Crimps can be incredibly secure. The problem is finding a good crimping tool. The ones sold at places like Home Depot or Lowe's are crap. They usually have two slim, flat jaws that do nothing but squeeze the connectors in a way that's not much better than pliers. What you want is a tool that has a groove on one side that holds the crimp in place, and a "tooth" sort of thing on the other that makes an indentation in the connector, almost as if you'd pressed the connector with an awl whose point had been rounded off.
I don't have time at the moment to find you a link, but poke around at
formatting link
for crimp tools. If you find some, but they don't show a closeup picture of the tool's jaws, let me know and I'll post a picture. The tool I have came from Mac Tools, but a very quick look at their site suggests that they don't make them any more.
By the way, Panduit makes the best crimp connectors in the known universe. No matter how expensive they seem, they are worth the money, especially if you're obsessive-compulsive and have nightmares about electrical failures harming your family.
You solder after putting on a crimp connector? How??? Or, are you crimping bare wires, and then soldering? How do you cover the connection after soldering?
Use the kind of pliers that are designed for crimping. Something like the Sta-kon WT111M . Also use the correct size connectors and stranded wires. They will not hold very well on soild wire.
In another life I was an electronic technician and had all the tools I needed for making such connections. Of course the preferred method is to solder the wires and cover with heat shrink. However I know using butt splices are more convenient. Also if you use a terminal lug to connect the wire to a screw you will need to crimp on the connector.
As has been said you should use the proper crimping tool but sans that there are pliers with a notch in them that will hold the splice and a tooth on the other side to press the opposite side down into the wire for a strong, secure connection. One such type I've had for years and find invaluable is the Thomas & Betts Multi-Crimp Tool. Here is a knockoff for $10 that should be in everyone's tool bag. It's the second tool down the page.
That's a good tool. It appears to have different size channels to match various crimp sizes. Without that arrangement, a crimp tool is almost worthless.
Next to the picture, it says "The actual tool looks different now. It is thinner and has only one crimp cavity"
I know they don't meet pro standards but I have 2 or 3 of these from JCWhitney
formatting link
It's 4.50 now, and it has 2 or 3 crimping cavities, 5 or 6 wire stripping cavities, 5 screw-in screw cutting holes, and wire cutters at the front end.
10 or 15 years ago they were selling a plastic comnpartment box of assorted crimp-on connectors, along with one crimper, for something like 3 or 4 dollars, iirc. They would have incredible discounts sometimes.
It's made from flat-stock, and certainly isn't Deluxe as it is labeled, but it's worked fine.
I don't always crimp, sometimes I solder, even if it melts the plastic sleeve, and I think sometimes I have crimped and soldered.
-- Dry ( unlubricated ) condom rolled over the duct tape.
This can't possibly work. You'd need to put a hole in the condom to slip it over the wires and then you'd end up with a bunch of little baby wires running all around the place.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.