Some things are cheaper when you buy the right stuff up front....

Tom

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
David Beierl
Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 10:15 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Tools

At 10:25 PM 1/10/2011, Rob wrote:
>I'm not arguing... but we are talking about these metal pieces with
>plastic for insulation, you slip a wire in and crimp it. Can HF
>connectors be that bad?

We are.  And as I said, it isn't a question of can they be that bad
(they certainly can, though I don't know whether these particular
ones are), but whether anything but the absolute best you can get
makes sense to put into the very hostile environment of an
automobile.  If you actually enjoy troubleshooting obscure electrical
problems, have at it.  Personally I like crimp connections to work
the way they're supposed to, which means that both connector and tool
are going to cost real money.  NAPA carries 3M or equal connectors
with both vinyl and nylon insulation - nylon is better but vinyl
acceptable for us, though not for the FAA.  Home Depot carries good
crimping tools in the electrician's department for fifteen bucks or
so.  Here's a picture of one:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dbeierl/VanagonMeltedEngineHarness02#54873004809
80688162

If you're also used to cheap electrical tape, while you're at Home
Depot drop five bucks on a roll of Scotch 33+.  You'll never look back.

And you're talking to someone who's presently got a total income of
about $18k to support Vanagon and everything else on.  Some things
are worth what they cost, period.

Yours,
David