Recommendations on a crimper?

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oak_box

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I'm going to have a LOT of electrical work in my near future, with a lot of crimping involved. I just bought a new, relatively inexpensive crimper on Amazon, and picked one that was advertised for "insulated terminals" - but it still doesn't seem to be a good fit for the typical connectors that I'm using.

I'm planning to use ring terminals and butt connectors, ideally the really good ones that have adhesive in them, and heatshrink.

Is there a "good", "reasonably priced" (maybe under $50), "ratcheting" crimper that I might be able to find on Amazon or similar that will work for this?

Especially for the small ones, I can get the job done with a pair of vice grips - but I'm sure there's got to be a much better answer than that... :) And I'm curious to see how much groaning and grief I'll get over even mentioning vice grips!! <grin>

John
 
There are many choices on Amazon for ratchting wire terminal crimpers. $15 and up.

Choose one based on customer reviews and feedback.
 
I would have a look at https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/

While you can definitely get cheaper ones, if you are doing a "LOT of electrical work" in your near future, it will be worth it to spend money on the tool you'll be relying on. I personally use the Ancor models for both non-heatshrink and heatshrink connectors, and I believe they are easily $100 or more each. But I've had them for 10 years, and they just keep on going.
 
stevemitchell said:
I would have a look at https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/

While you can definitely get cheaper ones, if you are doing a "LOT of electrical work" in your near future, it will be worth it to spend money on the tool you'll be relying on. I personally use the Ancor models for both non-heatshrink and heatshrink connectors, and I believe they are easily $100 or more each. But I've had them for 10 years, and they just keep on going.
Click to expand...


:iagree:
 
oak_box said:
This is the one I bought - but it doesn't do well with normal connections. It looked good in the ad. And it's reasonably well built, solid enough, cheap enough. Just not the right jaws for the type of connectors I'm using...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LF49XB3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Click to expand...

That appears to be for ferrules, not ring terminals and the like on a boat. Unless yours uses ferrules into a Wago block or something like that.....
 
stevemitchell said:
I would have a look at https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/

While you can definitely get cheaper ones, if you are doing a "LOT of electrical work" in your near future, it will be worth it to spend money on the tool you'll be relying on. I personally use the Ancor models for both non-heatshrink and heatshrink connectors, and I believe they are easily $100 or more each. But I've had them for 10 years, and they just keep on going.
Click to expand...

Good article Steve,

I have an Ancor ratcheting crimper too. I also bought one from Newark Electronics when they were called MCM Electronics for less than $20. They appear to be identical and they have been in use for over 25 years without issues.
 
IMG_0698.jpg
This one does the three most common wire sizes and is very robust.
I bought it at an electronics hobby store at least 17 years ago for under $50.
 
I found one of the better quality ratchet crimpers with 4 sets of dies for various terminals used on eBay.
Worth a look. One would have to use them for a long time to wear one out.
It's worth getting a good one and the Compass Marine site is a good one. Check out his crimpers he sells and if close to comparable why not throw a little business to a regular contributor (CM) here on TF.
 
My understanding from CM and my brother that does as fair amount of elec work for other boaters is it depends on whether you are using shrink type or just the common insulated terminals/ butts.
For a decent inexpensive crimper for shrink terminals here's one worth considering. Similar to CM CM recommended one.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001W2285K/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_rIkdFb0T8JAX4
 
One thing to note (it is explained in the marine how to article) is that there is one type of crimper (double) for nylon insulated terminals, and another type (single) for the type that have included heat shrink. You can't interchange.

Ironically, the "double" crimpers always look much more "professional," at least to me; whereas the single crimpers look kind of thin and wimpy. However, to my mind, the heat shrink type of crimps are better, and those do use the single crimpers. I just mention this in case you are using double crimpers on heat shrink terminals.
 
KnotYet said:
View attachment 104926
This one does the three most common wire sizes and is very robust.
I bought it at an electronics hobby store at least 17 years ago for under $50.
Click to expand...

This is what I have had for about 20 years and it works great. I do a lot of electrical work and use the heck out of it.
 
For small sized wires the ancor is great , but sometimes a crimper for cable 00 to 04 is required,

With loads of time simply ordering the cable with ends installed is easiest and not costly.

Our fall back is the rigging crimper used to set nicropress cable ends.

