Tin plated copper for maximum conductivity
and corrosion resistance.

Molded nylon insulation for better heat and
vibration resistance.

Our supplier was carefully chosen based on
the following performance criteria:

US manufacturing base of operations
Vertical integration for lower cost
UL certification capabilities

Let’s take these one at a time:
USA manufacturing. We believe it’s important
to support US manufacturing, and our supplier
passes that test with flying colors. Not only is
production based in the USA, but feed stock
raw materials such as Nylon, PVC’s, and ETP
copper strip are also of domestic origin…this
is equally important in our view!

Vertical integration means everything is
basically done in-house, top to bottom. Starting
with the bulk nylon and PVC (polyvinylchloride)
pellets, these are blended for proper coloring
and then injection molded or extruded into the
final insulator. The copper used comes in giant
coils and is processed through progressive die
stamping equipment to produce the raw
terminals. They even make all their production
tooling in house too.

Getting into the weeds:
ETP! What’s that? ETP stands for “Electrolytic
Tough Pitch”. Huh??
Short Answer: ETP is the highest grade of
electrical conductivity copper available. In terms
of conductivity the next level up is silver, which is
obviously unreasonable for everyday wire
terminal applications. So back in the day the
term “tough pitch” originated from the time when
molten copper, after refining, was cast into ingot
molds. During refining the copper was oxidized
to remove impurities, and then reduced by
hydrogen to give the correct oxygen level. To
monitor this process a small samples was taken
and the solidification surface observed. If the
surface sunk there was too much oxygen. If it
was raised there was too much hydrogen. If it
was level (correct pitch), the oxygen level was
correct and the properties were good; in other 
words “tough”, and hence the term “tough pitch”.

Annealing is the process of controlled heating of
the raw terminal. This is required after cold
forming to relieve the stresses that are created in
the material during cold forming. This restores
flexibility to the cold worked terminal. Some
manufacturers will skip this step to save money.
Cheap terminals will be brittle; you can
demonstrate this by grabbing the terminal pad
and bending it back and forth. If it breaks or
cracks, or is difficult to bend, you’ve got a cheap
terminal. Vibration can do this to terminals in the
same manner as your bending it. You get what
you pay for! 

Insulation: We only use extruded insulation for
our butt connectors (as do all other manufacturers).
Molded nylon or vinyl insulation is superior to
extrusions and much less likely to split while
crimping. All of our terminals with insulation have
a flared or funneled entry, which allows for easier
wire insertion with no hang-ups. For our heat shrink
terminals we top quality genuine 3M heat shrink
tubing. Nylon insulation is more pliable (and thus
easier to crimp) and has better heat resistance than
vinyl. Heat shrink tubing provides the best
protection against moisture intrusion. Vinyl (PVC) is
the most economical and is suitable for general
purpose applications.