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tmoo's avatar
tmoo
Explorer
Oct 20, 2015

Where do I find these connectors

My Atwood furnace has been giving me fits. The control board would just buzz and motor would come on. I finally tracked the problem down to a loose connection in the lower wire on the rocker switch on the furnace. The wire has some sort of blue inline crimp connector that is mostly round but incorporates a connector to attach to the spade on the switch. The connector is in the middle of the wire. This connector isn't making good contact and if I work with it the furnace will run just fine.

I need to replace it so I don't have to open the furnace to wiggle it every time it works loose. My question is where in the world do I find the correct replacement connector and what it is called? I could rig it up with a regular butt splice and a tag line with a spade, but really?

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  • tmoo's avatar
    tmoo
    Explorer
    Oct 20, 2015
    These are not a standard connector you will find at Lowe's, I am familiar with all of those. Cutting and crimping the 2 ends in one standard connector may be the best bet. I thought with the huge number of these furnaces out there it might be some sort of connector used just for RVs.
  • DrewE's avatar
    DrewE
    Explorer III
    Oct 20, 2015
    Dutch_12078 wrote:
    Displacement connectors like that are notorious sources of intermittent connections. The best fix would probably be to cut and strip the wire and then crimp the two ends in a standard spade connector and push it on the switch terminal. Soldering the two wire ends together before crimping wouldn't hurt either.


    I agree with this. Why replace a connector that is clearly not lasting well with an identical one that likely also won't last too well when there are other simple alternatives that do work well?

    Another alternative (what I initially thought of) would be to run a pigtail to a spade connector and splice the three together, but Dutch's solution sounds simpler and probably more trouble-free to me, so I would go with that.
  • Dutch_12078's avatar
    Dutch_12078
    Explorer III
    Oct 20, 2015
    Displacement connectors like that are notorious sources of intermittent connections. The best fix would probably be to cut and strip the wire and then crimp the two ends in a standard spade connector and push it on the switch terminal. Soldering the two wire ends together before crimping wouldn't hurt either.
  • cmb's avatar
    cmb
    Explorer
    Oct 20, 2015
    You're probably looking at a standard 1/4 inch crimp-on connector available at any hardware or automotive parts store. Do a search at Google.com for "crimp connector images." I'll bet the connector on the wire is female and mates to the male terminal that is 1/4 inch wide.
  • naturist's avatar
    naturist
    Nomad II
    Oct 20, 2015
    Auto parts store carries all sorts of such connectors. You might also look at the electrical connectors at Lowes and Home Depot in the "telephone" and "wired networking" sections. As for what they are called, I dunno, show us a picture.

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