MC4 Install Crimping Easy DIY

I dont usually do much commenting, however..... this is a masterclass in "how to" videos - all the required information present clearly and quickly. Bravo !! and thank you..

Best explanation and presentation on the web
Well done sir

"Crimp gun" a what?

Why does the female pin go to male mc4 and male pin to male mc4?

Was looking for a refresher and found your video Johnny. Super clear and to the point, awesome.

This is all fine and dandy, but this amateur viewer has reservations about buying a crimper kit when all I need to do is use it one time to build my small system.

This is an old video but a few corrections here.

First, use the largest AWG that fits into the crimp if you can. Either 10AWG or 12AWG, generally. Do NOT use wire thinner than 12AWG, it won't make for a good crimp. It MUST be stranded copper or stranded tin-plated copper wire. It should NOT be "poofy" wire (tin-plated copper wire with 200+ really thin strands). Poofy wire should never be used in these applications. Use wiring explicitly designed for solar applications which means 10AWG or 6mm^2 stranded copper wire with no more than a few dozen strands (and usually not tin-plated either).

Second, don't twist the wire. The crimp folds over and pushes into the middle of the wire bundle. Twisting the wire may cause the crimp to cut the wire while it is pushing into it. The wire should be kept straight. The crimp retains the wire because the extra wire past the end of the crimped metal splays out and prevents it from being pulled out (like how most crimps work).

Third, if you want something that will last the life of the system, consider soldering after crimping. It is very easy to solder the wire after you've crimped it, before placing it in the housing. This does require a hot iron due to the amount of metal and wire involved and a soft vice to hold the wire. The solder will soak and flow very nicely and basically guarantee that the crimp will never become loose.

The only thing to watch out for is to be sure that you don't put so much solder in that it flows into the retaining tabs on the pin for the plastic housing (the wire should not extend that far into the pin anyway). But also don't put in too little. The solder should completely fill the crimp area and flow nicely into the excess wire area past the crimp area as well.

Poor crimps and/or not soldering can result in excessive heat at the junction, and other problems over time.

You don't need to use the wrenches to finish screwing in the housing. It should be done by hand. It doesn't "tighten" per-say, you just screw it in until it hits its stop. The seal is made by the rubber gasket inside, not by tightening. So just make sure its screwed down all the way, that's all.

There are 3 different places to crimp. You didnt mention which to use. I have the same tool and i believe if the cable is 2.5mm2 then you use the end crimp .it is marked 2 5mm2

So the shorter crimp sleeve is the female and the longer goes in male ? Kinda like , well you know......

Greetings, You have a few mistakes in the video. MC-4 is not a generic term for the connectors on solar panels, they are made by Staubli. All of the Chinese solar panels I have seen, say "Compatible" with MC-4. This is not a UL tested term and they might fit together but not perfectly. When moving 600 to 1,000v you want perfect. You don't want to mix and match connectors, you want the same brand on both sides of the connections.
The wire you show is not #10 or typical solar wire, which has a double jacket for protection and is thicker.
The blue plastic sockets are not meant for the final tightening, perhaps with some of the "compatible" connectors, but not with MC-4. They are only meant to snug up the fitting. Staubli actually has (an expensive) torque wrench to tightern the final threads. It is moderatly easy to cross thread the nut and the threads, if this happens you have to start over with a new connector.
Improper connectors are the #1 point of failure in a solar system, by far.
These techniques might be OK for a small cheap low voltage solar panel, but not for a house where you have up to 600v or a commercial roof with up to 1000v.

You have your male and female connection back to front. It's based on the internal metal ferrule not the external plastic. Generally, the female MC4 connector is associated with the positive lead and the male connector is associated with the negative lead. Though I guess it doesnt matter what you call it as long as they go to the right place.

Thank you so much. Following these instructions I was able to hook up the extension wire to my solar panels all by myself. 😁

Best MC4 connector demo

Mate thanks for the explanation, you’re a legend! It has sped my day up enormously! Subscribed all that thank you!

Thanks but would like to know how to disassemble as cable came pre installed

Just starting my DIY solar project. Great instructional video, thanks.

جانی بھاٸ سلام 👍
میں آپکی لینگویج نہیں جانتا ھوں لیکن میں نے آپکی وڈیو دیکھ کر بہت کچھ سمجھا ھے جس کے لیے میں آپکا دل سے بہت بہت شکریہ ادا کرتا ھوں اور اللہ پاک سے دعاگو ھوں کہ آپکے علم میں مذید اضافہ کرے شکریہ 🌹

Thanks

Hey, thank you so much! Never did this before, & your video explained & showed in detail how it's done. Some other videos were vague, incomplete & too fast. The one on Amazon was such bad quality, I couldn't even see what the guy was doing.

This is all brand new to me and I have been trying to figure out which of the pins were male or female. I've watched about a dozen videos including ones from solar companies. Yours is the 1st to show me, not just say, which is m/f and the part about keeping the couples together was PERFECT! I will remember that FOREVER!!! I can't thank you enough! I have no idea what your channel's about but you have a new subscriber and I'm excited to find out.

"Keep the couples together and you won't have any problems"😂 Thanks for the video.

What gauge wire are you using in the video?

Thank you for a clear and concise video.

Perfect video. Moreover I happen to have the exact same tools.
One thing to add: the pins must be pressed/pushed in position pretty hard until it ‘clicks’.
I have had a couple of instances where the contractor (pin) was too recessed and it did not work.
Thanks!!

Short sweet and to the point, brilliant

I can’t believe how beautiful and wonderful this video was. Head and shoulders above other videos trying to explain the technique. Thank you for taking your time and explaining everything thoroughly.

Do you know how to make solar panel connectors longer for parallel T branch connectors? My panel connectors are too short, and I need to make extensions. I am thinking I need two red and two black, but would they need a positive connector on one side and negative connectors on the other or would it be two female connector on each side of the negative connector and two males for the positive connectors?

I like it!

Thank you very much.

Perfect tutorial, thank you!

I must have bought a bad kit because I was crimping a female pin for the male plug and in the kit was 5 of each pin male and female. I was trying to finish off my project with a female metal pin to go into the male plastic plug and I did everything you did but the metal pin would break after crimping the metal pin would just fall off in pieces I ended up using all 5 female pins and every single one broke off the wire in pieces. That being said, I was using another kit before this last kit and everything worked fine, I didn't have a problem until I used that last package kit of MC4 connectors. Very very frustrating I was more than angry because I couldn't complete my project and now have to wait for my order for more MC4 connectors to come in!

My grade school kid said it's okay if you want to put the female connector in the female plug; the teacher told her so.

wow - great video, wish I saw this before I ruined several connectors by putting male in male, etc :)

Very good instructional video. Thanks.

You need to fix the Ecoflow and Acevolt power links.

It would be great to see a demo video for the 10mm2 connectors. They don't seem to have the same crimp fitting.

Perfect, love that fast advice with no bullshit around. Thanks!

Do you have other links besides Amazon? Amazon sucks. I really like your video and want to support your stuff but Amazon is my last choice to purchase anything from..

Very simple and too the point video that just gives the facts! Keep it up man!

I bet "The Couple Thing" makes some heads explode Lol😂

The best instructional video on mc4 by far, thank you!
Others just showed crimping, screwing connectors, done 🙁🤔
But you explained the most important thing that people don’t know:
Male pin into female connector.
Female pin into male connector.
Good job 👍🏼

Fantastic! Thank you! I did a small custom solar job on a roof and I used marine crimp heat shrink connectors as I didn’t have the tools or parts to make custom ends. Now that I see how easy it is, I will use them!

Good video