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Pat  Said:
A year or two ago when my spam can came back from its annual, a neat
 little diode was mounted across the starter relay coil. The mounting was
 carried out by crimping two terminals onto the diodes wire leads.

As you can see crimping is not good especially on solid wire. You should
show your AP what happened. Stranded wire will hold a little better in a
crimp. However, the best way is to crimp and solder.

Do
* Use non insulated ring terminals, then crimp and solder them.
* Use plenty of rosin core flux so you get a good solder joint
* Wash the flux off with 99% Isopropyl alcohol when you are done. (rosin
core flux attracts moisture which causes corrosion, and it is corrosive at
high temperatures)
* If you need to insulate, insulate with Teflon heat shrink if you can get
it. Teflon is much more heat and chemical resistant than polyolefin,.
Newark # 37N315 up to #37N322 are type TFM inner melt heat shrinkable
Teflon tubing. The inside melts around your connection as it shrinks, and
it withstands 230 degC operating temperature. You need a good hot gun, 327
deg C to shrink it, but the quality is worth it.
* If you need to tape, tape with Silicone Fusion Tape, Newark #95F1125.
* Use fiberglass or silicone coated fiberglass sleeving for wire bundles.
Fiberglass is good to a whopping 649 deg C !!! put this around your wire
bundles in your engine compartment. Silicone coated fiberglass is good to
200deg C and withstands more abrasion.
* Use plenty of tie wraps.
All this good stuff is listed in Newark Electronics 1-800-463-9275 Cat #115
page 1400 chapter 28 Wire and Cable Accessories.


Do not
* Use open ended terminals.
* Think that there is enough flux in the solder core to do a good job
soldering
* Clean with 70% isopropyl alcohol and leave glycerin all over your work
* Insulate with hardware store black electrical tape, it will fall right
off and leave a sticky mess
* Use cheap heat shrink, it will stretch and allow water to get in and then
hold it there.
* Use the flexible polyethylene sleeving hose for wire bundles, it will
melt on a hot day.
* Use coat hanger wire, or any wire to tie the wire bundles. Believe it or
not, I see auto mechanics doing this all the time.

Regards,
Ed
Watsonville CA