Hi I was wandering if any one else has had the problem of their portable solar panel lead breaking away from the Anderson plug. It happened to me when the panels were almost brand new. They manufacturer sent me out another lead as replacement. I was so careful with the second lead trying very hard not to twist the plug when I removed it from the batteries, but alas the new lead broke off again. The wires are breaking off right in the plug where they are soldered and crimped. They are rich solar panels from ebay. They have told me to return the leads and they will have a look at them but they have said that it has never ever happened before and I don't think they believe that I am being very gentle. If you have had this problem before could you please let me know. I would really appreciate it. Cheers Lynne
Of course it has never happened before. Every problem I have ever had has fallen into that category.
However I am surprised that the lead has been soldered and crimped. I solder mine and if you follow the instructions that come with genuine Anderson plugs there should not be a problem. Is the cable comprised of many small strands (and accordingly quite flexible) or is it a relatively small number of large diameter strands that would result in a fairly stiff cable that would be more prone to break when bent.
If the cable has been carelessly crimped, the crimp could be damaging the cable where it exits the plug.
Having said all that, if the cable is a good HD low loss cable I would not expect a problem. I would probably cut my losses and get an auto-elec to solder about 8M of suitable cable into my existing Anderson plug.
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BJC
"A year from now you'll wish you had started today."
Hi I was wandering if any one else has had the problem of their portable solar panel lead breaking away from the Anderson plug. It happened to me when the panels were almost brand new. They manufacturer sent me out another lead as replacement. I was so careful with the second lead trying very hard not to twist the plug when I removed it from the batteries, but alas the new lead broke off again. The wires are breaking off right in the plug where they are soldered and crimped. They are rich solar panels from ebay. They have told me to return the leads and they will have a look at them but they have said that it has never ever happened before and I don't think they believe that I am being very gentle. If you have had this problem before could you please let me know. I would really appreciate it. Cheers Lynne
This statement has me puzzled. Anderson plugs don't twist. Can you post a pic of the damaged lead?
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
The wires are breaking off right in the plug where they are soldered....
Surprised to read soldered AND crimped. Overkill as each method is sufficient on its own. Soldered multistrand wires need some support at the point that the solder ends so the wire does not "work" at that point and break. Notice that the average household iron or power tool has some sort of strain relief at the point at which the power lead enters the device. That strain relief bit is intended to prevent any sharp bends at that point. It is the repeated bending at a sharp angle that causes the wires to break. One quick fix is to split a piece of garden hose and put it over the wires, hard up against the plug. Good wrap with self vulcanizing tape to hold everything in place. Such a fix will minimise the bending at the point where the soldering finishes.
I have seen several poor crimping jobs on these leads but they usually just pull out of the connection. The fix then is to solder and add some strain relief.
Iza
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Iza
Semi-permanent state of being Recreationally Outraged as a defence against boredom during lockdown.
The wires are breaking off right in the plug where they are soldered....
Surprised to read soldered AND crimped. Overkill as each method is sufficient on its own. Soldered multistrand wires need some support at the point that the solder ends so the wire does not "work" at that point and break. Notice that the average household iron or power tool has some sort of strain relief at the point at which the power lead enters the device. That strain relief bit is intended to prevent any sharp bends at that point. It is the repeated bending at a sharp angle that causes the wires to break. One quick fix is to split a piece of garden hose and put it over the wires, hard up against the plug. Good wrap with self vulcanizing tape to hold everything in place. Such a fix will minimise the bending at the point where the soldering finishes.
I have seen several poor crimping jobs on these leads but they usually just pull out of the connection. The fix then is to solder and add some strain relief.
Iza
Good to see someone else who understands wire terminations. It seems that a lot don't. I have seen some very poor examples from supposed qualified tradies:
Tinning wires before clamping in screwed terminals; soldering flexible wiring to fixed points with no support to the wire at the point of termination; crimping Anderson plug contacts with incorrect crimping tools such as hex crimpers or even a hammer and punch; wrong sized terminals for the wire thickness. There are even more cases of truly awful soldering jobs done.
As far as soldering and crimping goes, some OEMs recommend sweating a minimal amount of solder into a crimped open barrel termination on heavy cables, but definitely not crimping a pre-tinned wire, or allowing the solder to wick beyond the crimped part and into the insulation support area of the terminal.
For terminating wiring in vehicles I prefer crimping over soldering, for the same reasons that wiring in aircraft is generally crimped (over 90% joints are crimped), greater consistency of mechanically superior joints. To achieve that result, the correct crimping tools have to be used in the correct manner.
Unfortunately I don't have the pictures of most of the bad ones but here are a couple of cable lugs and anderson plug terminals fitted by an "Auto Elec" Sorry about the pic quality, they were taked with a mobile phone in low light.
This is a pic of an anderson plug contact that just pulled off with minimal effort by hand, and a lug that was too small for the cable size. Both were crimped using a punch and hammer.
Cable lug again where too small a lug was fitted, with the excess wire wrapped around the joint and covered in heat shrink
I have Rich Solar Panels and the connections have come apart at times. I just redo mine and I extended the 5 metre lead to 10 metres anyway. Easy to learn to do the anderson plug connections. I doubt they use the genuine Andersons, lots use the copies.
For anderson plugs you need to use indent crimpers if you crimp them, not hex crimpers. If you use hex crimpers they tend to crack or weaken the contact due to it being harder material than standard battery cable lugs (which are fine for crimping with a hex crimper)
If you want to solder them, use minimal solder so it doesn't wick up the cable and you need plenty of heat so you get the job done in minimal time to avoid wicking also. Once the contact has been soldered, you need to support the cable where it exits the plug contact by applying glue lined heat shrink over the barrel of the contact extending to well over the cable.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
Hi Troopy
Can you explain the difference between the 2 types of crimping tool.
I think I have the type you refer to as indent crimpers and so far I have had no problems with the crimps on the cabling I have installed.
Cheers
David
Thank you Troopy I now have a much better understanding of crimping tools and there correct application, my crimping tool is definitely an indent tool which I purchased relatively cheaply on Ebay
