Weather Pack Connectors: For starters, every other machine, including your car, needs a reliable electrical connection that can work even in extreme conditions. However, for your electrical connection to function that way, you must use reliable connectors, also known as terminal pins. In this article, I explain weather pack connectors, including what they are and how to crimp them properly.
What Is a Weather Pack?
As the name suggests, the Weather Pack connector is an electrical system connection type that withstands the weather.
It can endure the harshest environments, including moisture, engine fluids and chemicals, and extreme temperatures.
The system is from Packard engineers and is popular for its usage in off-road, racing vehicles, and industrial machines.
The system features a heat-resistant polyamide housing, pin and socket terminals, plus a self-lubricating silicon seal.
What most people love about these connectors is the nylon construction to withstand both high temperatures and mechanical stress.
Additionally, its terminal features a tin plating and uses a flexible pin and lap locking for reliability and security. Lastly, the cable seals lubricate automatically and have several sealing ribs to prevent strain, deterioration, and corrosion.
Its temperature rating is -40 to 125 degrees Celsius, plus 0- 20 amperage, to get a clear picture of its strength.
An electrical system connection
How Do I Choose The Right Size Cable Seal?
Before we can discuss the choice of the cable sealing size, note that they appear in one up to six wire configurations. Typically, you consider the seal based on the insulation size of your wire. With that said, use the following specifications as the manufacturer recommends:
- When using wire types GPT and GXL, utilize the red seal for gauge 22 wire. Also, use the green seal for gauge 20, 18, and 16 wire. Other recommendations are that a 14-gauge wire uses the gray seal while that of gauge 12 uses the blue seal.
- For wire type SXL, use the green seal for gauges 18 and 20 and the gray seal for 16 gauge. Additionally, the blue seal fits the wires of gauges 12 and 14.
- For those who use wire type TXL for thin wall construction then utilize the red seal for 20 gauge. Also the green seal for gauges 18, 16, and 14, the gray seal for 12, and the blue seal for 10.
Ensure the seal fits on the wire insulation tightly to keep off moisture and other fluids.
A cable with seals at the ends
How Can I Crimp a Weather Pack Connector?
As you may expect, crimping the weather pack connector is the secret to an excellent, reliable seal. However, it should be snug enough to prevent moisture penetration and not so tight to break the seal. Let’s now discuss how to crimp a weather pack connector, but first, you require the following tool.
- A weather pack connector (male and female)
- A wire that fits your connector gauge
- A crimping tool, depending on your connector barrel terminal. For instance, for an open barrel, use type B, and for a closed barrel terminal, use type F crimping tool.
- Wire stripper for wire insulation stripping
- Wire seals and ensure they are the correct size for extra protection on the crimped joint.
Steps
Wire preparation
In this first step, measure the size of the wire you require. Then, cut this length using a wire cutter to fit your usage. Then, take your striper and strip off the insulator from the end where you want to fix the terminal. Ensure your stipped length coincides with the terminal barrel you intend to use.
Wire Seal Insertion
Once you have prepared the wire, it’s time to insert the correct weather pack seal. Ensure you use the factors we discussed earlier to determine the seal size. Now, insert it over the wire insulator where the stripping starts. While doing so, ensure a flush fit with the exposed conductor.
Place weather pack terminals on the crimping tool.
In this next step, carefully place your weather pack terminals on the crimping tool. Now hold the tool and squeeze a bit to ensure the terminal is held in place. While doing this procedure, ensure your crimping tool jaws match the terminals you use.
Crimping a wire
Insert stripped wires
When done positioning the terminals on the crimping tool, insert the stripped wires on the terminals. While here, ensure proper alignment of the terminal barrel with your wire seal.
You can do this by ensuring the connector’s small tabs are on the wires. In this regard, ensure the large tabs are on the seal for complete crimping.
Do the crimping
After setting all the above in place on the criping tool, squeeze its handles until crimping occurs.
Here, you need to firmly close the jaws of the tool completely until the terminal attaches snuggly to the conductor. From there, you will also need to crimp the seal tabs for an excellent joint.
While doing so, ensure your crimping tool has a proper ratcheting mechanism that returns to position once it completes crimping.
Inspect the connection quality.
In this final step, you will need to validate the quality of your crimping. To do so, inspect your joint carefully, to see if there are any defects. You might also consider pulling the wire gently to see if the crimping joint is tight enough.
Insert the terminal into the housing.
Now that you finally have your joint snug and functional, it’s time to insert the terminal into the connector housing. Ensure it clicks not only for functionality but also for security and reliability. Remember to use the female terminal with tower housing and the male one with the shroud casing.
Wrap up
With the above discussion, you know a lot about weather pack connectors. For this to work, ensure proper crimping using the above steps for a reliable and snug connection.
