I'm going to say something that might annoy cable purists: Most cable failures I've run into were not cable failures. They were crimp failures. The weakest point in a cable system is the last two centimeters—where the connector meets the conductor. And most of the time it fails because someone didn't respect what a proper crimp requires.
I've been handling cable and connector orders for about eight years. In that time, I've personally made and documented 14 significant mistakes—all avoidable—totaling roughly $28,000 in wasted budget. That's why I now maintain our team's checklist. It's not a fancy quality system; it's just the list I wish someone had given me in 2017.
Yes, I work a lot with Nexans. I've bought from Nexans Inc. in North America, dealt with Nexans Norway AS on offshore projects, and searched for 'Nexans Kabel' on European stock lists. But this isn't a 'buy this brand' post. It's a post about why cable quality and connector quality have to be considered together—and why most answers to 'how to crimp connectors' are incomplete.
Why I stopped blaming the cable
In my first year, I ordered a run of low-voltage cable from a secondary distributor. The cable itself looked great. The problem, actually, was connector selection. We didn't have a formal process for matching the connector barrel to the exact conductor size. I checked the first crimp visually, approved the batch, and moved on.
The customer's inspector caught it when he tried to insert the finished conductor into the switching gear. The connector wasn't crimped enough. We had to cut and redo every end. I want to say that order was around $3,200, though I might be misremembering the exact figure. The redo cost $890 plus a one-week delay. That's when I learned to inspect a cutaway of the crimp, not just the outside shine.
A cable can meet every spec on the data sheet and still fail if the last two centimeters are done badly.
What 'how to crimp connectors' usually misses
Search for 'how to crimp connectors' and you'll find videos showing a ratchet crimper, a die, and someone saying 'squeeze until it clicks.' That's not wrong, but it's incomplete. What's missing is the process around the crimp:
- Match the connector barrel to the exact conductor size—not 'close enough.'
- Confirm the tool and die are the ones specified by the connector manufacturer.
- Make a test crimp, cut it open, and check the conductor compression.
- Do a pull test on the first actual crimp after any setup change.
- Write the setup down so nobody changes it later by accident.
Let me rephrase that: it's not about doing one perfect crimp. It's about doing the same crimp 200 times without relying on someone's mood or memory. A checklist catches the 5pm version of you that's tired and rushing.
Why I still use Nexans—but not for every project
Here's where my opinion gets more balanced. I keep coming back to Nexans not because they're the only good cable maker, but because their documentation is reliable. The engineering behind Nexans' technologies is solid—the cable data matches the real product, and the support engineers know their own systems. On one offshore-related order, Nexans Norway AS supplied the cable and the connector recommendations in the same system. That made the design review much easier. The engineer I called about a termination question asked about the conductor class, the insulation type, and the die number before answering. That kind of support is part of the product.
But if I'm honest, Nexans is not right for every order. If you're wiring a temporary office floor and your local stock has a cheaper option with valid test certificates, you might be fine with that. Saying 'only Nexans' would be dumb. The right move is to distinguish between critical infrastructure and low-risk work.
I also remember a purchasing analysis that compared Nexans Inc. with a cheaper alternative. The spreadsheet showed the alternative was about 12% cheaper, with similar specs and delivery. My gut said the documentation process would be a pain. I went with the alternative anyway. Then the manufacturer's certificate took another week, and no one could answer a simple question about conductor stranding. It worked on paper but not in practice. I should have trusted the hesitation.
Now we have a simple pre-termination checklist. We didn't have a formal process for verifying the crimp die before, and the third time the wrong barrel size appeared on a production order, I finally wrote one. In the past 18 months, that checklist has caught 47 potential errors. Most were small—wrong strip length, wrong die, wrong orientation. Still, 47 errors that didn't become delays or rework.
Before you say this is overkill
I know some project managers will read this and think, 'We don't have time to write down every die number.' Fair. But how much time does a rejected termination cost? Usually more than the checklist did. The point isn't to turn every job into a military procedure. It's to decide in advance which connections are critical enough to verify.
And be careful with suppliers that promise 'zero failures.' Per FTC guidance (ftc.gov), an absolute performance claim needs evidence. In the cable world, I'd rather see test data and clear installation instructions than a marketing promise that nothing can go wrong. That's another reason I keep going back to the Nexans catalog: they give you specifications to work against, not slogans.
Bottom line
Here is my position: Don't buy cable based only on brand, and don't assume a good crimp depends only on the tool. Cable quality and crimp quality are one system. Buy from a manufacturer you can verify—Nexans is a solid choice for a lot of critical work—but spend at least as much energy on connectors, tooling, and inspection as on the cable itself.
There's something satisfying about a properly crimped connector. The barrel is compressed, the conductor is embedded cleanly, no stray strands. After the mistakes I've made, that little click of a die is a sound I trust. It means the process worked. It means the last two centimeters of the cable are not going to be the reason the project fails.
If you're looking for 'how to crimp connectors' advice, start with the tool manuals and the die charts. But finish with a checklist. Your future self—and the person who comes after you—will thank you.
