RE: MOT supply construction question

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Lau, Gary by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <Gary.Lau-at-hp-dot-com>

Quick connect terminals are very reliable and are widely used in industry.
But, they have to be used properly.  
1) They don't work well for solid wire.
2) The terminal size must be matched to the wire size.  If the wire is too
small for the terminal size, the crimp will be unreliable.  The
red/blue/yellow insulators indicate the appropriate wire sizes.
3) A good crimping tool is vital!  Those yellow handle jobs with the
built-in bolt cutters are inexpensive, and you get what you pay for.  I
suppose they can be made to work, but it's very tricky to position the
crimp properly on the terminal.
4) I've had mixed results with soldering wires to quick connect terminals.
The terminal barrels are often treated with something that resists
soldering, and I've taken to drilling out the interior of the barrel to
expose fresh brass when using solid wire or feel the need for an
extra-sturdy connection.

Hope this helps,
Gary Lau
MA, USA

>Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<Hhchicken1-at-aol-dot-com>
>
>Hi Michael,
>You may be able to use quick connects, but I've found they tend to slip off
>very easily if you tug on the wire, and then it's very messy getting it back
>out of the oil again - soldering is much more secure, although you'll probably
>need a soldering iron of at least 30W because there's so much thermal mass.
>You can always just solder the quick connectors together, then heat them up
>again if you ever need to remove them.
>
>Henry

>> Original poster: "Michael Strube by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
>> <mjstrube-at-earthlink-dot-net>
>>
>> I m in the process of constructing a MOT-based supply that will be immersed
>> in
>> oil. I ve not tried this before, so here is a naïve question do the
>> connections
>> that will be under oil need to be soldered? Up to this point, all my dry
>> transformers have just used the quick connects that are available on MOTs. I
>> m
>> guessing that I need to solder those now if they will be in oil. Thanks in
>> advance for any help.
>>
>> Mike