This week I found a helpful guide for people new to crimping wires. Crimping wires is not easy without practice, but also knowing what a good crimp should look like is a start.

I found How to make a Good Dupont Pin Crimp Every Time on Instructables.

I especially like the diagram in step 3, showing the insulation and conductor. This diagram makes it clear that there are two crimps made per connection, one to hold the insulation for strain relief, so it wont pull out, and then one made tightly on the conductor holding the strands in place.

I personally use the engineer PA-09 tool over the tool featured in the guide. If you don’t need to crimp and have the space to use WAGO connectors, I refer you to A Change of Viewpoint On Wiring (2023) for a discussion on the WAGO connectors.

This was found in response to a reader question about Robotics At Home with Raspberry Pi Pico, where a reader was adding crimped connectors to the motor and battery wires.