I bet you’re wondering what an electrical terminal is. A terminal is the point at which the conductor of an electrical component comes to an end and provides connection to external circuits.
And how do we crimp terminals, you ask?
Let me explain. The word crimping, in this context, means to combine two pieces of metal together by deforming one (or both) to hold the other. It’s called “crimp” because of the deformity.
You’ll need a crimping tool in order to correctly crimp connectors onto the wire. Please remember that pliers are NOT crimpers! To verify that you have the right crimper, the crimper will make a cold weld between the wire and connector. If you do not have the proper tool, you will not succeed in a good crimp. Having a poor crimp means leaving a loose connection between the wire and connector. You can’t have that! A loose connection allows moisture to collect. Moisture causes corrosion, corrosion causes resistance, and resistance causes heat which can ultimately lead to any breakage. Big NO-NO!
Since you have the correct tool for crimping, you can now crimp the connector. First, you must choose the correct wire size for the terminal size. Next, strip the wire. Make sure the amount of exposed wire equals to the length of the metal barrel on the connector. Usually around ¼” or so. If the stripped wire fits the metal portion of the barrel with no free space, then you have the right sized connector.
Now, insert the wire and terminal into the crimper. Colors of the terminal’s insulation must match the colors on your crimping tool. The terminal should be sitting horizontal with the barrel side up. Hold the tool perpendicular to terminal and place over barrel, nearest to ring. To finish the crimp, apply some force to the tool.
After the crimp is completed and you’ve tried pulling them apart, the wire and connector should still hold together. If your wire and connector fall apart, something went wrong in the process.
If at first you don’t succeed, try crimping harder!