[aprssig] 12V wiring ideas

[Curt, WE7U]

On Sat, 29 Oct 2011, Bob Bruninga  wrote:

>> I have seen PP's come apart many times with
>> no tension on the wires.  So I know its possible.
>
> Sure if the PP is not assembled right in the first place.  Anything not properly installed cannot be expected to work right.
>
> If the PP contact is properly slid all the way in to where it hooks over the steel spring clip, then (and only then) will it be in the correct position and will properly do its job.  Sometimes people do not do that last little click and forget to look carefully to assure it is seated.
>
> I use them all the time, and they never come apart.

Those that solder them (I used to) can also get rosin on the contact surface and/or get solder up onto the contact surface.  You can also end up not having them seat properly or seat at an angle after soldering.

Now that I use the cheap crimp tool (recommended on some web sites as doing correct crimps) I've not had any trouble with them.

The military uses crimps instead of soldering to get more reliable connections.  If it's good enough for them, it's probably good enough for my Jeep.

BTW:  Forgetting to fuse the ground lead at the battery is a _very_ poor idea.  Years ago I did my own radio installs that way.  You can burn up the ground wire, or burn the insulation off it if the car has a bad return for the starter motor.  I had that happen twice during high school.  The first time the wire heated up during starting and burned all the insulation off, then the wire burned in two.  The 2nd time (different car) the wire melted its way into another wire bundle causing a lot of $$ in damage that had to be repaired.  Didn't start a car fire in either case but easily could have.   Each time it happened was while starting the car.

-- 
Curt, WE7U.        http://www.eskimo.com/~archer
The world DOES revolve around me:  I picked the coordinate system!"