wiring cp

[16el]

Is it better to use those quick connector clips or sauder the connections.

Thanks in advance.

[The Man]

Is it better to use those quick connector clips or sauder the connections.

Thanks in advance.

Funny you should ask this... I was just thinking about the same thing the other day.  I've made several control panels and found the wiring of the quick disconnects to be the most time consuming.  If I thought I wasn't going to change anything on the CP I think I would solder the connections,  I could do it in about a .10 the time.

Game On!
TM

[Darkstalker]

I agree with The Man...Unless you are planning on changing components a lot I would just solder the wires on.

[SirPoonga]

how are disconnects slower?  Put wire in, crimp.  How does that take more time?

[Jakobud]

I am not an expert solder-er but I would image that Soldering would take a lot longer than crimping disconnects onto wires...

[Silverwind]

I am not an expert solder-er but I would image that Soldering would take a lot longer than crimping disconnects onto wires...

especially if it's the right size disconnect/wire for the job!

just stick the wire in and squeeze.. hehe..

[cdbrown]

Disconnects were the way for me.  Like the others said, just stick the wire in and squeeze.  Not difficult.  It was time consuming for me as I had to fold the wire over itself and twist to get enough wire in the disconnect.

Cheers
-cdbrown

Disclaimer - I haven't tested any of the controls to see if the crimping actually has worked for me.

[eightbit]

Even someone good at soldering can't solder as fast as those connectors could be crimped. What takes so long in crimping them? The key is to use the right size ends for the wire your using and to use a decent crimping tool.

Don't cry about having to go buy a crimper. If your soldering you have to buy a decent soldering iron.

[The Man]

Well once I get the soldering iron nice and hot its quick.  I've never had to trace down a bad solder joint for cp that I've built.  I have on some comercial cp's, but after the beating they take its understadable.

Now if I could just quit crying long enough to find my crimper I could time myself.

Game On!
TM

[eightbit]

Well once I get the soldering iron nice and hot its quick.  I've never had to trace down a bad solder joint for cp that I've built.  I have on some comercial cp's, but after the beating they take its understadable.

Now if I could just quit crying long enough to find my crimper I could time myself.

What it comes down to is to use whichever will get you playing the game faster because few of us are here for the build. What we really want is the end result!

[The Man]

Agreed.  I can't solder at this point myself because I keep building test panels and changing things.  I've only been building and changing panels for two years!  

As long as its been though, I'm glad I'm still moving things around.  I'm building changeable panels so I just build a new panel now and then.  I have yet to build anything permanent.

Game On!
TM

[Silverwind]

Well once I get the soldering iron nice and hot its quick.  I've never had to trace down a bad solder joint for cp that I've built.  I have on some comercial cp's, but after the beating they take its understadable.

Now if I could just quit crying long enough to find my crimper I could time myself.

yes... but is it easier to replace a microswitch if you use QD's?
What it comes down to is to use whichever will get you playing the game faster because few of us are here for the build. What we really want is the end result!

[RandyT]

My view on the subject is this:

Unless you are soldering only one wire per contact, you definitely want to use QD's.  Soldering two wires to one contact can be a real pain (literally) with all the twisting of wires, etc...

If you are using hacks for your CP, it becomes even more important.  One day you might decide to put a real keyboard encoder in there and then you would have to desolder your wires to remove them.  

You can trust me on this one, I just went through it with my cab.  I had the full gamut of hacks in there and switched it over for a KeyWiz encoder.  It took me twice as long to remove all the soldered wires as it did to replace them with the crimp connectors.  It would have taken me even less time if there wasn't solder all over the connectors making it harder to push the QD's on.

The $17 for a good ratcheting crimp tool is the best money youll ever spend, plus it's good for plenty of things other than control panels (electrical, automotive, etc.)

My .02  

RandyT

[darkmanx]

lmao @ quick disconnects taking longer. insert wire, crimp, clip on, done. its so easy...you would have to be a complete moron to screw up qd's.

[The Man]

lmao @ quick disconnects taking longer. insert wire, crimp, clip on, done. its so easy...you would have to be a complete moron to screw up qd's.

Sounds like you speak from experience.  Did mommy take your soldering iorn away?  Sounds like someone needs a nap!

[Gopherboy]

The $17 for a good ratcheting crimp tool is the best money youll ever spend......

Couldn't agree more - it is all about the quality of your crimping tool - a good quality, powerful crimper will make light work of the job. This could possibly be the most disliked part of making a control panel but with a good quality crimper it needn't be!

gb.