Suspension sinks on Sundays! C5 X7 that works hard + 206 GTi HDi (and 406 Coupe and 306 HDi). - MattBLancs

[myglaren]

157,777 miles covered in the Coupe on the way to work this morning.

That's an awful long way to work! Did you take a detour via China?

[CitroJim]

Indeed, lead-free solder is a bit of a challenge to say the least... Happily, as it's still fully OK to use it in 'legacy' situations, 60/40 resin cored remains freely available and will do so for ages yet...

And that's good for my vintage radio and audio activities...

One point about soldering automotive wires is that the alloying that results makes the wire very brittle, especially where the copper joins the tinned bit and a lot of vibration will soon fracture it... This seems particularly so on Citroen wires..

I therefore much prefer to crimp, using a high quality tool, and if I do solder I ensure the joint is well protected against a fatigue fracture by using a long sleeve of heat-shrink over the joint, extending some distance each way beyond the joint and supporting it.

[Hell Razor5543]

Several years ago a friend of mine was at a radio rally. There was a stall selling (among other things) reels of tin/lead solder. Nearby was a person claiming to be from Trading Standards. When my friend bought several reels of solder this man said something like "You know that has lead in it", to get the reply "Yes". Prat then said "You know this is going to be banned?", and got the response "It hasn't yet". The 'conversation' went back and forth, with my friend coming up with valid responses. The prat then said they were looking at alternatives to lead, and my friend asked what was being considered. He nearly fell about laughing when cadmium was mentioned. He said he would be prepared to use it if Trading Standards would supply the relevant safety equipment. When this part of the conversation continued my friend pointed out that cadmium was so toxic it made lead seem utterly harmless.

The organisers ejected the Trading Standards prat for scaremongering.

[c16rkc]

We live in a mad world, the amount of time that has been wasted changing things that don't need changing due to pathetic environmental, or nannying safety concerns, makes my head spin. I could understand if it was something that an end user at least touched. I can imagine the process of manufacturing PCBs is more expensive now too, due to the higher temperatures involved.

Would be better if all that time, money, and energy was spent on something useful.

[MattBLancs]

Good thoughts folks

I was thinking of tinning the end of the (now copper coloured!) Multi-cored cables to give something better for the trailer plug's screw terminals to grab hold of.

This trailer plug has a flat bar gripping the outer, so a bit of strain relief. Have heat shrink slipped on ready to supplement the plug's own sealing grommet.

Not sure if my solder is lead free or not (likely some of both in the garage) but I've never seen anything so reluctant to stick to those black oxidised strands! Am hoping now copper coloured it's back to normal!

[c16rkc]

Ah in that case I'd not tin it at all - and I'll let slip here I am an electrical engineer so I'm not just saying that randomly.

In the trade, you typically don't tin cables that will be screw terminal fastened, as it is thought that if an electrical fault occurred, heat could generate and melt the solder causing the termination to "let go".

However personally I know of another reason, something Jim touched on above, if you tin the end, you put more stress on the cores at the end of the tinned part, and this tends to cause the strands to fatigue and snap one by one. You don't seem to get this as badly when there are no tinned ends.

So I'd just twist the strands together, and then carefull fasten the screw down as centrally as possible over the bare end.

...of course it's your car, so you are welcome to ignore me and I'll not take offence - and I know a lot of people tin the ends and have no trouble too.

[MattBLancs]

Good reasoning and I'll change my approach.
No problem letting slip you know what you are talking about if you ask me

[c16rkc]

Yes I was only joking; though I tend to keep my job quiet within social circles etc. as the mere mention of the word "electrical" seems to open the flood gates to "can you fix my toaster" and "my computer keeps crashing" and worst "my car battery keeps going flat" etc.

I tend to just say I work for a factory that makes ventilation products. People then assume I'm a factory worker, look down their nose at me, and lose interest

[myglaren]

My toaster keeps crashing. Can you fix it?

[mickthemaverick]

My toaster keeps crashing. Can you fix it?

Just stick some armco round it Steve!!

[CitroJim]

In the trade, you typically don't tin cables that will be screw terminal fastened, as it is thought that if an electrical fault occurred, heat could generate and melt the solder causing the termination to "let go".

Yes, seen it happen far too often Chris

In my earlier professional life, and my first trade, I was a heavy radio communications and electro-mechanical engineer. In the final years - I've been retired a few years now - I migrated to the heavier side of IT engineering...

And hence my interest in vintage radio

[c16rkc]

My toaster keeps crashing. Can you fix it?

As long as your X7 is OK (Have you still got it?)

[Paul-R]

My crash keeps toasting. What am I doing wrong?

[myglaren]

My toaster keeps crashing. Can you fix it?

As long as your X7 is OK (Have you still got it?)

Never had an X7, just a couple of the earliest ones.
I don't really have a toaster either

[mickthemaverick]

My toaster keeps crashing. Can you fix it?

As long as your X7 is OK (Have you still got it?)

Never had an X7, just a couple of the earliest ones.
I don't really have a toaster either

WHAT??? No toaster, and I devoted nearly 5 seconds to think of a solution for a non existant problem? Perhaps I should become a car control designer!!