Do you crimp these or just twist the wires together and heat shrink them? if no crimping, how strong is it compared to crimping and heat shrinking?

You will just need to twist the wires together and heat shrink them. Solder inside the connector will melt and bond the wires together. The connection is almost as strong as crimping and heat shrinking. When heat is applied, polyolefin tubing reduces in size and adhesive flows inside the insulation, creating a strong seal

wouldn't this result in a cold solder joint? solder will melt before wire is up to temp?

Not based on my experience...having taken a few apart after I've completed them, they appear to be a reasonably good connection. Also, they don't melt immediately so there is some heating of that termination. Apart from a good mechanical integrity (and since I'm also using these for electrical circuits), I made a comparison to mechanical lug/crimps by measuring the resistance across the connection on the same wires. The mechanical crimp/lug was 2.5mΩ and the solder was 980µΩ. I don't think it would've been that good on a cold solder joint, IMO. When I used solder flux on the wires and then used the solder, it decreased that number by nearly 100µΩ. So, I think it's good. I'm very happy with these...

Will these work for solid wire rather than stranded?

I tried to use these when I put a brake controller on my SUV. I used UF underground solid wire ad it did not work too well. The heat shrink started to melt away before the solder would stick to the solid wire, it seemed to solder the stranded wire very nicely. I soldered the wires together and then slid the heat shrink butt connector over it .Just as a side note, I bought the heat gun fro HF and it did the job.

I can't get the solder to melt before the heat shrink tubing starts to burn. i am using a wagner heat gun. am i doing something wrong?

The heat gun you have sounds like a paint stripping heat gun. There is a heat gun available in harbor frieght that has 12 settings #'s 97114 or 69343 that is better suited for the task. Or you need to keep the heat gun further away and moving across the wires while you heat it.

330PCS Solder Seal Wire Connectors- Marine Grade Heat Shrink Wire Connectors-Heat Shrink Butt Connectors-Self Solder for Electrical,Stereo(30Yellow 80White 110Red 110Blue)

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