Thread: Holy crimp connectors and wire nuts batman!

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Although not the best looking method of wiring, crimp terminals work ONLY when they are crimped using a proper crimp tool. IN the pictures, it appears that the terminals were crimped with amp pliers, which do not correctly collapse the barrel of the terminal to give maximum wire contact. Amp plier crimps are very prone to loosening up and failing. Proper crimp tools are not cheap but will last forever; I have a pair that I got in 1969 that still work perfectly.

mike in tucson

I always use the crimp connectors but prefer the non insulated ones and heat shrink. I only use a certain model of Thomas and Betts crimper, not those cheap ones with the striper built in. It is as good as solder, probably better in many situations. Also I pay attention to which side of the connector the crimper is engaging. It has like a tang and a valley and you want the seam of the connector in the valley most of the time.
It looks like the person working on the column didn't know you could disengage the wires from the connector to feed them through the column..