Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

[polk county]

Ratcheting crimpers are expensive and hard to find. Regular crimpers are cheap and commonly available. What will I loose by going with the cheap ones?

thanks for the help

 

[joey maneri]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Any crimp made so a firm pull dosent separate the connection is as good as its gonna get. But if you want the best connection, buy a good soldering gun and some shrink wrap. If you ask me any crimped connection is temperary. It WILL loosen,It WILL corrode, And soon it will fail.

 

[BeaufortTJustice]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Regular crimpers are fine for small butt connectors, etc. Once you get below 14 ga. or so, you'll want the ratcheting ones to cinch down on the connectors good and tight.

To add to joey m's answer, he is right. If your connections might possibly be exposed to water or spray, especially salt water, you may want to invest in the special water tight connectors. They are transparent heat shrink tubing with a bit of solder already in the center. Slide a wire with about 1/4" metal exposed into each end and hit it with a heat gun. The solder will melt and join the wires and the rubber will shrink around everything, making a watertight connection.

I've seen connections made with regular butt connectors and crimpers last under the hood of a car for over 10 years (probably more, but cars went to auction at 8-10 years), but heat is the main enemy there; maybe the occasional splash from a puddle. Any more than that, go the solder/heat shrink route.

 

[arks]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Water infiltration into a connection isn't the only problem- vibration causes problems as well.
Read this:
http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/05.htm

There are adhesive-lined terminals available that do an excellent job- with the proper crimper.

And concerning soldering, the ABYC standards (E-11.16.3.7) state: ?Solder shall not be the sole means of mechanical connection in any circuit?. To me that means that soldering is OK only if there is also a properly crimped connector.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

I have a good rachet crimper but always seem to pick up the cheap hand cimpers.

The racket is great for production work but they are large and require the crimp head to be adjusted when changing from one size crimp to the other.

 

[Alpheus]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

If you ask me any crimped connection is temperary. It WILL loosen,It WILL corrode, And soon it will fail.

Respectfully I have to disagree with you about crimping being temporary. If you believe in that wholeheartedly, you better stay off an airplane. Almost every piece of the wiring harnesses on airplanes are crimped. Being in the aviation industry I have access to alot of crimpers that all have to be calibrated every year. I use crimps on wiring installs all the time on my boats...

http://www.dmctools.com/default.htm

 

[EMM]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Respectfully I have to disagree with you about crimping being temporary. If you believe in that wholeheartedly, you better stay off an airplane. Almost every piece of the wiring harnesses on airplanes are crimped. Being in the aviation industry I have access to alot of crimpers that all have to be calibrated every year. I use crimps on wiring installs all the time on my boats...

http://www.dmctools.com/default.htm

I will have to second that. I am also in the aviation industry, and can tell you almost every wire connection is crimped.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

With a high quality ($20-30) crimper, I don't think you will have problems. A good quality crimper; Klein, Vaco, etc., not a cheap $10 crimper that comes with 100 crimp connectors and a roll of electrical tape.

dingbat, does your ratchet crimper have a die for only 1 size of crimp? I think I've seen dies available with 3 different crimp locations, like crimp pliers.

Crimp or crimp and solder is a hotly debated topic, I side with the crimp and solder crowd.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Respectfully I have to disagree with you about crimping being temporary. If you believe in that wholeheartedly, you better stay off an airplane. Almost every piece of the wiring harnesses on airplanes are crimped. Being in the aviation industry I have access to alot of crimpers that all have to be calibrated every year. I use crimps on wiring installs all the time on my boats...

http://www.dmctools.com/default.htm

I will have to second that. I am also in the aviation industry, and can tell you almost every wire connection is crimped.

I totally agree that crimping alone "can" be a great way to terminate wires, problem is, most people don't have access to the proper type of crimps and the proper crimp tools,,, to make a great crimp.

 

[dingbat]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

With a high quality ($20-30) crimper, I don't think you will have problems. A good quality crimper; Klein, Vaco, etc., not a cheap $10 crimper that comes with 100 crimp connectors and a roll of electrical tape.

dingbat, does your ratchet crimper have a die for only 1 size of crimp? I think I've seen dies available with 3 different crimp locations, like crimp pliers.

Thomas & Betts - WT145C
They have two dieheads 10-12 AWG and 14-26 AWG

http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...Ratcheting-Crimper-Insulated-WT145C-2214.aspx

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Ahh, I have a couple Ideal ratchet crimpers and was looking at this die set for 10-22 AWG crimps:

 

[SuzukiChopper]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

Crimp or crimp and solder is a hotly debated topic, I side with the crimp and solder crowd.

I think the biggest issue with crimp and solder, and why it's such a debatable topic is because of heat hardening of the connection. Most people don't know how to solder properly and apply either not enough heat or too much heat to the connection. If you cold crimp a connection with the right tool, and then cold crimp a connection with the right tool and solder the end joint.... well my bet is that the copper wire breaks on the solder joint before it's pulled/broken from the cold crimp alone. Now, add in shrink tubing that prevents a lot of joint flexing and I'll bet it's a very close race in to what connection fails first.

I know, I know... sorry for bringing it up AGAIN, but like anything these days... 10 people will have cold crimped connections that last 15 years, 10 people will have solder only joints that last 15 years and 10 people will have crimp/solder connections that last 15 years. It really is a no win.

As far as the original topic... the ratcheting tools make it somewhat easier to get a proper crimp, but if you have hand strength and aren't doing 100+ crimps in an hour, the cheapies are just fine. This brings up another debatable topic (and I'm curious to hear from the avionics guys about what their tool does).... is a double crimp on a non-cheap butt-connector better then a single crimp with the same type connector?

 

[joey maneri]

Re: Ratcheting crimpers vs regular

LOL> I guess it a good thing my boat doesent fly. allthough it pretty close to it when its on the travel-lift.