Recommended Electrical Connectors?

I bought a box of the Chinese solder seal connectors a couple of years ago. I've used them to install a couple of head units (as a test on a non critical circuit) and they came out the cleanest looking head unit harnesses I've ever put together. I haven't had any issues with melting or burning the rubber before the solder since the first 5 I did, and I haven't had any fail yet.

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Not ready to endorse them, just sharing my experience.
 
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mrblaine said:
Those step down butt connectors are life savers, not cheap, but worth every penny.

I have 4 or 5 types of heat shrink. My favorite is the stuff below but apparently it has been long enough since I bought it that they no longer carry the 6" precuts.

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You should have seen what I paid for step downs a year or so ago before I knew about the non-insul options. I would buy a pack of maybe 20-25 of them on Amazon and they were like $35-40. They were quality at least, but that's way too much. They had a very robust heat shrink which I guess added to the cost. I ordinarily would not reason that cost but they saved me major headache a few times. I was very sparing with using them. The Delcity price is much more reasonable especially since you can buy as many as you want at a unit rate and not be stuck ordering 25 at a time for over 30 bucks.

I have not tried DC heat shrink, I bought a bunch of heat shrink at wirecare. I sure do burn through it fast. I'll probably buy from DC next time, I did not see that page you sent last time I looked. Also, not sure if I'm missing something, but looks like they have the 6" precuts you like on the blue tab?
 
machoheadgames said:
You should have seen what I paid for step downs a year or so ago before I knew about the non-insul options. I would buy a pack of maybe 20-25 of them on Amazon and they were like $35-40. They were quality at least, but that's way too much. They had a very robust heat shrink which I guess added to the cost. I ordinarily would not reason that cost but they saved me major headache a few times. I was very sparing with using them. The Delcity price is much more reasonable especially since you can buy as many as you want at a unit rate and not be stuck ordering 25 at a time for over 30 bucks.

I have not tried DC heat shrink, I bought a bunch of heat shrink at wirecare. I sure do burn through it fast. I'll probably buy from DC next time, I did not see that page you sent last time I looked. Also, not sure if I'm missing something, but looks like they have the 6" precuts you like on the blue tab?
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Thanks, I missed the blue tab whilst trying to juggle just getting something copied and pasted. It is almost time to order more and the 6" saves me the trouble of cutting it to fit where I store it.
 
mrblaine said:
Thanks, I missed the blue tab whilst trying to juggle just getting something copied and pasted. It is almost time to order more and the 6" saves me the trouble of cutting it to fit where I store it.
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I can imagine. Although I just looked and ouch, those are not cheap. Convenient though.
 
freedom_in_4low said:
I bought a box of the Chinese solder seal connectors a couple of years ago. I've used them to install a couple of head units (as a test on a non critical circuit) and they came out the cleanest looking head unit harnesses I've ever put together. I haven't had any issues with melting or burning the rubber before the solder since the first 5 I did, and I haven't had any fail yet.

View attachment 300131

Not ready to endorse them, just sharing my experience.
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We have and use them for the same thing. I bought a small amount, they worked okay for that stuff, then went to get more and the first batch was NLA so we tried a second version. They are nowhere near as nice as the first ones. I don't want to be the guinea pig to figure out which cheap ones are decent.
 
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mrblaine said:
Unless my quick math is wrong, the 6" pieces are a few cents cheaper for 8 pieces than a single 48" stick for the red stuff at least.
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That is correct, in my head the ouch was compared to what I bought at WireCare which was also good quality. Shrink from DC is a lot higher price overall. I just didn't see it on the 4' sticks because I hadn't looked there yet.

I was buying for around $4.70 a stick at WC. I have learned that I use the smaller 1/8" stuff way more often than the larger stuff so I need to load up on it next time rather than buying equal amounts of each size. I'm nearly out of 1/8" and haven't touched the 1/4" I bought and barely touched the 3/16". DC does it by wire size which I'm guessing 22-18 is 1/8" and 16-14 is 3/16".
 
machoheadgames said:
That is correct, in my head the ouch was compared to what I bought at WireCare which was also good quality. Shrink from DC is a lot higher price overall. I just didn't see it on the 4' sticks because I hadn't looked there yet.

