please help me identify the wire used in this component

Thread Starter

clangray

Joined Nov 4, 2018
261
Component photo posted. Can you tell which type of wire is used in the photo? One end has female jumpers/cable, and the other an illuminated push button switch. I only need an assessment of the wire used, not the switch. About the wire: very little resistance to bending it, almost like string. Does not bend into shapes like breadboadr wire.IMG_1958.jpg
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

clangray

Joined Nov 4, 2018
261
There are many types of crimp connectors.

From Jameco:
View attachment 273966

The ones you showed are sometimes called DuPont connectors.
So I stared with solid wire just because it was lying around. I went all in on the DuPont connectors. The DuPont connector kit was ideal. I've seen a lot of YT videos on it lately and is difficult to kit the knack. I've gotten to the point where I can get the insulator and wire are successfully crimped, but having difficult time creating a tip that doesn't pull out with force.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
I've gotten to the point where I can get the insulator and wire are successfully crimped, but having difficult time creating a tip that doesn't pull out with force.
I assume you mean the wire is pulling out of the crimp connector. It's the crimp on the insulation that prevents the wire from pulling out? .

EDIT: correct typo

Post a clearly focused picture of the crimp.

What tool are you using? If it has openings for multiple sizes of connectors, which size are you using? How much force are you exerting on the wire?
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

clangray

Joined Nov 4, 2018
261
I assume you mean the wire is pulling out of the crimp connector. It's the crimp on the insulation that prevents the wire from pulling out?

Post a clearly focused picture of the crimp.

What tool are you using? If it has openings for multiple sizes of connectors, which size are you using? How much force are you exerting on the wire?
The insulation part and wire part of the DuPont connector seems to be fastened well to me? Despite that after I pull on the DuPont connector the wire comes out. There is also no SNAP from having pushed the connector in. I'm getting a few here or there that are totally seated but the vast majority back out under pulling pressure.

I believe its some tab that could if damaged prevents it from locking. That's near consensus on YT but its not clear about this part.

Using ratchet tool SN-288. With lot of force.
Post crimping, below:
crimped_resize.jpgcrimped_2_resize.jpg
 
Last edited:

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Despite that after I pull on the DuPont connector the wire comes out.
So you're referring to the connector coming out of the shroud, not the wire coming out of the connector?

It looks like you're damaging the retaining prongs. You're only supposed to crimp in two places:
1661008727815.png
The red line indicates the tabs that lock the connector into a shroud.

The wire in your crimp extends too far past the crimp area (the extension is called the conductor brush). The conductor brush in mine could have been a little longer, but I just eyeballed the length when I stripped the insulation.

The crimp on the wire doesn't look very good either, but it could just be the angle (as in my picture).

EDIT: I watched, at least tried to watch, a couple videos. The first two I "watched" were made by not-very-intelligent individuals.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0a8b...XArZHVwb250K2Nvbm5lY3RvcnMmRk9STT1WRFJF&ntb=1
This one was using solid wire and he had way too much wire in the connector. He said to strip 5/8". That's far too long.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=f63f...4Qzg2QzYwJnZpZXc9ZGV0YWlsJkZPUk09VklSRQ&ntb=1
This was promoted as a "definitive guide". Very hard to watch. I skipped around a bit and most of what I saw was unfocused shots of connectors. I assume he eventually got to the point, but I lost interest.
 
Last edited:

Thread Starter

clangray

Joined Nov 4, 2018
261
So you're referring to the connector coming out of the shroud, not the wire coming out of the connector?

It looks like you're damaging the retaining prongs. You're only supposed to crimp in two places:
View attachment 274299
The red line indicates the tabs that lock the connector into a shroud.

The wire in your crimp extends too far past the crimp area (the extension is called the conductor brush). The conductor brush in mine could have been a little longer, but I just eyeballed the length when I stripped the insulation.

