What is better battery connection?

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by RaymondR

and squeeze in a shot of hot melt glue. Sometimes I have to reheat with a hat air gun to get the glue to flow and the heat shrink to fully shrink and squeeze out the excess glue. I have never had a failure of a connection made in this manner.

Is the glue you use the same stuff the hot glue guns use as "ammo"?

Besides the price is there advantage to this glue material compared to "Liquid Electrical Tape"? (which is rather expensive)
LET will not corrode the wire, but if the cheap hot glue gun stuff works as well I might consider. Particularly because the LET is not available here and last time I had to order from Australia.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by ErikFinn

Is the glue you use the same stuff the hot glue guns use as "ammo"?

Besides the price is there advantage to this glue material compared to "Liquid Electrical Tape"? (which is rather expensive)
LET will not corrode the wire, but if the cheap hot glue gun stuff works as well I might consider. Particularly because the LET is not available here and last time I had to order from Australia.

Same stuff, comes in sticks of a couple of different lengths.

I have never used liquid electrical tape. The reason I use hot melt is that as the heat shrink shrinks it tends to push the hot melt into the multi strand wire and fill any other cavities which assists in keeping water out.

[a64pilot]

The whole solder thing is I believe a little over stressed, How many solder on pins do our electronics have in their connections?
It takes I believe both vibration and a lack of support for a solder joint to fatigue, support the wire, and little fatigue.
But that is just my opinion.
I rarely if ever solder myself. if a possible wet location, I'll dip the stripped end of the wire in silicone grease, then crimp with a heat shrink / glue connector. I only use the heat shrink / glue butt connectors now, the glue seems to really help from a physical strength perspective as it glues well to the insulation so if a wire gets pulled on, both the wire and the insulation take the load.

[Colin A]

I would have to look up the standard but as I recall battery lugs are the only exception to the no solder as a mechanical connection rule in ABYC. There is something in the rule about contact area when using solder as well. I assume it's there at the request of some OEM who used factory made cables with solder but, it's been a rule as long as I can remember.

[Paul Elliott]

Originally Posted by Sailor Doug

Why would you use dielectric grease?

The dielectric grease keeps corroding air and moisture away from the metal-to-metal lug/battery contact. Note that this is not conductive grease, but insulating (dielectric). The grease gets pushed away at the points of metal contact so there is no electrical compromise.

I use Dow Corning DC4 silicone grease for this, but there are other good products.