This week I am giving you a guide to insulated ferrules, one of the simplest crimp terminals with a choice of colours.
These simple terminals are a great device for bare-end wire, eliminating the need to solder and enabling the user to insert the cable into terminal blocks and other similar terminations.
Insulated ferrules were originally introduced in the 1970’s and are still amazingly popular today, found just about everywhere a simple connection is required. The colour coding was standardised to DIN 46228
The colour coding is often confusing as there are two basic versions – the French and the German standard (see below box). When deciding what colour to use, the answer is determined by the wire gauge, for example : a 1mm2 cable will use either a Red (French) or Yellow (German) colour.
At this point you may be asking what is the most popular colour to use? The answer is simple! It is up to you or your customer. Whoever controls the design can decide, but in my experience simple is best. If your end country of use is France or Germany then use the corresponding colours, otherwise you are free to choose your own.
Insulated ferrules also come in twin-entry versions, making a 2-1 termination quick and simple. We in the cable assembly business like them because not only are they neat and low on labour, I think they look great, too.
So there you have it, a simple crimp terminal with many applications. You know these, you see them every day and now you know why they come in such a variety of colours…and which ones to use, of course!
