Electrical: Which crimp tool?

[Skipaway]

Yeah, I know the real answer is both. But:

From the treads I’ve read, and halekai36’s web site, I get the impression that the Ancor Single Crimp tool (#702010) is for butt joints; the Ancor Double Crimp Tool (#702015) is for the other connectors.

Is my impression above correct, or will one of them suffice for butt and other connections? If I need to, I’ll buy both, but I’d rather get just one good crimp tool. (My familiarity is with the heel of the pliers type crimping I’ve used for auto wiring.)

[Maine Sail]

No, the single crimp ratchet tool is for heat shrink connectors and butt connectors though the double crimp tool will also work on butts.

Double Crimp tool = Insulated terminals including butt connectors

Single Crimp tool = Heat shrink connectors and both heat shrink and insulated butts

On spade, ring and male/female disconnect insulated terminals, that are insulated but non heat shrink, they have a strain relief barrel that needs to be crimped by the "double crimper".

Heat shrink crimp connectors do not have this second barrel for strain relief as the heat shrink is the strain relief. The single crimp tools jaws are smoother and designed to not rip the heat shrink! Using the double crimp tool on heat shrink connectors will work but just not as well and you can damage the heat shrink..

This heat shrink connector has only one crimp barrel for the wire:

This non heat shrink insulated terminal, shown taken apart, has TWO crimp barrels one for the wire and one for strain relief (the area on the middle barrel with the scratch is the strain relief crimp band):


Unfortunately you need to decide which terminals you are going to be using and buy the appropriate crimper. Both crimpers will work but only optimally on ONE type of terminal...

[artbyjody]

You can get away with the single crimp Anchor tool (avail from West Marine etc)... it comes with a set of dies... when you crimp using it I use a three step process...The die will have the two dots on one end... that goes toward the end of the connector.. crimp there once back off a few millimeters do it again - and then reverse the crimping tool and do it one more time... this will make the most solid connection you could hope for especially if you couple it with the heat shrink...Compared to the cheap crimp tools, the two extra steps here are a breeze as the ratchet makes it a painless experience.. This is the process I use and its about impossible even with brute force to remove the wire after crimped if you use the process described above.....