We have set heavy terminal ends that way and on cutting them open have found the cable to be made both mechanically and electrically , just what is required

IF wiring an entire vessel heavy , say 10ga rather than 10, 12, 14 , 16 in a large coil is less expensive than multiple coils and has less voltage loss.
 
tiltrider1 said:
If you want a no nonsense quality crimper that the pro’s use. Thomas & Betts


https://www.zoro.com/sta-kon-crimper-22-to-10-awg-9-58-l-wt111m/i/G2486626/
Click to expand...



These, used with non insulated connectors are pretty foolproof. I have a couple brands. The ones with the smooth profiles are nice too. Buy a bunch of sizes of quality adhesive heat shrink and you have the best of both worlds.

Better may or not exist, but joints made this way will easily go multiple decades.

Whatever crimper you use, only buy quality terminals.
 
A strong second on genuinedealz.com they are a large, independent, wire and tool store in Brunswick, GA.
I got some very nice made to length and ends crimped on battery cables for kess than other places wanted for the wire alone.
They are about a mile north of the Brunswick Landing Marina on the same street.
Check them out.
JohnS
 
there are various crimpers used for alum and copper ferrules for art work and fishing. the area of home depot and lowes with the terminals will have a variety of long handled heavy head and handle crimpers,as will a fishing supply store. depending on the metal alloy on the terminals, they may stay tight, or if weak metal may not and terminal will slip off. this is a major problem. other prob is the odd teeth on the crimper. the ferrules are without a seam but the terminals are not, so do some experimentation as to how to position the terminal in the tool teeth and see if you pull out the wires with your fingers and if so figure out how to get a good crimp. some people reviewing these electical crimp on fittings say they have to throw away half of the crimps. variables are, the tool, the teeth, the metal, the technique. lots of way to mess it up and not discover it sitting at the dock.
 
stevemitchell said:
I would have a look at https://marinehowto.com/marine-wire-termination/

While you can definitely get cheaper ones, if you are doing a "LOT of electrical work" in your near future, it will be worth it to spend money on the tool you'll be relying on. I personally use the Ancor models for both non-heatshrink and heatshrink connectors, and I believe they are easily $100 or more each. But I've had them for 10 years, and they just keep on going.
Click to expand...
Great article Steve! Just bring a set of your best tools down to G dock and I'll test them out for ya. ;)

-tozz
 
My problem with high dollar ratcheting crimpers is they seem to only do a good job when joining same gauge wires. However, as is usually the case, you buy a component and it has say 18 gauge wire, and the power supply for that device on the boat is say 14 gauge. This presents a problem for the ratcheting crimper. For this reason, I also have a cheap crimper that I can apply as much pressure as I want to get an adequate connection.
 
Wonderfullife said:
My problem with high dollar ratcheting crimpers is they seem to only do a good job when joining same gauge wires. However, as is usually the case, you buy a component and it has say 18 gauge wire, and the power supply for that device on the boat is say 14 gauge. This presents a problem for the ratcheting crimper. For this reason, I also have a cheap crimper that I can apply as much pressure as I want to get an adequate connection.
Click to expand...
Butt splice crimps are the least desirable connections. Terminals are better.
If I have to join different gauge wires I have on occasion inserted
both wire ends into one side of a butt splice sized for the larger wire.
Doubling the smaller wire usually works and is easier to waterproof, etc.
 
Last edited:
Asking for a crimper recommendation is like asking for an anchor recommendation, there are many opinions, many of those strongly held.

With ratcheting crimpers you often get what you pay for, cheaper ones go out of adjustment or are not as consistent as those of higher quality.

If you are using them for heat shrink, do a few crimps and then heat them, and then check very carefully for breaches in the insulation, some crimps with more aggressive dies that are fine for conventional terminals will pierce the heat shrink variety. You wouldn't want to do a bunch of crimps only to find they all are breached.

This article may be helpful https://stevedmarineconsulting.com/crimping-etiquette/
 
@Wonderfullife #26
The proper way to butt splice two different size conductors is with a step down butt splice.
The are available at Del City on the web. 10/12 > 14/16 (yellow/blue) and 14/16 > 18/20 (blue/red). The key here with a quality ratcheting crimper is to crimp both ends as if they were the large size; i,e., use the yellow die for both ends of the yellow/blue step down butt splice.

For more dramatic step down, say from AWG 14 lighting circuit to AWG 22 LED lights, we use WAGO 221 Lever Nuts which can handle AWG 24 to AWG 12 and are rated at 20A.
 
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