Installing power pole connectors takes patients, and a little practice but they are not hard at all. A little skill comes in when skinning the wire and crimping the connector. Power poles connectors make a good connection while being quick to connect and disconnect.
Installing Power Pole Connectors
- The first step is to get everything you will need laid out for you to work.
- The next step is to split the red and black power wire in the middle about an inch down. I usually slide a pace of shrink tubing overt the two wires and leave it until last.
- Then skin each wire equally about 3/8 of an inch back from the end. You can judge the size by comparing it to the part of the crimp it will being going into. Using a wire stripper designed for the size wire you are using will ensure lees damaged strands. Slide the red and black connector together with the hoods facing on the top. The red wire should be on the left. The is so you can plug it into the same set up with the hoods down and polarity will match.
- Align the crimp part of the power poles with the connection part facing up and crimp. You may mess up on the first try but you will get it. The crimping tool is designed to shape the width and height without the crimp getting stuck in the tool. This ensures it will fit into the plastic part and snap in correctly. Make sure you crimp them with the right orientation so the red is on the left with the metal parts facing upward.
- Slide the crimped parts into the plastic parts until you feel them lock into place. This is when I slide the heat shrink tubing up to about a 1/2″ from the connectors and heat it. This keeps the wires from separating any farther and keeps the connector side from moving.
It is always best to use the correct crimping tool designed for power poles, you can find them at crimping tool. I bought just the jaws at first since I already had a crimper for coax connectors but the metal part kept getting stuck.
Installing Power Pole Connectors
These sound like simple instructions and they are, but it will take a few times doing it to learn t he technique. The best thing you can do is get the power pole crimping tool and a good wire stripper. Make sure to buy extra power pole connectors for error and to have them available when needed.