Jan's instructions on attaching the spade connectors for the SON are good ones. He doesn't mention it explicitly, but the use of heatshrink at the point where the soldered wire attaches to the connector serves as a "strain relief".

For a soldered connection like this, the biggest risk of failure comes from wire fatigue at the point where the solder has wicked up the wire. Strain relief reduces the flexing of the wire strands at the point where the wire changes from "very stiff" (i.e. at the end of the section with solder) to "very flexible" (no solder in the wire strands). If you look at the common connectors that you use, such as headphones, AC power cords for appliances, etc., you'll see a section of mechanical support for the wires.


Steve in Peoria