MilSpec Ring Terminals

United States Military Standard A United States Defense Standard often called a Military Standard, “MIL-STD”, “MIL-SPEC”, or (informally) “Mil Specs”. The U.S. Department of Defense uses “Mil Specs” to help achieve standardization objectives Standardization is beneficial in achieving interoperability, ensuring products meet certain requirements, commonality, reliability, total cost of ownership, compatibility with logistics systems, and similar defense-related objectives. Other non-Defense government organizations, technical organizations, and industry also use defense Standards. Defense standards evolved from the need to ensure proper performance and maintainability of military equipment. For example, due to differences in dimensional tolerances, in World War II American screws and bolts did not fit British equipment properly and were not fully interchangeable. Defense standards provided many benefits, such as minimizing the number of types of ammunition, ensuring compatibility of tools, and ensuring quality during production of military equipment. Stronger: Aircraft quality solderless terminals conform to MS25036 and MIL-T- 7928 aircraft specifications, whereas other solderless terminals meet UL 486A. One difference is in the force required to break or separate the terminal from the conductor; Aircraft terminals have more metal at the crimp. For example, an 18 gauge (red) terminal manufactured to MIL-T-7928 Class 1 has a minimum tensile strength of 38 lbs. whereas UL only requires 20lbs. Vibration Resistant: Aircraft vibrate so it’s important to support the wire close to but separate from the wire crimp. Vinyl Terminals provide an “insulation grip” but is not sufficient for Mil-Spec. The combined 2-piece metal sleeve on the QPL’d Nylon Terminals provides a crimp on the conductor as well as an “insulation crimp” on the conductor insulation. This type of connection prevents vibration of the wires where the wire leaves the crimp. This type of two crimp terminal is required for high vibration applications where repeated flexing of the copper wires hardens the wires and results in breakage and a failed connections. Better Electrical Contact: MIL wire connectors also have multiple 'V' grooves inside the barrel to help grip the aircraft wire. These grooves help to break-up the tin plating upon crimping. This exposes clean copper to the wires and assures a low resistance connection. The Military doesn’t actually use Mil-Spec as a standard any longer Since the old Mil-Spec system is being phased out and newer SAE standards are being adopted, SAE has put together a process that is used to convert from “MIL-” to “AS-”. The full process is described on the SAE International Website http://www.sae.org/standardsdev/military/milproc.htm