Source for bulk ring terminals?

[BAD ORCA]

Back to the original question about sourcing terminals.

Waytek Wire is a good source for bulk purchases of marine wiring supplies.

https://www.waytekwire.com/

great resource. I hadn't known about them, thanks.

 

[BAD ORCA]

Really? I love Mcmaster and buy a lot from them, but those terminals are 6x the price of the Ancor ones I linked on Amazon, or the 3M ones Waytek wire sells. BTW, Waytek wire is one of my go-to's, with great customer service and fast shipping.

I crimp like @dlochner describes - put the terminal in the jaws and close the handle one or two clicks then fit yourself into where you need to be, stick in the wire and crimp. You can even do this blind, as long as you can get two hands in there.

Mark

They have 50/pk of tin plated copper, UL listed 16-14 terminals for $11.46. Yeah a bit more expensive and when you add in shipping definitely, but I prefer not to buy electrical components from Amazon. Been way to much Chinese counterfeiting on Amazon past few years.

I agree, Dave's link to Waytek looks good. Have very nice selection. Think I will buy from them.

 

[mermike]

Crimpsupply.com and Fisheries Supply both are good sources. CS sources from China. FS has both Ancor and FTZ terminals. I avoid Amazon - this is where you can find the vanishingly small barrels of the incorrect diameter. I tossed the last batch.

 

[Hayden Watson]

I got this pack and have been very happy with it. I do not use any insulated terminals because too many of them end up with the heat shrink tubing getting damaged by the crimper even when using the ratcheting crimper I got from Marine-how-too. To crimp these terminals I use one size smaller dies and pull test all terminal after crimping. I have never had any pull out. I then use a good quality 3:1 adhesive lined heat shrink for insulation.
These terminals are very heavy wall and the butt splices come in more sizes and are welded tube.

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www.amazon.com

 

[Jim Legere]

You get what you pay for. On a bluewater boat, I would use nothing but the best. I spent 17 years on offshore oil rigs, drillships, etc. and my preferred connector would be Thomas & Betts (Now ABB).
Thomas & Betts at Grainger

 

[dLj]

You get what you pay for. On a bluewater boat, I would use nothing but the best. I spent 17 years on offshore oil rigs, drillships, etc. and my preferred connector would be Thomas & Betts (Now ABB).
Thomas & Betts at Grainger

While I agree that the Thomas and Betts are excellent connectors - for the OP wishing for non-insulated connectors these would be excellent. However, I do not believe Thomas and Betts ever made marine grade connectors with adhesive shrink insulation. Which is too bad or I'd order from them in a heartbeat!

But it is a very interesting thought to just use bare crimp connectors and use adhesive shrink wrap to cover.

dj

 

[BAD ORCA]

I got this pack and have been very happy with it. I do not use any insulated terminals because too many of them end up with the heat shrink tubing getting damaged by the crimper even when using the ratcheting crimper I got from Marine-how-too. To crimp these terminals I use one size smaller dies and pull test all terminal after crimping. I have never had any pull out. I then use a good quality 3:1 adhesive lined heat shrink for insulation.
These terminals are very heavy wall and the butt splices come in more sizes and are welded tube.

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www.amazon.com

Yeah i have a crimper from Mainesails website as well and do the same thing. I have had to finish off the crimp by using the next smaller die. I have played around a bit with the adjustment mechanism on the crimper and gotten it a little better but the heatshrink dies still give me inferior crimps. I dont do this enough to justify a multi $$$ hundred dollar crimper.

 

[Hayden Watson]

While I agree that the Thomas and Betts are excellent connectors - for the OP wishing for non-insulated connectors these would be excellent. However, I do not believe Thomas and Betts ever made marine grade connectors with adhesive shrink insulation. Which is too bad or I'd order from them in a heartbeat!

But it is a very interesting thought to just use bare crimp connectors and use adhesive shrink wrap to cover.

dj

I have switched over to bare terminals with heat shrink because it makes much cleaner connections with much lower change of damaged insulation.

 

[BAD ORCA]

You get what you pay for. On a bluewater boat, I would use nothing but the best. I spent 17 years on offshore oil rigs, drillships, etc. and my preferred connector would be Thomas & Betts (Now ABB).
Thomas & Betts at Grainger

I ended up ordering Molex terminals. https://www.waytekwire.com/catalog/terminals/ring-terminals/molex-19057-0056-ring-terminal-16-14-ga
I ordered some bare terminals as well. Seems the benefit of the bare terminals is that you can clearly see the crimp quality before covering it with heatshrink.

 

[colemj]

You get what you pay for. On a bluewater boat, I would use nothing but the best. I spent 17 years on offshore oil rigs, drillships, etc. and my preferred connector would be Thomas & Betts (Now ABB).
Thomas & Betts at Grainger

Am I missing something in that link? Everything seemed to start at 8AWG and go larger. Even then, some of the smaller sizes were aluminum. And prices started at $6 per connector.

While I agree that quality is worth paying for, the above seems like overkill for 12V systems.

Mark

 

[LloydB]

originally posted by fat thumbs