Review on GAMA Electronics Maintains Position Polarity by Dexter Rasberry

[de Marcus, Shea's OM] The plastic terminals on these switches are only crimped, not welded, and the mounting metal is relatively soft. Tension from the common shrink wrap I used to cover and protect the assembly. This stress deformed some of the copper alloy "rivet" heads (pins detached from internal contacts) and weakened their grip on the contact blades. This apparently increased the heating of the resistor and the corrosion of the loose connections, and the connection began to break intermittently. In my case the cure was to let the solder flow into the crimp connections. The solder wetted both metals with no problem and the part appeared to withstand the heat. (I used 60/40 tin/lead rosin solder and a 30 or 40 watt iron.) Haven't seen how durable the repair is, but for now it works like new. When using this part I recommend that you be careful to avoid pulling or bending the connector tabs. Make sure the attached cables are supported near the connectors and, if possible, insulate each connector separately. In cases where corrosion might be a problem, I would check the terminal rivets regularly. I haven't taken any of these switches apart, but so far their internals work well, where the so-called "15A" switch failed almost immediately. (Though I doubt I expose them to such a high current often, if ever.)