Blade, Ring and Spade connectors are types of electrical wire connectors. The blade connector is a type of connection using a flat conductive blade which is inserted into a blade receptacle. Both blade and receptacle have wires attached to them either through soldering or crimping. In some cases the blade is an integral manufactured part of a component and a blade receptacle is pushed onto the blade to form a connection. They are however available as separate parts, giving the user the opportunity to attach the terminals their selves, they are normally available in job lots. Ring and spade terminals (sometimes known as split terminals) are used in the same kind of applications, but a screw or bolt is passed through them to make contact, the ring connector must have the bolt removed to remove the terminal, but the spade connector allows the bolt to be partially left in as the spade terminal is removed. The sizes of these terminals are determined by the size of the conducting AWG or screw/bolt size.
