You’ll need a few specialty tools to tackle an off-grid electrical system project and summarizing those tools and what they are for is exactly what I’m going to cover today in lesson #13 of this Wire Terminals playlist.
Over the last 12 videos of this academy I’ve taught you everything you need to know about cutting, stripping, crimping, and heat shrinking all of the different terminals you’ll encounter during your next electrical project and this video is less of a tutorial of how the tools work, and instead, a summary of what tools you’ll need for what purposes. The ‘what’ instead of the ‘how’, if you will. If you need the ‘how’, we’ve linked the full ‘Wire Terminals’ playlist in the video description below.
I think it’s also worth noting that, although you do need some specialty tools for an off-grid electrical installation, it’s not going to be thousands of dollars in new tools. All of these together are under $500 (as of filming this video), and I think you’ll find several of them useful to have in your toolbox regardless.
Let’s get started.
Basic Electrical Tools VIDEO
Wire Cutters
I’ve got three types of wire cutters I use for cutting different sizes and types of wire:
- 5” Diagonal Flush Cutters (https://amzn.to/3zCO7KP)
- Wires 10 AWG and smaller
- Working in tight spaces
- 9” Diagonal Cutters (https://amzn.to/3zVEcjy)
- Wires 6 AWG and smaller
- Multiconductor wires 10 AWG and smaller
- For example: 10/2 w ground or 12/3
- Klein 63030 1” Coaxial Cutters (https://amzn.to/3S9eleq)
- Wires 6 AWG and larger
- All multi-conductor wires
- Specifically multi-conductor wires larger than 10AWG (6/3 and 6/4 for example)
- Also used for stripping wire 4AWG and larger.
Crimpers:
Note: These ferrule crimpers are mostly ‘amazon brands’. Nothing special. I’ll put links to appropriate variations in the video description.
Wire Strippers
