D.I.Y My fridge socket fit out - rear power gauge added

[MattWhite Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close MattWhite]

12v stuff has soldering all over the place from the factory. A+ from over here! :wink:

[waltec Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close waltec]

As a part of my trade training I was told to never solder a wire b4 crimping as the solder is to flexible and over time the joint will loosen up causing a high resistance connection.

Whenever I'm doing high current connections in car environments, I will strip the wire (trying not to twist conductors, as when crimping if twisted the connductors can cut each other). I will then crimp them, preferably with a ratchet style crimper, then I will solder the joint. I solder the joint purely to seal it to stop corrosion. Again corrosion will increase the resistance of the connection, increasing the voltage drop, and will also cause excess heat.

Matt

[plucker Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close plucker]

Well,

I am just glad I am a mechanic and not an electrical genius, like everyone seems to be on this thread. As I was the bloke doing the job, I clearly remember crimping the connectors first and then applying some solder for good measure..

If they last, that's good.. If they fail, I will sort them... Not very hard.. :shock:

I am sure that your system will last as long as you own the vehicle without any side effects from your wiring job. Who cares if it does fail in 10 years and you have to do another connection.
I have never had any issues with solder joints in vehicles. I tried with and without solder on the spotties and the solder joints last longer. I used the proper crimps and crimping tool too.
Boats need solder as I have had that many high resistant joints without it.
Soldering works for me. Big fan for the prevention of voltage drop and lack of problems.
Each to their own I spose.

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Excellent post! This is something I've been thinking about doing for a while and with instructions (and photos) like that it should be a walk in a park. Famous last words... :-)

[jcas24 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close jcas24]

I checked out the sidewinder website & must say I'm impressed. I was buying some anderson plugs @ singo the other week and the guy tried charging me $60 each... i said 'like f*&$' and walked out with my only my clipsal T plug. Sidewinder lists them $8.95 each so I'll have to do an order. Just gotta find out if the battery box will fit an N70 for my onsite van.

cheers

[jcas24 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close jcas24]

p.s. don't your fancy 120s already have a rear mounted ciggy plug :?: I know mine does

[Deeptank Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Deeptank]

Yep, that's where I'm coming from too - except I've got a Waeco. Ooops... :-)

Besides, not sure if the original wiring is heavy-duty enough to charge my Waeco RAPS-36 battery, which sits in the back. The factory fitted 12V rear plug is supposed to put out up to 10A, but I don't think this is quite the case... Will get a proper dual-battery (under the bonnet) sorted in time, but for the time being this seems to make a lot of sense. And even then I'll have a second (most certainly heavy-duty) 12V plug in the back.

[D4D-GXL Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D-GXL]

As mentioned elsewhere an unsoldered properly crimped joint is far more reliable than a soldered joint of any type . Soldering of cable joints is almost unheard of in professional circles and has been that way for many years . I have young blokes who work with me who don't even know whata soldering iron is but daily join hundreds of wires .

[mjforder Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mjforder]

my 2cents...

in my last car (Jeep), i had an after market stereo put in (Kenwood head unit and JBL splits, rears and 1100W sub and sony 4channel amp). System was great - albeit the installer used crimped connectors on the speaker terminals.

I was troubleshooting intermittant sound drop outs from all speakers and eventually replaced the crimped terminal connections with soldered ones and problem went away.

There is a right way and a wrong way and an "ok" way for most things. Its all about fitting the method to the application and definitely where vibration exists, the soldered method is best.

[BIG BRUCE Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close BIG BRUCE]

I'll agree that for the non professional /unsuitably equipped installer soldering is ok . However (and I did those same high reliabilitysoldering courses last centry and I have precision soldered literally thousands of conections) crimping with the correct size cable /lug with a decent crimper will always give you a lower resistance , more reliable joint (no solder wicking) that is the preference for all electrical work in almost any situation . Seen any soldered joints in your Prado lately that Toyota did ?
I have experience with earthing , power , coaxial ,waveguide that have to work in extreme winds (up to 190 kmh) , cold (-12 deg C) , vibration , etc on towers up to 120 meters high , and the joint failure rate dropped 85% when we stopped soldering them 10-15 years ago .
Soldering is good for circuit boards and small low current cable joints .
Good luck with whatever method you use but don't mix them use one or the other .
I'm happy to give anyone a tour of the sort of thing that I deal with if they are in Tassie (also get around other states) , the experience and locations (not always accessable to the public) can be enlightening .

[lofty Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close lofty]

I'm happy to give anyone a tour of the sort of thing that I deal with if they are in Tassie (also get around other states) , the experience and locations (not always accessable to the public) can be enlightening .

HI Bruce, would love to take up your offer of a tour around your work one day :!:

In the 'what do you do for a crust' thread, your job sounded interesting as well as one that would get you to some pretty out there places. Sounds like you deal with all kind of extreme conditions.

We havnt been to Tassie for a while, but the holidays i've had in your state have been some of the most enjoyable trips i've had

Cheers

[Lazy Eye'd Mike Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Lazy Eye'd Mike]

Tidy install mate.

I just had some work done at Wynnum towbars, redarc battery controller and a prodigy brake controller for the camper. (very tidy work guys).

They ran a 10mm cable for me to a new Anderson plug on the towbar, and spliced another Anderson plug on about 4 foot of cable in the jack well. The guys reckon an Anderson plug for the fridge should be considered as there is less voltage drop across the plug and it can't fret/vibrate when travelling. This obviously means a change to the fridge end also.
I made a little converter back to ciggy so I can also run compressor and lights when camping.

[jarrah7rally Member Find all posts View Profile Close jarrah7rally]

Re: D.I.Y My fridge socket fit out

With this style of socket does the plug screw in or push in ? (as per pic ex gxlV6)

I have a couple fitted to the rear of my prado one is a typical push in style (like ciggy lighter) and the 2nd for the fridge allows me to screw in the plug to stop it (in theory) jumping out.

I am having a problem with the screw in variety where if bumped (little peoples fingers and not so little fingers) it can fall into the caverns of the 1/4 panel, not a fun thing to retrieve and re-insert.

Is it just me or somebody else have this problem occurring ?

Any suggestions appreciated

Cheers

Dean

[Schaffer Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Schaffer]

Re: D.I.Y My fridge socket fit out - rear power gauge added

Nice work there Matt. Nice and simple. Did you look around to see if there are any Digital Meters that could have been used?

[joey Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close joey]

Re: D.I.Y My fridge socket fit out - rear power gauge added

Nice one Matt.....

coming on a treat..

joey