Reducing wire guage...looking for an elegant/solid solution
 

I am building a quadcopter....I am using a 5000 mah battery that has 8awg leads on it. The expected draw from the copter does not need wire this large. 12awg Is what I am using to run power to the point it is distributed to the motors.

I tried stripping the 8awg and wrapping the 12 around the stub, then soldering. Not only is this hard due to the mass, but the result is not very pretty.

Is there a better way to do this? I want a soild/simple connection that will not fail.

Thanks!

-Dave

The cleanest way I know is to use a barrel or tube splice, and solder it instead of just crimping.
I remove the outside insulation and sleeve the finished result with shrink tubing.
I'd also consider using Dean's connectors to go from #8 to #12. Shrink tubing will be needed.

Do you use a standard type crimp connector like the kind used in automotive electrical work?

Thanks,

-Dave

Those can be used. I make sure that ones I use will take solder.
There are also some that are used for general electrical work that can be used.
The tool for those sort of crimps them into a "U" shape.
Insulated automotive ones are likely the most common, although different sizes
can be hard to find. I've occasionally had to use the crimp part of an eye or
spade connector by cutting off the unneeded part.

Dave

Need a 25W or bigger iron 1st
then both wires should be stranded if you have heat shrink tubing put on wire next
then push both together into one wire all the little wires will touch each other. enter trine
if you have flux then flux or just solder the wires together.
then push heatshrink over ..heat an done.
its the best joint ever made
rich

If you use crimps and properly do them, no need to also solder as the crimp will be more reliable than the solder. Many tests have been done that show a proper crimp far surpasses a solder joint for reliability. The crimp will also be more forgiving of failure under vibration or lead flexing.

The trouble with crimps is that to do them "right", you need a crimping tool that is expensive.
Another issue has to do with making sure that all wire strands are part of the electrical connection.
There are pros and cons to both crimping and soldering.
In the past, I've even used Mil Standard connectors that were intended to be initially crimped,
then heated so that internal solder rings melted, and the outer insulation shrank.