you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 8 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Solder is ideal for a permanent connection. Not all connections need to be permanent. For example, installing lighting in your house where the romex is pulled, and you're needing to connect the fixture. Solder isn't used for those connections, it would be a wire nut or wago. And the wago is both more secure and easier to verify.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago

    Oddly solder isn't best in most situations. Vibration and/or thermal cycling can cause solder to fail where crimps, wago or twist cannot fail. I learned it from Wil Prowse the solar/whole house battery expert where he compared crimps to solder.

    It seemed obvious in retrospect because I have fixed many old electronics where the problem was a cold solder joint that needed a touch up with a soldering iron. Decades of thermal cycling from use cause micro fractures in the solder that get worse and worse.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    And even if it is permanent, AC wiring can heat up and mess with solder, so crimping or lever nuts are preferred.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

    By the time your wire reaches 200⁰ needed for your solder to melt, your insulation would already be burning. That's not a plausible scenario, or you need to deliberately make a bad solder joint, cutting half the strands in the wire so it overheats in that particular place.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment