What do you use for crimping?

[monzer]

I'll be attempting to wire up some new electrical apparatus shortly and wondering what people use to crimp their cable.

Some videos suggest the hydraulic tools are best but they are expensive so would have to find someone willing to lend me a shot.

I quite like the V-block where you hit it with a hammer but, again, quite expensive and maybe not practical to use in confined spaces.

What do you use?

 

[NicM]

I'll be attempting to wire up some new electrical apparatus shortly and wondering what people use to crimp their cable.

Some videos suggest the hydraulic tools are best but they are expensive so would have to find someone willing to lend me a shot.

I quite like the V-block where you hit it with a hammer but, again, quite expensive and maybe not practical to use in confined spaces.

What do you use?

What size cabling are you doing?

 

[Gellyneck]

Really depends on the gauge of the cable you're looking to crimp. Lightweight, hand crimpers are fine.

 

[Richard n Ann]

I soldered our inverter crimp on. The van doesn't vibrate enough to snap it

 

[Manic]

I’ve got this set

10PCS 1/2'' Drive Deep Impact Sockets Set Long Reach Wheel Wrench Tool with Case | eBay

Quantity: 10pcs. 10 piece 1/2" drive deep socket kit. Type:Impact Socket. 10pcs 1/2” electric wrench hexagonal extension socket 10-24mm. Subtype: Deep-drawing sleeve tool set. Type: pneumatic extension sleeve.

www.ebay.co.uk

But if you’re talking about battery leads you would need something stronger
Something like this

Hydraulic Crimper 8T Crimping Tool Tube Terminal Lug Battery Cable Wire durable | eBay

High quality 4-70mm Hydraulic Crimper. Type: Hydraulic Crimper. The compression pliers are designed for hydraulic crimping on power cable and. With safety valve inside for protecting crimping machine.

www.ebay.co.uk

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[monzer]

Well I'm guessing I'll be needing a few different gauge cables.

Basically I am thinking....

Solar down > MPPT > twin 90ah batteries + shunt

The current batteries are linked already but no idea what size cable is currently used.

Would it be 25mm2? Would I need hydraulic crimpers to fix that?

 

[Manic]

I did the MC4 joints with the set I bought but not battery cable size

 

[NicM]

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I use something like this for 20/25mm cable

 

[NicM]

Try again!

 

[monzer]

^^

Not something I probably use again so I think I'll try and borrow something.

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[Kannon Fodda]

In the motorhome, especially when adapting your existing wiring, you can be in some fairly cramped spaces. Have you got room to swing the hammer for one of those V block things (and is there something robust to batter the block against without the motorhome falling apart). Will you have room for the lengthy arms of the ratchet tools?

It may only get used once, but the hydraulic sets do work well and generally come with a range of die sizes to suit your different cable needs. Having bodged it fairly unsuccessfully first time round when I tried to fit a shunt on my systems I bit the bullet and did it properly with the hydraulic thing. I can always now flog the tool on ebay, but for the £30ish I paid it's hardly worth it. Getting the crimp terminals of certain size was more of a challenge as getting the proper tool.

 

[Googlebot]

I use a hit with hammer type. It works great as long as you have room and a solid base for it.

It destroys light crimps though, does work great for 10mm2 and up though.

I did have a set of plier type hand crimpers, they were only cheap and never got a good joint.

Lenny HB would call me a heathen but I now just use Irwin vice grips and they always seem to give a secure crimp. The key is to crimp across the fitting and not with it when using pliers.

 

[Lenny HB]

Some videos suggest the hydraulic tools are best but they are expensive so would have to find someone willing to lend me a shot.

They are only 25 quid probably only done than 10 - 20 crimps with mine but well worth it.

 

[Lenny HB]

Lenny HB would call me a heathen but I now just use Irwin vice grips and they always seem to give a secure crimp. The key is to crimp across the fitting and not with it when using pliers.

Peasant.

 

[TheBig1]

I use both crimping pliers (like bolt croppers) and hydraulic crimper for the biggest cables 25mm and up

Happy to lend you the pliers if you cover post to you and back, but you could buy a pair for not a lot more
<Broken link removed>

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[monzer]

I use both crimping pliers (like bolt croppers) and hydraulic crimper for the biggest cables 25mm and up

Happy to lend you the pliers if you cover post to you and back, but you could buy a pair for not a lot more
<Broken link removed>

Thanks for the offer Big1

The guy next door to my work is a sparky and he owes me a favour after I bent him a galvanised gutter to fit to one of his generators so I am going to try him when I am back up the road.

 

[Folkranger]

I've heard of people who crimp pie edges with false teeth, or is that statement false.
When recently crimping to fit new electrics my old, cheap crimping tool didn't fit so I used it for a first gentle frimp and finished the job with pliers. Easy peasy but the correct tool would have been preferred.

 

[TheBig1]

In an emergency, a set of mole grips are far better than linesman's pliers, because they can compress the joint over a larger area. A properly crimped joint in effect cold welds the copper and crimp fitting into one solid piece

 

[Garratt]

I bought one of the eBay hydraulic crimpers some time ago when I was adding a bow thruster to the boat. 70mm2 cable was easy to do. More recently I added a B2B charger on the motorhome and it made light work of it. For less than £30, it was money well spent.

 

[Two on Tour]

I bought a hydraulic swaging tool for crimping terminals a few years back.
It's not healthy having high amperage going through poorly crimped terminals.

For smaller cable terminals, I use a ratchet crimping tool.

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[pappajohn]

^^

Not something I probably use again so I think I'll try and borrow something.

Try hire companies.....you'll be surprised what they hire.
The electric installation company I worked for would hire hydraulic crimpers by the day rather than buy for the amount of time they were needed

 

[poppycamper]

Saw post title... ran upstairs to check out Mrs Poppycamper's beauty salon which works a treat cause she always looks ever so luverly ( creep creep... hunners o browny points ... feck did I really say that?? ) to see what sort of crimpers she uses, took a note of model no.
And came back down to read post... come on you know nothing/everything Funsters... what the feck does wire size/cable dimensions have to do with HAIR???
Crimpers r us @ confused.com.

 

[poppycamper]

On a serious note I too, last week did same but because my pal who I normally borrow his crimpers had big job on I bought some of ebay.. plier type 6mm to 50mm £12.00.
Did job.. seem well made.. only critism is they had short handles so I had to see knees to close.

 

[Raul]

Buy a hydraulic crimper 4-70mm on eBay get the job done properly, then sell it on, stick it on the classifieds. Any cable above 6mm you will struggle to get a good connection without hydraulic pressure. Pointless in spending money in good size cables, and have poor terminations,

 

[poppycamper]

Buy a hydraulic crimper 4-70mm on eBay get the job done properly, then sell it on, stick it on the classifieds. Any cable above 6mm you will struggle to get a good connection without hydraulic pressure. Pointless in spending money in good size cables, and have poor terminations,

Sorry Raul I disagree.
Yes you will be struggling to crimp 70mm in a hand crimp, unless you are Goliath.. HOWEVER if you manage to do it will be no less crimped than using a hydraulic one... after all once jaws are shut they are shut and they won't shut any more because it is hydraulic.
However smaller cables will be much easier to crimp by hand .. but again once jaws are shut, they are shut and hydraulic won't make any better a crimp joint.

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[bigwood]

Not having any fancy crimping tools whist doing breakdown work I used my mole grips mostly on Ford starter motor cables.
When I re-wired my battery cables in the motorhome I did the same thing and ran solder into the terminals finishing off with heat shrink. I have been told it was excessive but there’s no way those cables will have poor connections or come loose.