Sodering vs. T-Taps (Carstarters)

Now here is the question for everyone out there my local guys at TINT WORLD in ALBANY N. Y. tell me that carstarters they install all are wired using sodering. My truck had one already installed when I purchased the truck as part of the deal. They claim that T-taps are not as reliable as sodering . What do you people have to say about this. I could see TINT WORLD being truthful.

 

Soldering is always the method of choice as it is more reliable. When done and sealed up properly you really never have to worry about it.
A t-tap may not cut into the wire properly, or someone without the right experience may use the wrong size, plus its harder to seal up to protect from the elements.

 

Yeh I always did believe these guys I had them do all my electric's on my truck including Radio ,amps speakers, light bar,led lights, Kc fogs ,and soon Rigid ditch lights. Shit that alot of Goddam light's !!!! Dam I better put a better battery in the truck!

 

Solder > T-Taps

 

A tap is not even in the same league as a proper solder joint. Some use taps because they are simple to use.

 

+1 on all above answers.

I'll use T-Taps if I don't want to cut/splice the wire, or if I'm working in a location that is hard to solder (ex. wires in the overhead control/dome light area). Other than that, do the NASA-style splice & solder (or as close as you can) with a healthy amount of shrink wrap on top. Sometimes I'll use liquid tape prior to sliding over shrink wrap, or if shrink wrap is not practical in the application.

 

Agree with all of the above. Modern T-taps are fairly decent when done right, not exposed to the elements, and not subject to any movement. Properly soldered taps will always be more reliable under nearly all conditions. They can also be a lot more work, so lots of places of course use T-taps.

My preference where feasible is to pull a pin out of the nearest connector carrying the wire I want to tap into and solder my lead onto the pin crimp. Then reinsert the pin into the connector. Not always easily done on cars, it's often a bit easier to do on motorcycles. Note that this is all work on my own vehicles; if I were doing it commercially I'd probably add more mechanical support than just the solder and shrink wrap as strain relief.

 

Yes, I always have plenty of liquid tape in my shop. Its a must in the marine industry.

 

Any kind of tap sucks. But they make me a lot of money rewiring stuff the right way. This is a before from a car audio shop

 

This to me falls into the realm of "do you want it done, or do you want it done right". If you have the time and the tools, theres really no replacement for soldering. The t-taps will do the job, but if you want to have solid piece of mind, don't cut corners and do it right the first time.

 

Soldering when done properly is infinitely better than a T tap.
But if you don't know what you're doing I strongly believe a T tap is better.
In the electrical industry the old way of making joints was to solder them. Soldering isn't often done anymore since its time consuming, non-serviceable without cutting it open, and no one knows how to do it anymore since its no longer taught.

In both electrical industry and through helping friends with electrical stuff when it comes to cars, if the joint isn't done properly it can cause you problems.
Many different types of soldered joints too.
If you aren't comfortable with soldering though, and don't want to use T taps, you can actually buy crimp type connectors that are Ts. They're often used in fire alarm systems.

 

Yes, doing it properly is incredibly important.

There was a recall that we had to cut out airbag connectors and solder the wires together. Airbag systems are super sensitive when it comes to resistance. I had quite a few I had to redo that came from other dealers

 

I've seen guys try and do them and they are just left with a weak joint. All they have is a puddle of solder on it or melted insulation.
Proper joint should be done with flux and make sure the solder penetrates all the wires.

 

especially when it comes to a start though, I'd definitely want soldered joints.

 

63/37 kester rosin core. Stuff is the cats ass for soldering

 

That shits expensive though haha.
I was surprised to see my company buy a bunch of it for a job we were one.
At the end we had a bunch left over got 3 spools for free

Got a nice butane soldering iron out of it too haha.

 

A pound lasts for a long ass time though.

 

we went through 4 pounds on one job.
All PLC inputs and outputs had to be soldered where they connected to the push buttons etc and motors.
All wires were either 12AWG or 10AWG depending on run length. Was all in a saw mill, not sure why the engineer speced soldered joints. But foreman ordered 10lbs of solder haha. I don't think he ever actually soldered so he wasn't aware how far 1 pound could go.

 

That's a lot of soldering. I've had this same pound for like 5 years. But I don't do wiring work every day or even every week

 

we had a crew of 7 guys going steady for a month just soldering. 10 hours a day.
It sucked haha my hands were killing after from all the intricate work.
Some jobs have some really messed up specs though.
When I was at Toronto international airport we weren't allowed to use basic strippers. Everything had to be thermal stripped. They were really concerned with having the wire nicked from regular strippers.