Hot take: I think terminal block lugs are better than crimp pins for most GA panels

Idk maybe it's just me but I switched to terminal blocks after spending 3 hours on a Cessna 172 panel rework trying to chase a bad crimp. Saves me time on troubleshooting since I can meter each lug without digging into a harness.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_thea20d ago

Used to be all about crimp pins until I spent a whole Saturday redoing a friend's Cherokee panel. One bad pin in a bundle of twenty and you're cutting heatshrink and pulling wires forever. Terminal blocks let you pop a lug off, meter it, and know right then if it's the connection or the wire. Way less swearing involved. Plus you can swap a bad block in two minutes without redoing the whole harness. Not the prettiest thing on the panel but I'll take function over looks every time.

max_torres4420d ago

Man I feel your pain. Bad crimps are the absolute worst.

the_elliot20d ago

Got a buddy who rebuilds old Toyota pickups for a living. He swears by crimp pins with the proper tool and heat shrink. Saw him fix a chewed up tail light harness on an '87 4Runner last month. Took him maybe 15 minutes. With terminal blocks you're stuffing extra length into tight spaces behind panels. Those square blocks catch on everything and sometimes short out against the body. @the_thea I get the testing argument but a Deutsch pin costs a quarter and takes 10 seconds to test with a multimeter. Way cleaner, way more reliable in wet conditions.