On Sat, 18 Nov 2006 19:48:43 GMT, "Stephen Dawson"
wrote:


My original point regarding Dave's post was that I have and do such repairs,
using crimps and heatshrink, but some time the crimp does not hold or I
missed for some reason.

Invariably the cause of this is the use of incorrect crimps and/or
tooling. The standard Partpee electrician carries a cheap (rusty)
non pressure regulated pressed metal squeeze crimp pliers tool and a
box red blue and yellow (RBY) crimps of unknown (other than they were
the cheapest) provenance.

A crimp joint done with the correct ratchet tool and using RBY crimps
meant for solid core cable (most are not) will always hold.

Any way with out testing it correctly how are you to
know whether or not the repair is safe??

The correct test for a crimp joint is to exert the correct pull out
force on it and check it holds. No electrical test can test a crimp
joint for any fault other than ones so gross they should be visible
to the naked eye.

The point was to get Dave to think about the consequences of a failed
repair, and what he would do to defend himself, if someone was injured. No
scarey bits intend, just to open your eyes to what may occur.

If all you could show was you had used the wrong tool, the wrong
component and the wrong test I'm not sure this would be much of a
defence, certificates or not.

A way of demonstrating that you have carried this out correctly is to issue
test certs,

No it isn't, that simply proves you have issued a certificate. If it
is based upon an inappropriate test for the work done it is
meaningless. I can consistently crimp you many joints with the toy
pliers so beloved of electricians which would pass all your tests and
fail within weeks. The way to do the work correctly is to use the
right tools and components in the first place. To do this you need
to know what the right tool and components are - something most
electricians (in this case) don't.

--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/