Ring Terminal Connection Question

Esk8 Electronics
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Hello. I have these. 8awg wires go in them. They’re pretty thick. These 8awg wires are delivering 200amps for an ebike build.

Do I solder them or crimp?

If I crimp it, wouldn’t there be more resistance since there will be less wire to terminal contact?

I’ve been soldering them so far. Putting a bunch of solder on the terminal then the wire then pushing it in. Hot solder obviously.

I’ll be doing a 300-400a build in the future so I’m wondering if it’s better to crimp or solder for less resistance. TY.

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I used very similar terminals on Ankle Wreacher. I crimped all the joints with a hydraulic crimper and haven’t had any issues.

I pulled 350A from the board last night, 8~10v of sag. Most of which was probably the battery haha(not drop across the terminals)

If you did want to solder them, make sure you continue heating it after inserting the wire to bring the wire up to molten solder temperature. Just inserting the wire into a pool of molten solder will cool down the solder without heating up the wire, leading to a cold joint.

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my understanding is a properly crimped terminal will have very low resistance. less resistance than solder supposedly.

as the gauge of the wire goes up, I think crimping is mostly preferred over soldering. tho it’s also hotly debated.

i would crimp thos terminals. that’s what they’re designed for.

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You need what is referred to as a gas tight joint/connection. So, if you want to crush it first, THENNNNNNNNN solder, no harm. But, if you simply shove in there will still a hot solder, then if it gets to solder melt point, it comes out with no urging. NEVER solder only, on a part that can see upper temps.

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Proper crimp tools are not cheap.
Cheap crimp tools make crap crimps.

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Crimping is technically better and lower resistance if it’s done correctly with the proper, sometimes expensive, tools.

Soldering is far more accessible.

If you’re not running crazy hot temperatures, I think a soldered connection is more desirable than an improvised crimp, absent the proper tools. You know it’s not going to vibrate off the wire. In esk8, often a couple milliohms is a small price to pay for not vibrating apart.

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I made all my crimps with the cheapest hydraulic crimper off Amazon ¯\(ツ)/¯

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Some good info regarding crimping in this link too.

I’d urge a read even for those with plenty of experience crimping.

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In my honest opinion, considering whether or not to crimp a connector should be done only AFTER excluding the possibility of removing the connector from the design completely.

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A good crimp is better than a good solder.

A good solder is better than a bad crimp.

Play to your strengths, as long as you do either one well it should work for you but in a perfect world I believe a crimp would be the best.

I am certainly guilty of soldering where I should have crimped, but I am far more confident in my soldering skills than my crimping skills/equipment

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Why not both?

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You wouldn’t be able to solder a proper crimp. A good crimp should basically cold weld the strands together

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Ahh like how ferrules are.

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How are ferrules attached to a wire?:no_mouth:

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They’re crimped on with a tool you have to buy seperately for each gauge of wire.

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More info on Ferrules.

A bit sorry to post so much from this guy’s site.

He is a legend in the boating community, and had a stroke a while back, and can’t earn money how he used to anymore, actually crawling into the tight engine bays of Yachts, and doing work to a standard far higher than the ABYC dictates.

The sales affiliate links in the beginning are a necessary evil, but lots of good info lies below.

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I just read all this. Beautiful. Adding that to my shopping cart.

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