QUOTE(Arkady @ Oct 4 2023, 08:38 PM)
These connectors go by several names because a number of manufacturers produce them. (Amp, Molex, Packard Electric, Hella, etc...) The good news is that they are standardized by their width. There are three in general use plus one that's smaller.
Amp calls this series of connectors 'fastons'. They have widths of .250 (6.3mm), .188 (4.8 mm), .110 (2.8 mm) and the littlest, 0.87 (2.2 mm). They are available fully insulated with a barrel style crimp, insulated crimp only also with a barrel style crimp and a those with a 'U' style crimp.
An important thing to keep in mind is that whatever crimp style these connectors use, they require what is called a 'gas tight' crimp. This means the crimp fully yields both the connector and conductor (wire) material so there are no air spaces inside the crimp region. An air space eventually causes a form of galvanic corrosion that results in a higher electrical resistance connection. High resistance makes heat which speeds up the corrosion. Connector manufacturers make crimp tools that are designed to properly crimp their connectors and provide a gas tight crimp. A generic crimp tool often is a compromise to crimp several brands and may or may not provide a gas tight crimp on all brands.
Lastly, (whew!), many connectors of this style actually have two crimp regions. One for the conductor (discussed above) and a 'strain relief' crimp that grabs onto the wire's insulation. The strain relief crimp secures the wire's insulation and reduces the likelihood that wire movement will fatigue the wire's conductor at the conductor crimp. The connector manufacturer's crimp tooling usually has some means of adjustment for the wire's insulation diameter.
Sorry for getting this far in the weeds, but you'd be surprised how many manufacturers of all kinds of stuff ignore this, only to create unnecessary warranty claims and unhappy customers...
Wow, good info - thanks.
Here’s another “interesting” question .. are there special sizing for the ones that get two wires into one connector? Maybe a larger barrel? With the cheap (red, blue, yellow) ones you can usually move up to blue from red when you have this (but hey, no gas tight crimp there either).
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