Crimping Phase Wire Connectors
A properly crimped connection is pretty much the gold standard for ensuring that your wiring will not fail. The metals in solder do degrade over time and in addition it is much easier for the lay person to get comfortable with crimping than soldering. If you follow the guide here you should have no problems making solid and reliable connections with your phase wires and indeed on any other project that needs a wire terminal crimping.
Insulated Spade Connectors
The phase wires for connecting the BSSHD or Ultra motor to the BAC855 use insulated spade connectors. These are quite chunky connectors that need to be crimped on the ends of the colored phase wires if you requested your kit to be supplied with them uncrimped.
This is not a difficult task with the right tools. If your tools are not quite optimal we will show a technique that can help get a good result.
You Will Need These Tools
In order to a good job you will need quality tools. They do not have to cost the earth but it is worth investing in the following.
Wire Strippers - There are many type of these but our preference for ease of use is the self adjusting variety that can deal with all guages of wire used with Ebikes.
Crimping Tool - The ratcheting type of crimpers do the best job by far as they apply a consistent pressure and deliver a reliable result. Prices tend to vary. We will show how you can use a combination of tools you may have to get a good result. It is not recommended to use the old style of crimper which relies on hand strength alone.
What Is A Good Crimp
What you are looking for with a good crimp is for the metal jacket to be compressed in a way which tightly grips the wire which is inserted into it. The best type of crimping tool to do this has teeth which bend the jacket inwards when applying pressure. This distortion grips the wire and compresses it so that a good contact is made and the wire cannot be pulled out or come loose with vibration or expansion due to heat. It is recommended to use a ratcheting style crimper with teeth to make crush the metal jacket in the correct way. See the image for details on what a crimp should look like when it is complete.
Making The Crimp
In order to crimp on the terminal you need to do the following.
Expose 10mm of bare wire at the end of the phase wire with wire strippers.
Push the exposed wire into the end of the connector so you can see that the copper is fully inserted.
Use your crimping tool to crush the metal jacket of the connector around the copper wire.
Verify that the crimp is good visually and physically.
** We send a spare crimp connector in case you make a mistake the first time.**
If Your Tools are Not Ideal
Many ratcheting crimpers are not wide enough to fit the insulated connectors. You can get around this with the technique shown in the image. Use the first type of crimper to put an oval on the metal jacket. This will allow it to fit further into the ratcheting style crimpers. These crimpers will finish the job.
Finish The Job!
Once all the connections have been made use a lighter or a heat gun to reduce the plastic heat shrink that has been supplied. This will leave the job with a nice clean finish.