Crimping

Crimping is when a metal sleeve is secured to stranded wire, creating a gas-tight connection between the wire and terminal pin, prohibiting corrosion.

Crimping
Using the proper crimping tool makes a good crimp joint easy. A properly crimped joint does not need soldering and is more than strong enough. Most crimp terminals are designed to be crimped, not soldered. Soldering a crimped terminal may weaken the mechanical connection, may reduce electrical conductivity, and may damage the terminal. As a general rule, you should not solder a crimp terminal.

Strip about 2 or 3 mm of insulation from the wire. Then with a racheting crimp tool such as the HT-225D. Place the pin into the apropriate crimp tool aperture. Squeeze the crimpers only enough to hold the pin in place. Insert about 3 mm of the exposed strands into the pin. Squeeze the crimpers all the way. Release the crimpers, and pull the wire and pin out. The insulation is squeezed by the back of the pin, and the wire is squeezed in the center of the pin. This is to insure good electrical contact and a good hold on the wire. Push the wire and pin into the plastic housing, ensuring that the tab end of the pin goes the correct way into the housing, to lock into the square hole. Using a simpler crimper such as the PA-09 will entail crimping in two steps. First to crimp the conductor then to crimp the insulation.