Electrical Insight - Electrical Terminals

Some of you may know what some of the materials, products, or tools we are posting are, and others of you may have never seen or used something like this before. We're going to post some behind the scene pictures of material, products, or tools which we use on your projects, both residential and commercial, so you have a little inside scoop and can impress our Spectrum Electrical Services, Inc. electrician next time they stop by!

These are referred to as electrical terminals. "Electrical Terminals are a class of electrical connector which are used to transfer electrical current from a power or grounding source to a use. Terminals "terminate" by crimping or soldering to wire or cable. Crimped terminals, or "compression terminals" are a subset of electrical terminals. The terminal is then "connected" to the source or use by a mechanical bolted, pin, or slot connection. Terminals are differentiated from splices, another class of electrical connector, in that they have only one terminating conductor and one mechanical connection, where splices involve two or more terminating conductors and no mechanical connection.

When selecting terminals for termination of wire or cable, one usually must know the size/gauge of the type of wire/cable being terminated as well as the size/geometry of the mechanical connector... Other considerations are whether the terminal requires its own insulation, corrosion-protection, and what method of "termination" is required."