Fog light wire/connector

[kjmiles]

The brown wire attached to one of the leads on the fog light connector broke at the crimp on my 2003 A4 Avant. Doesn't seem like I'm getting that crimp apart to thread the wire back on.
I have the connector in my hand. Seems like I could just strip the wire and solder it on top of the crimp, then put a piece of heat shrink tubing over it, stick it back in the connector and be good to go.
Any reason I shouldn't do it this way? I saw someone else had posted that they soldered the wire as I described. Concerns? Solder recommendations? This is not my area of expertise - I've never soldered anything.
KJ

[eljay]

Or you could buy a piece of Audi "repair wire" that includes a connector on both ends. Snip it in half and use butt connector to connect to the existing wire, put heat shrink over it and insert the other end into the connector. Done and you have an OEM wire repair job completed.

[jesse500]

By crimp, do you mean the connector? If not, strip off some shielding, attach a couple inches of extra wire, twine & soldier together, then wrap all in shrink tape. Good to go. Easy fix

[kjmiles]

Thanks eljay and jesse500. I called my mechanic and he mentioned the repair wire. I couldn't quite follow what he was saying, but that makes sense now. He also mentioned adding the extra wire like you did Jesse. Geez, I guess he knows what he's talking about! Where do you get the repair wire? Have a web site or better yet, a local source? When I say it broke at the crimp, I mean where it crimps to the terminal inside the connector.

[cschuster]

I had something similar happen. Took out the whole bumper wiring harness, stripped the wrapping, soldered broken part, and shrink wrapped it back up. Whole thing looks better than new now.

Use leaded solder. It's easier to work with.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[diagnosticator]

Do not use soldered joints for car wiring repairs. Use only correctly crimped connections. The repair wire solution is the factory approved repair method.

[old guy]

ECS Tuning has a decent collection of Audi repair wires with various different connectors pre attached to the wires. Quick easy solution for many applications: Clicky click®

[cschuster]

Do not use soldered joints for car wiring repairs. Use only correctly crimped connections. The repair wire solution is the factory approved repair method.

Why is that?

[diagnosticator]

Why is that?

Because soldered wiring joints do not resist vibration. Soldered wiring joints will fail sooner than later when exposed to the vibration in an automotive environment.

Another factor is that soldered joints cannot be controlled for quality, very few guys doing soldered wiring repairs are skilled enough to perform consistently reliable soldered wiring even without any vibration exposure to the wiring.

A third problem with soldered wiring repairs is that soldered joints cannot withstand minor and temporary overloads common in automotive wiring systems. When an overload occurs, the soldered joints will quickly overheat and the solder will melt resulting in failure of the repaired wiring joints.

[jesse500]

Because soldered wiring joints do not resist vibration. Soldered wiring joints will fail sooner than later when exposed to the vibration in an automotive environment.

Another factor is that soldered joints cannot be controlled for quality, very few guys doing soldered wiring repairs are skilled enough to perform consistently reliable soldered wiring even without any vibration exposure to the wiring.

A third problem with soldered wiring repairs is that soldered joints cannot withstand minor and temporary overloads common in automotive wiring systems. When an overload occurs, the soldered joints will quickly overheat and the solder will melt resulting in failure of the repaired wiring joints.

This is why I twist my wires together, then a little bit of soldier, then heatshrink tube over it. Never an issue. I see alot of wiring, since I'm in the electrical installation field. Some decent butt connectors would also work. a wire is a wire.

[ADCS]

I am not going to argue about what is better, crimp vs solder, I just want to add that there is NOTHING wrong with properly made solder connections. Keyword being properly. The automotive industry doesn't like solder on harnesses because it takes longer. Seconds matter to them. If you look at the majority of military electronics equipment it is full of solder spliced harnesses and solder cup style connectors...crimp connections as well.

Butting up 2 wires, globbing on a bunch of solder and covering it up is NOT proper.

[ADCS]

A third problem with soldered wiring repairs is that soldered joints cannot withstand minor and temporary overloads common in automotive wiring systems. When an overload occurs, the soldered joints will quickly overheat and the solder will melt resulting in failure of the repaired wiring joints.

You say a lot of good things on this forum but this is just bad.
In no situation whatsoever should a wire need to handle so much current that it gets hot enough to melt solder. If there is even a remote possibility of that happening the designer should be shot. Minor and temporary overload? Common? What are you talking about. Transient loads are accounted for in the design so that wire AWG is selected accordingly. This should NEVER be a factor when deciding between crimp or solder connections.

[Luxus Panzer]

I have used solder in my cars for decades...never even a single problem.

Just my .02

[jpulll]

Because soldered wiring joints do not resist vibration. Soldered wiring joints will fail sooner than later when exposed to the vibration in an automotive environment.

Another factor is that soldered joints cannot be controlled for quality, very few guys doing soldered wiring repairs are skilled enough to perform consistently reliable soldered wiring even without any vibration exposure to the wiring.

A third problem with soldered wiring repairs is that soldered joints cannot withstand minor and temporary overloads common in automotive wiring systems. When an overload occurs, the soldered joints will quickly overheat and the solder will melt resulting in failure of the repaired wiring joints.

Wouldn't another problem be increased resistance? I remember reading something like that for solder vs butt connector for the injector harnesses. Butt connectors seem like the way to go.

[diagnosticator]

It really doesn't matter what everyone thinks about soldered connections. The possible problems with soldered connections are realistic issues. This is why Audi specifically prohibits using soldered connections for repairing wiring. It is a technical policy justified by the facts involved. That alone is reason enough to use only crimped connections for wiring repairs. Anyones experience can provide what seems to be justified exceptions to the prohibition, but that is irrelevant. No one can say using properly crimped wiring connections is the wrong method for repairing wiring in automotive applications, or that soldered connections are better from a technical aspect.

It is crucial that the crimping process is performed correctly according to the specifications established by the manufacturer of the crimp connectors. It is also true that sloppy improperly applied crimp connections are fundamentally defective, and are the source of electrical system malfunctions more often than not. In order to insure a correctly applied crimp connection, the right size connectors must be used according to the wire gauge or cross sectional area, and the correct specific crimping tools must be used according to the design of the crimp connector. The crimping force applied must be enough to adequately form the crimped connection correctly, but must not be over crimped or the connection will be damaged. The correct specified crimping tools control the crimp force applied.

Proper crimp connector application only applies to uninsulated connectors, post crimp insulated with heat shrink tubing. Pre-insulated crimp connectors are crap. Pre-insulated connectors cannot be properly crimped with quality or consistency and the finished form of the crimp cannot be controlled. Pre-insulated crimp connectors are usually poor quality with the crimp barrel hidden inside the cheap pre applied insulation.

When crimped connections are correctly applied per manufacturers specifications for the finished crimps, the connection is typically stronger than the tensile strength of wires joined.
There are engineering textbooks covering just the technical properties and proper application of crimped wiring connectors. It is not a simple subject.

REF: http://www.te.com/usa-en/videos/tran...als-basic.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAO9eCS65jw