Contacts Come in Various Sizes
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| #16 contacts are recommended for wire sizes 16, 18, 20, and 22 (AWG) | |
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| #0 contacts are recommended for wire sizes 0, 1, and 2 (AWG) | |
The first step in building your connector is to determine the contact requirements for your wires. The number and size of the wires you have will dictate the number and size of contacts your connector must have.
For example, let’s say we are trying to connect 3 x 16 AWG wires and 2 x 12 AWG wires. By looking at the table below we can determine that size 16 AWG wires require size #16 contacts, and that the size 12 AWG wires require size #12 contacts.
(This table is an excerpt from the contact specification page of our catalog. Please reference most recent catalog specifications.)
To learn more about contacts you can visit our Contacts page. Or, you can continue learning the steps to building a custom connector. Once we have established the contact sizes for our wires, we can proceed to the next step Select a Connector Series
Summary
- The number and size of wires you are connecting must be determined first
- Contacts are sized for specific wire sizes
- Not all conatct sizes are available in both connector series
