I'm getting ready to do another electrical upgrade and have been poking around a bit. Thought I'd try out Knukonceptz's gear this go around. I saw some of their lines use compression fittings and really like the design. I've never been that big of a fan of smashing a wire in with a screw but it does work.

Any experience with these fittings? Often something that looks cool doesn't always play out well in the real world. I've used compression fittings adapting hardline to braided hose and sometimes it can be a pita. Although this is a little different, wasn't sure if they were worth the effort and how secure the connection is.

Thanks!

http://www.knukoncep...mages/Komp1.jpg

http://www.knukoncep...mages/Komp2.jpg

Edited September 3, 201213 yr by dbsupra

The connection is very secure if done correctly. It also provides for greater contact area with the cable.

i have used them on their konfused battery terminals.

DO NOT GET THOSE! The terminal itself is too large to properly secure around standard SAE battery posts.. therefore they NEVER lock down.

I know this from experience.. and no not just from one, i went through 3 of them.

As for the compression fittings, they are a bitch!

The wire has to be exactly a certain length which is exactly not that long. Once you get the correct length.. then the problems start...

Because the wire can't be that long to bend over, the cable itself likes to fall back into the hole because the wire wrapped on the outside isn't long enough to stay steady...

Try holding some 1/0 steady and slightly pulled back AND tighten it down with a wrench about 20 turns before it's tight..

The cable can come loose at any time during those turns.. I hated it.

I also hate jamming wire into a hole held by a screw too.. That's why i use ring terminals on everything.

My personal reason is the wire can and will fray out of the hole over time. Ring terminals obviously wont do that and will not come loose either because of a strong fastener.

I found this out by mistake when I installed two of their Konfused housings. It's different, and a bit more of a PITA, but I'd say it's worth it.

My team mate has some fuse blocks like that. They're a bitch. But you get more surface contact.

As was already stated, they are a pain in the ass.

And i forgot to mention.. They are hell to work with,

Wow. I'm surprised by the responses. I've used the compression fittings quite a few times, including several fittings in the van and in my Jimmy. The nuts will show you exactly where you need to strip the wire at for the best possible connection and they definitely offer more surface contact. I do agree with shizz about the battery terminals. My first time using them was in my Jimmy and I've not been real impressed with them yet. If you slide the nut down over the wire with the jacket still on it, where the nut stops is where it needs stripped at. After that it all works pretty good. One big note is that the best thing to use to tighten them with is a good open end wrench or even a line wrench as the nuts can be easily collapsed with a crescent wrench.

I'm also speaking from experience with the battery terminals just to be clear.

Thanks for the input so far. I guess I should be more specific on my application. Not looking for battery terminals, this is simply for the inline fuse holders. Everything else I have is ring terminals.

it's one thing to say that the "type" of fitting uses more surface area per cable.. but is it the best solution?

For just inline fuse holders.. why not the very basic?

StingerXscorpion makes these-

2 studs, one on each end. Gold plated studs. You put your ring terminal in on one stud, ring terminal out on the other stud. Your ANL fuse blades also secure on the same 2 studs.

This allows a seemless connection with no break in connection from the wire to fuse to wire again.

And did i mention they are also the cheapest priced kind of inline as well?

I had that type before. My problem was the ring terminal connection keep coming loose over time. Even adding locktite to the nut and a lock washer. Maybe they have improved over time or I just bought some crappy ones. That type also has 2 failure points. The ring terminal connection to the wire, and the terminal to the fuse. Although I can't recall a time I've had a ring terminal come apart.

Another part of my problem with the "shove in the hole and screw it down" method is getting all the wire in the hole. It always seems that the cable is bigger than the hole and has stray strands that want to poke out. It's like a fat girl trying to fit in her little sister's shirt.

I just haven't seen these compression fittings for wire and it looked to be a more solid connection and solved several problems. Perhaps I'm just over thinking things.

Over thinking things more then likely.

I have not used those type of fittings in years. Far to much BS to deal with and for the way we wire up everything here it didn't even have any gains other then then it might have had a "cleaner" look to it.

I've used the knu one's and some were fine and others weren't machined correctly.

Streetwires makes some good ones but theyre not cheap.

http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_15895_StreetWires-PRI0.html

I have never had a wire come out of a ring terminal.. I vice them then take a punch and pinch the center of every ring terminal.

Once the terminals are fastened down, the cables are then ziptied about 2 inches behind every ring terminal.

This pretty much locks the wire from the ring terminal fastener back about half a foot with a very solid tight feel in the cable and ensures nothing will move.

Cable should always be supported and not allowed to move around in the terminal. If you do this it is very likely that the wire will not come out.

^ Yep, even with wire insert method used on most amps, i still zip tie the cables 2inches behind the insert.

I am a bitch when it comes to safety and longevity.. My dumb ass is researching high performance wood screws(not spax screws).

I'm too critical....

Next thing, you'll see me researching specific remote wire to use that can turn an amp on better than just any oh normal wire, hehe.

I didn't like the one kompression fitting that I've used. But part of the problem was that it was 0/1ga and the nut for the fitting was wider than the block was tall, so the nut would scrape/jam on the base whenever trying to tighten or loosen the nut. It was a gigantic PITA and I'll never use them again simply based on that one experience. Left too bitter of a taste in my mouth.

I have the two way distro from Knu that uses the same fittings and it is very high quality and I think the connection is extremely secure.

Like I said I haven't had a terminal come apart. Was just saying it is a potential point of failure.

The other part I liked about the fittings was the versatility. You can just change out the fitting for the size wire you are running. Since I have 2 amps I thought that was handy. Especially since my mids/high amp is only a 8 awg connection. I know I can run a reducer, but that is just more stuff to add.

Basically it comes down to this. Currently I have 4 awg feed to a fused distribution block. That block has a 4 awg out and a 8 awg out (individually fused). Now I need a 1/0 awg fused and a 8 awg fused. Was looking for a single solution and did like the concept of the compression fittings. I'm really running out of room on my battery terminals.

Do you want me to just machine something for you here? lol

Have to agree with Shizzz as far as the KonFused terminals being a PITA. Used a pair on a Kinetic HC2400. Fitting the wire into the compression terminals wasn't fun and the positive terminal would not secure to the battery post at all. Sent it back, got another one, same problem. I personally would choose regular ring terminals over the compression ones but to each his own.

Well I got it all ordered. Did not get the compression fittings. The one that would work for the distribution would only fuse up to 150a so that seemed to be one less pro and too many cons. Ended up buying a kit and a second type of fuse block for $8 to try out as well.

Thanks for all the input.