LED Ring Light

[Jeff Pahl]

Originally Posted by Mr V

In the world of vehicle electronics crimp butt connectors are not considered robust. By reputable automotive electricians they are often referred to as emergency or temporary connectors or guaranteed failure points. For those that masquerade as "professional" technicians that use them they are referred to as job security.

Properly sized and installed crimp butt connectors are considered robust enough by NASA for use on spacecraft (per NASA-STD-8379.4). In fact, they are even acceptable with multiple wires entering one end of the splice. As always, the important thing to remember is "properly sized and installed".

My number one preference is always a properly done soldered splice connection, with heat shrink. Again, the important thing is "properly done", which means some sort of mechanical joint between the two wires prior to soldering, such as a hook splice or Western Union splice. Proper wire tinning. Solder not wicked up under the insulation.

What I was trying to get across in my original posting was that approaches like just electrical taping the two wires together are not "mechanically robust".

One of the biggest things to watch out for in any wire splice is to not damage the conductors when stripping the wires. It doesn't matter how good the splice is if the wire breaks off in your first match. And when it breaks inside the heat shrink tubing you applied over the splice (or inside the big sticky gooey wad of electrical tape you had someone gob over the connection when you were done), the wire won't necessarily fall off and be obvious why your light (or whatever) is not working. Or works intermittently.