I was buying for around $4.70 a stick at WC. I have learned that I use the smaller 1/8" stuff way more often than the larger stuff so I need to load up on it next time rather than buying equal amounts of each size. I'm nearly out of 1/8" and haven't touched the 1/4" I bought and barely touched the 3/16". DC does it by wire size which I'm guessing 22-18 is 1/8" and 16-14 is 3/16".
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All I know is I spend more time chasing down good electrical parts, wire, and loom than should be legal. It just wears me out.
 
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mrblaine said:
All I know is I spend more time chasing down good electrical parts, wire, and loom than should be legal. It just wears me out.
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Trust me, I know. Every time I go to do a project (often), I figure out the last thing I ran out of that I forgot to order more of (or more like put off buying because I didn't want to pay). Tesa tape, wire, loom, clamps/zipties, Deutsch pins, heat shrink, assortments of all sizes of butt splices, ring terminals, you name it in the insulated, non insulated, and step down varieties. It never fucking ends.
 
machoheadgames said:
Trust me, I know. Every time I go to do a project (often), I figure out the last thing I ran out of that I forgot to order more of (or more like put off buying because I didn't want to pay). Tesa tape, wire, loom, clamps/zipties, Deutsch pins, heat shrink, assortments of all sizes of butt splices, ring terminals, you name it in the insulated, non insulated, and step down varieties. It never fucking ends.
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If it matters and sounds like it may, Home Depot of all places had the double head zip ties that Jeep used to hold stuff like the windshield squirter line to the harness.
 
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This is all so helpful. It sounds like you two (@mrblaine and @machoheadgames) prefer the non-insulated connectors, and then put heat shrink over it. Correct? Any reason for or against using connectors with either nylon or vinyl insulation?

My crimpers come with a color-code for red, blue, and yellow. I wonder if going to non-insulated connectors would require a new set of crimpers, since the size would obviously be smaller/thinner without the insulation on the connector.
 
SSTJ said:
This is all so helpful. It sounds like you two (@mrblaine and @machoheadgames) prefer the non-insulated connectors, and then put heat shrink over it. Correct? Any reason for or against using connectors with either nylon or vinyl insulation?

My crimpers come with a color-code for red, blue, and yellow. I wonder if going to non-insulated connectors would require a new set of crimpers, since the size would obviously be smaller/thinner without the insulation on the connector.
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I don't have a preference, I have a need to use what the situation dictates. We use the non insulated when we are trying to keep the bulk down since those with a thinner heat shrink is smaller than the butt connector with heat shrink already on it. The obvious answer is to stagger the connections in the loom but sometimes something is cut straight across without a way to stagger and the bulk builds up fast.

I think the connectors I linked are nylon, far better than other types. If you pay attention, they also have a strain relief that crimps onto the insulation that some crimpers are set up for.

When I can, the brazed are solid barrel are done with a staking crimp tool that is about the highest resistance to pull out you can do.
 
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SSTJ said:
This is all so helpful. It sounds like you two (@mrblaine and @machoheadgames) prefer the non-insulated connectors, and then put heat shrink over it. Correct? Any reason for or against using connectors with either nylon or vinyl insulation?

My crimpers come with a color-code for red, blue, and yellow. I wonder if going to non-insulated connectors would require a new set of crimpers, since the size would obviously be smaller/thinner without the insulation on the connector.
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I won't speak for Blaine but me personally, I used amazon heat shrink butt splices for a few years with little failures. What I had failures with were some ring terminals I bought that no matter how I crimped them, they still pulled out. Same for some of the push-on spades I bought. What I got tired of with the butt splices, was how bulky they can be when you need to do a bunch of wires at once and don't want to stagger the splices, or don't have enough linear feet of wire to stagger a bunch of wires. They can still get bulky with your own heat shrink and non insulated splice, but it's less bulky usually.

