How To Crimp Electrical Connectors

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’ve been spending a ton of time wiring lately. I thought I’d make a video on how to crimp electrical connectors. I hope you find the information useful.

Topic

[Lars Buchholz]

I watched this video and found it very informative and very much agree with everything Eric says.

Im from the industry and had a lot of contact to criming technology, mostly from a troubleshooting and quality point of view.
So some smartass additions from my side. 😉
Uninsolated connectors are always preferred in the industry because:
– better controllable crimp pressure and result because of the missing plastic layer
– automatic machines can do uninsolated crimps in good quality in a matter of milliseconds
Those reasons lead to the fact that orignal cable connections in cars (and many other industrial products) are mostly unisloated crimps from factory.

Isolated crimp connectors have somewhat less predictable quality and shouldnt be used if you want to go to current limits of the connections.

When it comes to soldering:
Solder BEFORE crimping is not seen as a good idea.
Solder tin will float away/squeese out under pressure over time, loosing the tension of the mechanical contact.
For screwed connections it is already forbidden in the industry because screws will become loose after some time and contact problems can cause malfunctions or even fire at hight currents.
Pure copper doesnt float under load.

Soldering after crimping:
OK as long if you dont get too much tin into the wire and stiff it up.
The wires tend to break where the stiffened tinned part ends and the flexible pure copper part starts. Keep that in mind at wires that see a lot of motion/rattling i.e. in a car.

And i fully agree with Eric:
Buy a good tool!
In the industry the supplier of the crimp contacts will require you to use his shape and setting of tool to get any warranty on the contact performance.
You cant match that standard at home but you want to get close to it to reach the specified current ratings.

End of smartass mode. 😉

[Paul]

+1 for ratcheting crimping tool. I have one at work for terminating fiber and coax, and it reduces my contribution to the swear jar.

[Larry]

Hello Eric
I thought this video was very informative for educating a novice using wire crimps. But as an electrician the last crimp you did in the video wasn’t correct. The die you used is meant for uninsulated barrel connectors or butt connectors. The die you started the video with should have been used. It makes the proper crimp and doesn’t damage or distort the insulating sleeve. The connector used also comes uninsulated. Overall I liked the video, the right tool for the right job.

[Mike]

It’s my understanding that solder is brittle, so it probably isn’t wise to solder before crimping.

[Todd]

Nice video,
I have done allot of automotive and low voltage wiring over the years, and use a similar ratcheting Crimp tool. It’s made by IDEAL called the (Crimpmaster) Great high quality tool, have used it for many years. Only difference is that it automatically release’s the jaws when the right crimp depth is reached (which is also adjustable) You can get different dies for it as well. But they have to be removed with a Philip’s head screw driver.
Also recommend IDEAL stripers. You’ll pay more, but well worth it.

Also do not soldier the wire before you attach the crimp connector. Makes for a weak connection. Due to the fact that connector, can not bite into the soft copper as it should. Putting a touch of soldier on the end of wire after its crimped is fine, and makes for a very strong connection.

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[John Kirkham]

All great information to have at your disposal when tackling these jobs this vid answers a lot of problems I have encountered when doing this work GREAT VIDEO Eric and GREAT after posts too

[Author]

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