Stripped threads, epoxy option?

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by soopad00pa

With all of the ways to make connections in today's world they choose this awkward crap that barely allows for any wire contact in perfect circumstances. And then they make it out of recycled tunafish cans. Sheesh. Infuriating.

Saving 50 cents on a connector and dozens of other items brings up the quarterly profits. If it has a decent chance of outliving the warranty - that is good enough.

[pendragon]

You can screw a 'fat' stainless steel self tap screw in the hole

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

I must be more than usually dense today. What/where is the stripped socket? The photo seems to show a plastic connector plate with a multipin socket, two of which have wires soldered to them.

I have several soldering irons, of varying size and power level. One of mine that's handy on boats is a 12v pencil iron of around 30W that's great for small jobs, It was all of $8 on Aliexpress, then I put a better cable and a fused 12v cigarette-lighter plug on it. I also have a butane soldering iron.

3 wires none of which are tinned much less soldered
The one in the center has had its captive screw stripped out

Tin the wire
Tin the connector
Put the wire in the connector
Solder them together

[AKA-None]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Silver solder is very conductive

And also has a very high melting point

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Jesse

Silver solder is very conductive

Originally Posted by AKA-None

And also has a very high melting point

And has absolutely no benefit in the OP's application.
So no upside, only downside.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

3 wires none of which are tinned much less soldered
The one in the center has had its captive screw stripped out

Ah, I see that now. Thanks. At first glance the connectors just looked like solder cups.

Yeah, the best fix is to solder that. 5 minute job for anyone who can solder, and that will perform as well or better than the dinky screws. Be sure to provide some strain relief on the wires afterwards, so that there's no flexing or movement at the joint.

[team karst]

Hate to be the bad guy here. Nickel plated brass is not an easy solder. May take a higher than usual temperature and a more aggressive flux.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by team karst

Hate to be the bad guy here. Nickel plated brass is not an easy solder. May take a higher than usual temperature and a more aggressive flux.

Good point. One could use a drill bit or tiny round file to remove the plating from the interior of the cup to expose brass. I would stay away from more aggressive flux, unless it's intended for electrical conections.

[team karst]

Yes. One trick that i learned soldering high strand count copper to solid stainless wire. Use aggressive flux and solder to coat the difficult metal. Clean, then attach and solder using the non aggressive stuff.
Did this on surgical electrodes.

[Wotname]

FWIW, I have used phosphoric acid (rust convertor etc) as flux when soldering SS - dunno if there is anything better - anyone ??

[jsanton]

Sorry folks.
I’m a retired electrical engineer, nothing intimidates me here. Never make an electrical connection with solder on a boat.
Replace the connector. Either one side or both.
Soldering creates a metal fatigue inducing stiffness discontinuity.
If you’re unwilling to do it right, get out of boating, I don’t want to have to rescue a cheapskate. More importantly, I don’t want you to be endangered.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by jsanton

Sorry folks.
I’m a retired electrical engineer, nothing intimidates me here. Never make an electrical connection with solder on a boat.
Replace the connector. Either one side or both.
Soldering creates a metal fatigue inducing stiffness discontinuity.
If you’re unwilling to do it right, get out of boating, I don’t want to have to rescue a cheapskate. More importantly, I don’t want you to be endangered.

Solder is fine for certain smaller connections, else it wouldn't be used inside electronics, and as mentioned by you and elsewhere, it's more brittle than a crimped connection, so the wire has to be properly secured to prevent stress or motion. I would never use solder (or solder alone) for boat wiring that carries over about an amp of current.

But hands-up, who else besides me hates those connectors with the tiny setscrews? It seems they are guaranteed to fail after a few years in weather, by loosening and/or corrosion. I'd take a soldered and secured connection over those.

[Cheechako]

Easy Peasy: Solder a short wire and crimp fitting or other fitting to that stripped out location. It should solder easy. A dab of flux is usually very helpful.
Or just solder the wire into it if you want.
I solder a lot of things on boats, usually they are also crimped. Remember, everything in that unit is soldered already. If there should be no soldering on boats then there should be no radar or gps on the boat....
Soldering large battery cables is great, it keeps any corrosion out of a crimped fitting.

[ShoreFun]

I have a lot of repair of strange things experience. Video games, pinball, cars, airplanes and I have seen a lot, of failures.

This is nothing buy failure written all over it.

First off none tin plated wire in a marine environment.

It appears to be a power situation given the gauge of the wire, I am wondering if the guage is too much for the connector and that caused the strip issue.

Solder is out for any power connection on a connector. The pins always get corrosion and then then heat up. Next thing you know the solder melts and get screwy and make a bad connection causing more heat. Eventually it is a burned pin and you need to replace both sides.

Of course odds are good you cant even get a good solder connection because the plastic is not made to take the heat.

The only option of a fix that might work is to thread the back section with a bottoming tap and put the wire in the side and screw it down.

I still come back to none tinned wire in a marine application. The copper is going to corrode and you will have a bad connection. At least use some kind of corrosion grease in the hole. The wire looks too heavy for the application, but I do not know the specs. I think the wire mechanically will put too much stress on the connectioner when it is placed and things made nice.

I will say I can be picky about how I do things. Wiring up stuff for aircraft where it can cause the plane to not work right in bad ways makes you more critical of you connections.

Epoxy is just a NO. Poor connection and a bit of current flow will make heat. Heat will make epoxy soft. Through it you do not get a good connection and the list goes on, NO epoxy is not something that should be on the table as a repair.

[Rumrace]

I think it’s a 4mm thread insert.Pretty much off the shelf stuff at electronic stores. I have 3,4,6 mm Threadserts. Like a helicoil but petite.