I've had no trouble using small hand tools to open or remove up to 10ga crimped connections made by anybody, which is what I and others here are discussing. If I wanted to open up 00 gauge crimps, I reckon I'd be using different tools and possibly different techniques. I'm a metalworker by trade and training, and I see this as the metal forming issue it is, rather than subscribing to magical thinking (e.g. cold welding with hand crimpers) espoused by amateur electricians.
Indeed the connectors I posted photos of are in a different class than the "amateur electrician" produced connections we're usually working with.
I decided to do a little testing this morning to see what would happen.
I crimped a powerpole 45 amp contact onto each end of a 6" piece of high strand-count 10ga copper wire using my Tri-crimp, and I lightly crimped and soldered a powerpole 45A contact onto another identical piece of wire.
It's worth noting that immediately the soldered wires didn't fit into the connector housing. The light crimp I applied didn't shape the pin in such a way that it would go into the housing.
I put each pin into a vise and jerked up and down on the wire until the wire was completely severed. It took 59 complete cycles to break the soldered wire, and at least 50% of the strands were broken in the first few cycles- the longest lasting strands were in the center which had not become saturated with solder. The crimped connection took 194 complete cycles to break and degraded in more of a linear fashion.
I opened the crimped contact and all the strands fell out, there was no "cold welding" happening in this connection. Interestingly when I opened the soldered connection on a belt sander the strands all flew apart, they were tinned but did not behave as a solid block. The soldered wire broke about 3-4mm off the end of the pin, where the the stranded wire broke right at the butt of the pin. This puts the stress riser point on the soldered wire outside the PP housing, and subject to mechanical movement, where with a crimped pin it is inside the connector and protected.
The powerpole is obviously designed to be crimped, and soldering it is a recipe for failure. If anyone has had issues with powerpoles and has not been applying them with a properly designed crimper (eg Tri crimp) then it is not the fault of the connector for any failure. If a powerpole contact is crimped properly and installed right it works really well as a complete system.
Yes, solder can present a stress riser, which is why it should be accompanied by some measures to immobilize the wire. You seem to ignore the stress riser created by smashing wires flat and rigid at the end of a crimp fitting. Wires do fail there too, if they are allowed to flop around freely.
Who actually does make adequate measures to immobilize the soldered wire coming out of an RC bullet connector? How do you suppose that is best accomplished? Super thick heavy heat-shrink? Kind of blows the compact size argument for the bullet connector.
I've done lots of e-bikes, portable lighting, portable audio, and automotive wiring with crimps sealed by solder, and not even one single joint has failed yet, as far as I know. Car audio guys seem to swear by splice-plus-solder rather than crimps (though I do not assume they know what they are doing). Carefully and attentively done, this looks like a matter of taste and relative cost, not really technical merit.
I've done tons of soldered joints in all sorts of situations and indeed I have had little trouble with them. I don't think they're generally better than a good crimp. If I have the proper connector and crimper I will pick a crimp most of the time. Crimps are also much faster- it took less than 10 seconds for each crimped powerpole, it takes something like a minute to really flow solder through a powerpole pin or bullet connector with 10ga wire.
Air is a worse conductor. In a crimped and solder sealed connection, it is air, not copper, that is displaced by solder.
If you use a good connector and good crimper there is virtually no air in the connection. It may not be "cold welded solid"- but it's not loose inside. I tried to flow solder into a powerpole pin I had crimped with the tri-crimp- the solder did not flow into the joint at all it just puddled on top.
So basically either way is probably fine in usage. The crimp has the advantage in time and ease of installation, and of being more mechanical stress tolerant. I'll see if I can come up with a beaker full of something nasty and corrosive to dip these remaining test pieces in later on today to see how they fare.
