Compression fittings on terminals

[2step]

I've never done any high end equipment installs so somebody answer a question for me. I have a pair of battery terminals with compression fittings for the 4ga cables. Do I just insert the cable/wire straight in and torque the fitting on down? Will that crush the inside part of the fitting onto the wire?
Or do I run the cable through the fitting and bend the strands of wire back over the fitting and then stick it in and turn it down?
I hope that I was able to word my question to make sense. [:I]

[quicksilverdon]

Think I follow you. It's meant for wire to be stuck in flush, then crimped - but with a special tool for crimping. By pushing thru and turning wires back, you'll prevent wire from pulling out, but not necessarily improve the connection. Another option is to insert flush and solder - good contact and won't pull out.

[chaase]

quote:Originally posted by quicksilverdon

Think I follow you. It's meant for wire to be stuck in flush, then crimped - but with a special tool for crimping. By pushing thru and turning wires back, you'll prevent wire from pulling out, but not necessarily improve the connection. Another option is to insert flush and solder - good contact and won't pull out.

quicksilverdon is correct, you need a crimping tool. If you want to be sure of the connection, I would solder it.

[RallyDRock]

something like this?

strip the end of the wire. insert into fitting and tighten the nut.
soldering it in is also a good idea as chaase said. you shouldnt need a crimping tool for compression fittings.

[2step]

Thanks for your help on this. I started out calling it a compression fitting so I may have misnamed it. Here's a more graphic "display" of my question.


The fitting you see there is really 2 pieces. The nipple/collar end is attached loosely to the nut to allow it to spin when you turn the nut on down. The collar is a bit larger than the bare wire and a bit smaller than the cavity in the terminal. There is no tight contact. At least a 1/16" of slop or more. The the fitting will screw all the way in and not touch the sides or bottom to deform the collar. It looks like a combination of crimping and soldering would be the hot set up.
Is there a tool that crimps all around in a star pattern rather than a single chrush on one side? Chrushing it flat won't work for sure.