Spectro Mega Crimp Jr. Terminal and Lug Crimping Tool - 15" Long

Video Transcript for Review of Spectro Tools for Wiring - Mega Crimpers - SWC50101

Ellen: Hey everyone. I'm Ellen here at etrailer.com. Today we're going to be taking a look at the Spectro Mega Crimp Jr terminal and lug crimping tool. So this is going to be a hand crimper, it's going to allow you to crimp down those larger lugs on a battery cable or something that has a little bit more size to it than just a little insulated butt connector. So typically it's going to be used on those bigger wires, like connecting to your battery and things like that. This is going to be a good choice for any kind of automotive use.

A lot of people have a debate between, should you solder wire or should you crimp wire, but generally people regard crimping as superior to soldering in this instance because whenever you have a connection out of the road, it's going to be undergoing a lot of vibration as it's traveling. So crimping typically does better over soldering, if you do it right.This is going to help us to do that. We'll have several different sizes to choose from for different applications of lugs, two on the end of the wires, I'll help you figure out if this is going to be the right size for you. It does have seven different choices as far as the size of an actual opening this fits, but that can be used for a couple more than just seven applications. So pretty easy to use, you just crimp it down, select a size, crimp it down to turn it about 45 degrees.

Crimp it again, and you should be good to go. The thing that I like about is that it has fairly long handles, so you can get good leverage on it, but not so much that it makes it really unwieldy or hard to store in a toolbox or a drawer somewhere out of the way.So let's take a little closer look at the opening here. To adjust the size, it's easiest to do this with the jaws open. So spread the arms out there. I'll try to get this around so you can see it right side up.

So to adjust the size, right now I have it set at nine or 10, or excuse me, six or 10. So these numbers do not correspond to wire size. It's the millimeter circumference, or this is circumference in millimeters for this space. So don't be fooled, it does not work for six gauge wire. It works for about 10 gauge wire up to one OD.

So just keep that in mind. To adjust it, you have these two posts on the backside, push those in, and it will allow you to rotate that around. So if I want to adjust it to the 16 millimeter size, just push in either side, match them up, you should be good to go.You'll always want to go off of that top number. That's going to be the one that corresponds to the size. It is also printed in the center here of that space. So if not quite sure which one's which that does help you kind of figure it out. It's kind of hard for you guys to see it, but you might be able to see that there from the side so we can make our adjustments there. Now, as far as figuring out if this is going to be the right one for your particular application, it does or it should come with a little chart that should make it kind of easier to figure out which one's going to go for you. So they'll just match up the wire gauge you're using and then the type of terminal or the type of end you're crimping on there. So if you're using a battery terminal with a six gauge wire, you'll want to use the 35 millimeter, this is a misprint it should be 50. There is no 60 option for these sort of just keep that in mind.So these are going to be the most more common connectors, the flare and standard lugs. There's going to be the little lugs that kind of have like a flute on the end, or just a circular opening with flared edge all the way around coming to a ring terminal. So if you have a 10 gauge wire, you'll use that six number or that six measurement that smallest opening, and then going down the list. So an eight gauge will be the 10 opening. Six will be 16 and so on. So hopefully that makes a little bit easier, hard to explain without a visual aid. So that's why I figured I might as well show you guys that chart. So again, if you have an eight gauge wire with that standard and you'd be putting it at the 10 measurement, so we'd slide this back over to the 10 and six, which happened to be on the same rotation, but you'd use that bottom opening there and then crimp it down, make sure it crimps all the way, turn it 45 degrees and crimp it again.And that should get you a solid connection on the end of that wire. You always want to make sure that the wires are melding together so you have that good connection and that it's not going to come off even if you give that little lug pole. I think this is kind of the best of both worlds. Again, as far as size, just because I've seen some that are about this long which does give you more leverage especially if you're using the really big wires and you need a little bit more power to get those crimped all the way down, but this one makes it a little bit more compact. So maybe if you're somebody who goes out on the road on your Jeep or you're an RVeer and you need to have something with you all the time and you have space or limited space, this might be a good option for you. So just somebody keep in mind it's about 15 inches long at the end, and then I think about five and a half inches at the span there for the handle and just about two inches thick at that connector.All in all should be a good tool to have to make sure that you can switch out those battery cables while you're on the road. But that's pretty much going to do it for our look at the Spectro Mega Crimp Jr Terminal lug and crimpy or terminal and lug crimping tool. Thanks for watching.