Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Working on the Malibu

I was working on the Malibu today.  The big items from earlier in the summer sucked the folding money right out of my budget so I am working on smaller items that don't cost much.

I want to get the Malibu ready for Belladonna to take back to school and not have to worry about it failing.

Today's item was to get the Auxiliary Power Outlets functional.  Ok, ok...cigarette lighters to us older folks.

Bella uses one solely to charge her phone.

I bought a new one at the local parts place for about $7 but it had 1/4 inch "spade" terminals which were different than the factory terminals.

Having experience with crimp-on terminals (and no joy), I consulted with one of my friends who is an expert.  He makes his living selling, installing and repairing central vacuum systems and lighting systems.

I spent the big dollar for this tool, $17.  It only does one thing, crimp-on terminals, but it does it very, very well.  The handles are 8" long and stout.  The jaws line up and don't flex.
He told me that the only crimper that ever worked for him had male/female details that crushed the terminal-wire into a "C" shape.  Those details are circled in red in the photo shown above.  Furthermore, he told me to ignore the package which suggested that one set of details (the ones to the left of the red circle) should be used for terminals with insulating sleeves on them.  He uses the male/female on EVERYTHING.

I followed his advice.  I bought a tool similar to the one he showed me.  One of her Auxiliary Power Outlets is now functional and she is happy.  Maybe tomorrow I will tackle the second one.

5 comments:

  1. Yep, those WORK! I'm surprised they don't say Klein on the side... Of course if they did, they'd be $50! :-)

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    1. I was not entirely clear. I did not buy a tool identical to the one he uses. I bought a tool that had the same kind of male/female detail for crimping the terminals.

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  3. Where d'ja get it? By the way, no substitute for good old Rosin Core for this, especially if it's a high-draw connection like a ciggie lighter, and especially if you need it to be high-reliability.

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    1. I got it at Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Commercial-Electric-9-75-in-Crimping-Tool-with-Cutter-CE140901/207143095

      I agree about the soldering. Given the tight confines of where I was working, I was concerned about how much insulation I might have to remove or might melt away. Nothing like doing a bunch of fiddly work and having it short after you push it back into the hole. All that said, I am NOT the world's greatest soldering guy.

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