The crimp on the wire doesn't look very good either, but it could just be the angle (as in my picture).

EDIT: I watched, at least tried to watch, a couple videos. The first two I "watched" were made by not-very-intelligent individuals.
https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0a8b...XArZHVwb250K2Nvbm5lY3RvcnMmRk9STT1WRFJF&ntb=1
This one was using solid wire and he had way too much wire in the connector. He said to strip 5/8". That's far too long.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=f63f...4Qzg2QzYwJnZpZXc9ZGV0YWlsJkZPUk09VklSRQ&ntb=1
This was promoted as a "definitive guide". Very hard to watch. I skipped around a bit and most of what I saw was unfocused shots of connectors. I assume he eventually got to the point, but I lost interest.
I think I saw the same "definitive guide" which left me with more questions. Want to unlearn that.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
I think I saw the same "definitive guide" which left me with more questions.
There's a lot of crap on YT. A 20+ minute video on how to crimp DuPont connectors is probably just a way to monetize your time; assuming anyone was dumb enough to watch a significant portion before realizing the guy didn't know what he was talking about. Occasionally I've learned something watching YT videos, but most of those self-proclaimed experts don't really know much. I've watched some that looked like they were trying for a Darwin award.
 

Thread Starter

clangray

Joined Nov 4, 2018
261
Ok doing some follow-up work on this post. Initially the problem was with solid wire then I honed my skills which produced adequate results after I was more aggressive with seating the wings/pin into the ratchet tool. After that I was able to produce close to 100% of good crimping for this DuPont connector.

Then I encountered a need for stranded wire instead of solid and some of my old problems came up again. I was able to seat the pin/wings in the crimper but afterwards with a little stress the crimped fell apart. The only way to seat it completely was to use a pliers tip and literally pull the connector housing from the pin tip gripped by the pliers. photos pending

When are you to be satisfied - with the result. When should the results be acceptable here? Using the stranded wire, I am able to get the a DuPont connector attachment, completely seated if I use pliers. Is this a finished job or should I keep on running it? I don't like working that hard if it can be done more easily. And the pin tip sustained some mired damaged but is still there nonetheless.IMG_2022.jpg
 

Attachments

Last edited:

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
Then I encountered a need for stranded wire instead of solid and some of my old problems came up again. I was able to seat the pin/wings in the crimper but afterwards with a little stress the crimped fell apart. The only way to seat it completely was to use a pliers tip and literally pull the connector housing from the pin tip gripped by the pliers. photos pending
High reliability applications don't allow crimps on solid wire (think NASA).

Post pictures of your failed crimps, before mangling them with pliers. With SN-28B, you should be able to do both crimps at the same time and not need to use pliers to get good crimps.

EDIT: OP added pictures after my post.
 
Last edited:

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
High reliability applications don't allow crimps on solid wire (think NASA).

Post pictures of your failed crimps, before mangling them with pliers. With SN-28B, you should be able to do both crimps at the same time and not need to use pliers to get good crimps.
Let me put my own spin on it. It you need to operations to crimp the wire and the strain relief you are probably not using the right tool. I worked in a couple of small companies that apparently could not really afford the proper tools and dies and they had terrible quality cables -yes, sometimes they worked! Everybody else used the manufacturer-recommended tools and they did not have problems. If you are in business, it is with a doubt worth the investment. If you are hobbyist, you might just make do with that you can do with tools on hand but they will probably continue to give disappointing results, like I had.
 

dl324

Joined Mar 30, 2015
16,839
To diagnose your crimping issues, we need to see pictures of the crimp. We can see if you're going to have problems with the housing if you provide clearly focused pictures of the connector after crimping.

1661541117842.png
Are you re-using housings that have previously failed one of your pull tests? Are you still damaging the prongs that hold the male connectors in the housing?

If you're using the end of your wire strippers to pull the male connector into the housing; you shouldn't need to do that and it looks like you're damaging the pin.
 
Top