Arfa Daily wrote:


"Sjouke Burry" wrote in message
. ..
Zak wrote:
Back to basics here guys.

I am referring to a terminal strip like this.
http://www.ledlight.dk/images/samlemuffe400x320.jpg
It may be 3 amp or 5 amp or something similar to that sort of low
capacity.

snip

The way I would love to do it is to get some sort of crimping tool and
put a small brass collar over the wire and squeeze the collar on
securely. The brass would be tough enough to resist the screw doing any
real damage.

What do you find is the best?

I bought an assortemnt of sleeves and a crimping tool,
to instrument cars,etc.
Not only it solves the fraying/breaking wire problem,
those sleeves also retain a little bit of the isolation ,
so that even if you have to move about the strip/circuit
quite a lot ,wires do not tend to disconnect,and things
look a lot more professional.
You have 2 type of sleeves, metal only, or a small piece
of coloured plastic extra.
The last ones give most protection.
(And you get coulour coding thrown it for free).

That would be my favoured way of terminating the wires, as well. I seem to
think that I've seen these things referred to in a catalogue, as "
bootlace ferrules ". I'm never in favour of tinning wires prior to
securing in a screwed terminal, for two reasons. First is the oxide layer
that readily forms on the surface of solder, which may lead to a resistive
joint in time. Second is creep of the soft solder, which over time leads
to a loose screw. How many mains plugs have you opened, and found that the
manufacturer pre-tinned leads, are virtually falling out of the plug pins,
with the screws so loose, you could undo them with your fingers ?

Arfa

I agree totally that soldered wires should not be put into any sort of screw
terminal. I have learnt that the hard way: A long time ago I wired a lot
of screw terminals after first soldering the ends of the wire, and a few
years later I found that the terminals were loose and in some cases the
wires had fallen out. If the wires were carrying current, they could get
hot and start a fire. If they were for earthing etc. this could also be
dangerous. I had to rewire the whole lot, without the solder.

I wonder if this will be the same with lead-free solder. I would rather not
try it on anything important.

By the way you can buy screw terminals which have a flat piece of metal that
clamps down on the wire instead of the screw itself. This avoids damage to
the wire but the terminals cost a bit more. I would suggest buying the
better terminals if this sort of thing interests you.

If you use crimp-on ferrules, make sure you have a really good crimp tool,
because I have seen wires fall out of poorly crimped terminals. The one
common characteristic of all good crimp tools, it seems to me, is that they
cost at least a week's wages to buy.

Chris