Am I Taking Too Much Risk

I didn't have any ring terminals other than the ones from Dog House Rocketry that have a length of wire already crimped. Trouble is, the wire wasn't long enough, so I added a length of wire, stripped both wires about 3/8", twisted them together, tinned them with silver solder, and used shrink tubing to hold the splice together.

Would you feel comfortable with this fix, or do you feel it's at risk of separating under G's?

I see no issue with this. As long as your soldering skills are decent it should work.

I've used wire nuts to accomplish what you did and it worked perfectly for me. It seems soldering and shrink tubing the connection would be more secure than the wire nut proposition, so I'd say you're good.

Assuming decent soldering skills and that you aren't relying on the wiring to support weight this will survive into many ten's of G's.

When soldering a joint like this instead of twisting them I like to make tight interlocking hooks from each wire and solder them. By hooking the wire like this it makes it very strong and it can be heat shrunk easier as the joint is straight in line with the wires.

In my humble opinion Hank,,,
There is no better connection then a good shiny solder joint....

Teddy

What Teddy and Ravenex said.

I also zip tie the wiring to the sled at different points to prevent unwanted movement.

o1d_dude said:

What Teddy and Ravenex said.

I also zip tie the wiring to the sled at different points to prevent unwanted movement.

Click to expand...

Meeee Toooooooo

Just 2 small holes through the sled and a ty wrap through and around the wire........
Very neat,, clean and easy.........
Oh,, and solid............

Teddy

Yes, I did sort of intertwine the wires before twisting them, having spliced wire cable in my youth showed me the strength in such methods. Hey Ted, yes in soldering shiny is good and dull is bad. And yes, I am using zip ties to limit movement of the wires.

Thanks all.

I'd trust anything soldered long before I trust anything crimped. I also use the Doghouse terminals, but I also solder the wires to the rings for good measure.

Ravenex said:

When soldering a joint like this instead of twisting them I like to make tight interlocking hooks from each wire and solder them. By hooking the wire like this it makes it very strong and it can be heat shrunk easier as the joint is straight in line with the wires.

Click to expand...

Good tip! I need to try it this way.

Jim

usually if i'm joining two wires together (not for rockets, but for other electronics), the "standard" is what's known as the western union splice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Union_splice
since you've already got them connected together, I wouldn't recommend redoing unless you have serious concerns about it's reliability.