The only downsides I've found to the non insulated stuff is that 1) you must remember to put on the heat shrink before you crimp both sides (and have enough free wire to slide the shrink on one of the sides) and 2) have to be strategic about assembling the wires into the splice and holding it together and crimping it, all with two hands.

1 you learn with habit. 2 you get good at. It helps to hold the splice in the crimper, then feed wires into it with your other hand and crimp it with the hand already holding the crimper and splice. Just don't squeeze on the crimper too soon or you'll ruin it before the wire can go in and you'll have to start over.

I don't like anything nylon. Nylon doesn't shrink or seal out to the elements. This may or may not matter depending on the location you're installing the splice, but I prefer to be consistent and use good element proof heat shrink all the time, and if I am using a splice that has it's own insulation, it will be heat shrink, not nylon. I have to imagine that nylon lined connectors from DC are better than from Home depot or Amazon, but I haven't used them since I generally stay away from nylon overall.


What I really like about the non insulated stuff is how idiot proof and strong it is. You crimp one of those del city terminals onto a wire with a thomas and betts tool and it's pretty obvious that the connection is stronger than the wire, meaning you will never ever worry about it because you have no reason to unless you're also paranoid about breaking your wires. In other words, if you have failures, you fucked something up.
 
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machoheadgames said:
I don't like anything nylon. Nylon doesn't shrink or seal out to the elements. This may or may not matter depending on the location you're installing the splice, but I prefer to be consistent and use good element proof heat shrink all the time, and if I am using a splice that has it's own insulation, it will be heat shrink, not nylon.
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I don't disagree with the logic but there are tons of situations with push on spades that using a bare terminal and heat shrink on that won't let the smaller section get tight and seal well. That and the melted glue sometimes fouls the connector making it hard to push on to delicate stuff.

We hook up lots of stuff that uses push on spades and the nylon with strain relief secondary crimp are just pretty darn good.
 
mrblaine said:
I don't disagree with the logic but there are tons of situations with push on spades that using a bare terminal and heat shrink on that won't let the smaller section get tight and seal well. That and the melted glue sometimes fouls the connector making it hard to push on to delicate stuff.

We hook up lots of stuff that uses push on spades and the nylon with strain relief secondary crimp are just pretty darn good.
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I don't really use many push on spades but that makes sense. I have had good luck using the "heat shrink" spades from Del city, which are basically nylon with a piece of heat shrink stuck on the wire end. Works well. Have not tried or heard of the nylon with strain relief secondary crimp. That might be something I should look into.
 
mrblaine said:
DC isn't known for being cheap, but MSC doesn't even look like they are trying. I know this connector very well; I've bought 1000's of them since that is what was sent out with the Savvy Tail light kits. That's a big difference in price.

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Wow I guess not, they are like grainger or McMaster pay for convenience. We set them up at my work where the consumable pricing is nothing compared to the other parts we order.
 
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machoheadgames said:
I don't really use many push on spades but that makes sense. I have had good luck using the "heat shrink" spades from Del city, which are basically nylon with a piece of heat shrink stuck on the wire end. Works well. Have not tried or heard of the nylon with strain relief secondary crimp. That might be something I should look into.
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Read the description on these more closely.
https://www.delcity.net/store/3M-Fully!Insulated-Nylon,-Brass-Sleeve/p_806033.h_806034

Use with these crimpers.
https://www.delcity.net/store/Ancor-Straight-Double-Crimp,-26!10-AWG/p_928899.h_928901
 
mrblaine said:
Read the description on these more closely.
https://www.delcity.net/store/3M-Fully!Insulated-Nylon,-Brass-Sleeve/p_806033.h_806034

Use with these crimpers.
https://www.delcity.net/store/Ancor-Straight-Double-Crimp,-26!10-AWG/p_928899.h_928901
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Seems like a good option. I have never seen those before. Now I'm going to want to try them, so thanks for that. I really need to get a hardware cabinet to start storing/organizing all these small parts in. I am also just now out of 22-18 butt splices so I guess I will be making another order soon regardless.
 
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