page_title: Electrical connector
section_title: Insulation-displacement connectors
hierarchical_section_title: Electrical connector / Methods of connection / Insulation-displacement connectors
caption_attribution_description: English: Bi-amp capable Self-made.
context_page_description: An electrical connector is an electromechanical device used to join electrical conductors and create an electrical circuit. Most electrical connectors have a gender – i.e. the male component, called a plug, connects to the female component, or socket. The connection may be removable, require a tool for assembly and removal, or serve as a permanent electrical joint between two points. An adapter can be used to join dissimilar connectors.
  Thousands of configurations of connectors are manufactured for power, data, and audiovisual applications. Electrical connectors can be divided into four basic categories, differentiated by their function:
  inline or cable connectors permanently attached to a cable, so it can be plugged into another terminal
  Chassis or panel connectors permanently attached to a piece of equipment so users can connect a cable to a stationary device
  PCB mount connectors soldered to a printed circuit board, providing a point for cable or wire attachment.
  Splice or butt connectors that permanently join two lengths of wire or cable
context_section_description: Since stripping insulation from wires is time-consuming, many connectors intended for rapid assembly use insulation-displacement connectors which cut the insulation as the wire is inserted. These generally take the form of a fork-shaped opening in the terminal, into which the insulated wire is pressed, which cut through the insulation to contact the conductor. To make these connections reliably on a production line, special tools accurately control the forces applied during assembly. On small scales, these tools tend to cost more than tools for crimped connections.
  Insulation displacement connectors are usually used with small conductors for signal purposes and at low voltage. Power conductors carrying more than a few amperes are more reliably terminated with other means, though "hot tap" press-on connectors find some use in automotive applications for additions to existing wiring.
  A common example is the multi-conductor flat ribbon cable used in computer disk drives; to terminate each of the many (approximately 40) wires individually would be slow and error-prone, but an insulation displacement connector can terminate all the wires in a single action. Another very common use is so-called punch-down blocks used for terminating unshielded twisted pair wiring.
caption: Binding posts on a bi-amplified loudspeaker
exif: {}