Article On Crimping Cables Should Be Required Reading...

[JeepHammer]

While I bang on heavy duty components, I pick my battles and conserve on words/pictures on a forum that in a week no one will be able to find it...



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However!
This guy has a page dedicate to crimping/tools/terminals that *Should* be mandatory for any beginner & old hand alike!

https://marinehowto.com/making-your-own-battery-cables/

He doesn't cover soldering, but the basics he shows are DEAD ON THE MONEY...

 

[Deleted member 783]

That was great. Worth the read. More crap in my Amazon shopping cart.

 

[JeepHammer]

I'm with him 100% on the long handle crimpers,
If you are going to DIY, you don't need the $1,000+ crimpers, but you do need the $100+ crimpers for heavy cable.
The hammer crimper is OK for a terminal here or there, something that's easily replaced, but when you are working with big, heavy expensive copper cables & terminals it's time to step up a little...

He also makes a good point about square crimp vs. hex crimp, I've screwed up more $6 each lugs with hex than square, and square gives better compression all the way around (in general terms), a lot less dead air space/loose wires in square crimps.

He's also dead right about needing two sets of dies, one for thick wall, one for thin wall terminals.
I have the long handles for thick walls and short handles for thin walls since the tubing terminals tear/fracture when you try and get the 'Gorilla' crimp on them...

Let's face it, if you are DIY and making your own cables/wires (the most basic part of solar DIY), the heart of the system, then you need the tool...
Pre-made 'Plug & Play' cables were my first fails, biggest pain in the ass when I started,
If they weren't total crap when I installed them, they went to crap shortly after.

OK for a hobby types that are never going up to useful scale, but not even close for someone that's going to count on the system and expect it to work correctly for years...

 

[batteryclearinghouse]

Awsome... thanks for sharing the info.

 

[Santa]

Thanks JeepHammer, I will bookmark the page and study it when I have time