesn't really need be any better than that for a quick temporary fix and less cleanup and re-preping after. I might consider them in an emergency situation if water is unavoidable and very likely to cause a short.

I thought good crimp connections were better because it cold welds the wire?

The solder at the left side bottom is still cold. Temperature must not be too high. But the heat must soak much longer.
The blue band must also be completely melted. The blue band is the waterproofing adhesive.

Don't squeeze/trist the wire together tight before heating it & the soldier seeps into the wiring better.
Tighter it is the fewer gaps wires have blocking solder from seeping in.

Yes but if your driving you car and it stops because of broken wire what do you use to heat the joint then it's OK doing it inside now do one down the road in your car......

Another review I saw suggested you just twist the wires together and then expect the solder to provide some strength and better connection to the bond. The reviewer tried using flux and didn't get any improvement, unlike a commenter below, so maybe there is a lot of variation among brands. But twisting them first seems like a good idea to me.

Would be interesting to see how those hold up under load. Does the connection heat up? If so, is it easy to heat up to the point the solder melts again?

I know this is an old video but I wanted to comment and say I wired a head unit for a family members car with nothing but these things, a pocket knife, and a lighter.

Nice mesh splice technique Clive! I never seem to get the strands evenly “smooshed”, so I’m more of a lap or lash splice man myself🤷‍♂️

Low melt solder usually is a lot more brittle, so I wonder if this would last in a car or other vehicle with a lot of vibrations. But as a temporary solution in a pinch, sure.
Also you could test the resistance compared to normally soldered joints, if the resistance is higher, at high amerage the l9w melt solder could melt and make a mess.

This arrangement is Ok but not soo satisfied. But I must appreciate you for your in details video.
Thnx again

What's the bet that solder is some sort of woods metal and contains bismuth and lead

They are brilliant. What a great idea.

I like using them but to make it look nicer I put heat shrink tube over the top

RESIN / FLUX

Ryan's suggestion is spot on, if you apply a little resin / flux to the spliced or twisted wire as an addition first. This aids the solder flow of the small solder ring at the centre of the tubing, allowing it to 'wick' along the wire conductor. In addition, if the complete joint is assembled mechanically first, the heat can be applied evenly along its full length with a sweeping action. This melts the solder ring and the two glue rings evenly, making it more secure and looking pretty neat. By keeping the heat source moving, (be it heat gun or lighter), there is less risk of damaging any of the other insulation.

Just a suggestion......

Great clip Clive, and most informative.
Many thanks....

James Hennighan
Yorkshire, England

The thing I like about these is that you can twist the wire together and slide them over, where as most butt connectors actually don't have the wire touch at all. I consider the solder an extra bonus but not actually necessary for the connection. When working outside I used to use Solder-IT Silver Bearing Solder Paste and heat shrink to accomplish the same thing, but this is much more cost effective, that stuff was really expensive.

this is stupid first you twist them together not whatever you did and second why do you need it to penetrate, there perfect where a solder pencil or gun can be used due to size. the solder is maybe 80% as strong and 100 percent as affect as actual soldering. I dont know what your doing that requires the soder to melt all the way in. it beats quick taps and the twist-tape method

Great review! I like them for 5amp or less short run connections. Maybe apply a very small amount of flux to at least one cable end before meshing would help.
Just saw your post Ryan. Still a great method.

Crimping is preferred to soldering in any application where the wiring is subject to vibration. The solder joint is much more susceptible to vibration fatigue failure than a crimped joint, assuming stranded wires. If you use solder joints in a high-vibration environment, you should support the wires on both sides of the joint, near the joint, so the joint itself doesn't flex.

Don't ever use a lighter. it burns and melts outer shrink wrap and fails. also hold parallel to ground or all the solder runs downhill and no joint fail

My understanding is the "solder" is gallium. Gallium is a low melting point metal criminals and spies once used in the 1960s-1990s. They'd make an impression of a key (maybe taken after valeting a car or some other con), they'd make an impression in a clay-like putty, and then later use a lighter or torch to melt gallium into the depression. It isn't very strong, but for a connection it should work.

Redoing broken wires in the field with a bic and a milwaukee fastback?

Works better when connecting two new wires together.
I was trying to use it to connect a new wire splice to the existing trailer light wire and solder did not adhere to the older wire.

Oh, thanks, I got these cheaply from Ali, and I wondered how to properly use them.

What bet it's an amalgam of mercury and silver?

That Solder is actually enrich Uranium. And you touched it. Sad😋!

I've had these in my tool box for along time but just now had an opportunity to try them out while installing Nav lights. Following your video they worked as describe. Will test with power before installing but am confident on outcome. Thanks!

get couple wago connectors with flaps and you are all set, they even do inline terminals now. no need to worry about the current

Usally When I Do Solder Two Wires Together I Scrape The Copper Strands With Knife Or Sanadpaper

Twisting only one side as you heat it isn't helping matters Clive... 🙄😂
Stick the wires into the sodastream and see if that helps... carbonate those connectors !! 😏

Hey Maybe if it was slight hotter or heated longer it would have flowed into strains better. I would definitely try and use extra flux if it made solder flow better.

I just bought a set of these a month ago.
That was a nice test. Thanks!
USA

Those are chinese heat shrink and aren't the best on the market. There are better ones which cost more ....of course.