Spade terminals - have sizes altered over the years?

[anthonym]

25 year old wiring, old female spades don't seem to be very tight over the new spades, on the coil to be exact.

 

Maybe manufacturing tolerances or.. or imperial to metric or what?

 

A quick teak tightens the females and the fit seems ok, but they are old and may be a bit past being tweaked with any longevity for the tweak.

 

I wonder if there is any chance of replies relating to spade terminals... 😳

 

Anthony

 

[Bob Simon]

Newer spades are made thinner in consumer products in an effort to save materials, however, Fastons should be able to connect to any thickness spade. I would venture a guess that your Fastons have fatigued to the point that they no longer have enough tension on the spade. Squishing them probably is not a good idea. Crimp on some new Fastons and you won't be left by the side of the motorway.

 

I recommend the line of PIDG fastons from AMP as they are the preferred connector in the aviation industry.

 

For reference:

www.aeroelectric.com/articles/faston3.pdf

www.aeroelectric.com/articles/terminal.pdf

 

 

 

 

[New Cat]

I'll put in a disclaimer that I am no expert but have also found this.

 

However, aren't they graded by amps and with that amp grading size to a degree too?

i.e. Yellow 30amp bigger than blues then reds? Maybe swapping from a Yellow to a blue or blue to red will give a better fit?

 

Just an idea

 

Jon

[Myles]

It always annoys me that standard ring-terminal crimp-on connectors seem to have a built-in assumption that a smaller wire (e.g. a Red connector) will be attached to a small stud/bolt.

 

So I usually end up double/trippling-up the uninsulated tail of the wire in question so that there's a fighting chance of the yellow/blue ring-terminals crimping down on such a weedy wire.

 

All of this is probably highly frowned-on - but when you're out on tour and need a hotel-carpark fix, needs-must....

 

 

(At least I haven't deployed any Scotchlocks in recent years 😬)

[Tyrone]

At least I haven't deployed any Scotchlocks in recent years

We found one or two under the dash of the shed.

 

The yellow, blue and red vary for the size of wire going in to them not the spade they connect on to.

[Ian B]

Quoting Myles: 

It always annoys me that standard ring-terminal crimp-on connectors seem to have a built-in assumption that a smaller wire (e.g. a Red connector) will be attached to a small stud/bolt.

Here you go Myles up to M8 and

M12 red ring crimp

[Myles]

The yellow, blue and red vary for the size of wire going in to them not the spade they connect on to.

 

Yes, I know - but the assumption in readily-available (e.g. Halfords) packs is that ickle-wires connect to ickle-studs and dweat-beeg monster-wires connect to correspondingly-huge STUDS OF DOOOOOOM!

 

So, thanks Ian

[Tyrone]

Yes, I know

Myles, I know you know. I was responding to Jon.

[David Brown]

They come in 3 widths - 2.8, 4.8 & 6.3mm and two thicknesses 0.5 & 0.7mm.

 

David