Make This DIY Adapter to Prevent Damaging Electrical Connector Terminals

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In this video, we're going to show you how to make a terminal testing tool for your multimeter or a test light. What this is for: say you have a little wiring connector, like this micro connector here, you need to try to see if there's power and ground coming out of this connector. You take your leads, but they don't fit in there. Now you could really force it in there, but then you risk damaging this or getting a loose, sloppy connection and possibly creating another problem while trying to fix one. With just a couple of things that most people should have lying around in their toolbox, you can make this little extension that sits nice and snug on the end of your lead. It's insulated, so if you have to test both sides, you're not going to risk crossing them over and shorting it out. It fits down into that terminal nice and easy, so we can test it without risking our connector. To make one of these terminal testing tools, and I do recommend you make a pair for when you have to test switches and things like that, you'll need a red butt connector. This should be a 22-18 gauge connector. You need a little piece of shrink wrap to slide over that and an uninsulated, unpainted paperclip. You can't use the ones that have those little clear coatings or any kind of paint on them. They're not going to conduct and give you a proper reading. You also need a lighter or a heat gun and a pair of wiring crimp tools.

Start by taking your butt connector, and using the 10-8 gauge piece of your strippers, press down around there nice and evenly. Rotate it a little, and crimp it a little, and rotate, and strip. Eventually it'll pop off and give us some bare metal there. The reason we're doing that is so the shrink tube slides over that nicely. Take the paper clip. Fold the long leg out nice and straight. Now depending on your needs, you may want to make a few of these in different lengths, but I've found that usually just cutting that straight part right after that bend is all you need.

Lay the heat shrink onto it. Leave just a little bit poking out the end there. Feel for where your wire ends and then cut off the shrink tube. Lay that in there about half way. You want to find the seam in the connector and put it in the non-insulated crimp with the pointed end facing down into that notch. You're going to have to hold that, crimp it down over there nice and tight, and then roll this side in just so it looks a little bit nicer. Lay your piece of shrink tube over. Now see, we've stuck it in too far there, so we'll have to trim this down just a little more. You want enough to get down into the connector, but not so much that you could risk shorting it out doing testing of two terminals at once for power and ground or a rocker switch.

Just use a little bit of heat; bring that down without melting it, so now it's nice and insulated. Depending on what kind of leads you have on the end of your multimeter, this may fit kind of loose. You'll take the insulated crimp portion of your pliers, and just squeeze that down a little, and check until it's on there nice and tight. You can now reach down into those tight little connectors and test them properly.

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