On 2012-08-25, Gunner wrote:
On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 10:44:37 -0700, "Steve B"
wrote:
"DanG" wrote
[ ... ]
Put a blank plate on the 4square with the
colors marked with a Sharpie.
Mark on the *inside* of the plate, to protect the markings from
mud wear. And perhaps spritz with some clear enamel as well.
Make all the connections with twist locks
so they can be changed or checked easily.
Wirenuts?
[ ... ]
Be sure to give the wirenuts a little shot of grease before putting
the cover back on. It helps prevent the wire from corroding away.
My own preference for this sort of thing is to put a Jones
Barrier strip inside the box, and use properly sized and crimped ring or
fork terminals to connect to the barrier strip. Note that most crimp
terminals don't work well with solid wire, but stranded was the choice
we started with anyway. :-)
The crimped terminal stay with the wire no matter how many times
you need to disconnect things. Wirenuts result in progressively frayed
wires with stranded wire.
BTW There is a rather rare quick disconnect where identical
terminals are crimped on each of two wires, the two are crossed,
and then brought out to straight, causing a J-hook on each end
to clasp the flat blade on the other end. Slide some Vinyl
sleeving over the joined pair. I call them "handshake splices"
but I don't know the official name. I've only seen them made by
AMP.
Use the terminals in the order of the color code, and match the
color number to the terminal number.
0 Black
1 Brown
2 Red
3 Orange
4 Yellow
5 Green
6 Blue
7 Violet
8 Grey (slate if you want to avoid two colors starting with 'G')
9 White
There are ways to remember the color vs numbers order above.
(Ask if you need one and if someone else does not jump in with all of
them first. :-)
Beware -- don't use the color of the insulation on the crimp
terminals for this. The color of the insulation on the terminals has
another meaning -- the size of the wire to be used in that particular
terminal. There are three normal colors, which repeat in a cycle, but
I'll just list the ones most like to be needed in trailer wiring.
Red 22-18 Ga
Blue 16-14 Ga
Yellow 12-10 Ga
And maybe for something weird
Red 8 Ga
which needs a hydraulic crimping tool, as do the larger ones not listed
here.
Each should be crimped with a different crimper, marked for the size
range (some of the older red ones are marked 22-16 Ga), or a crimper
with multiple crimp locations marked by color. (The hydraulic crimping
tools have interchangeable dies for 8, 6, 4, and 2 ga, and (in a larger
head) for 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 and 4-0.)
The AMP crimpers for blue usually have one handle dipped in blue
paint and the other in green paint. The others have both handles dipped
in the matching color.
Any *good* crimper will have a ratchet which forces you to
complete the crimp before you can release it.
And it will also emboss in the plastic insulation either one or
two raised dots to show the inspector that the right tool was used.
(Red is 1, Blue is 2, Yellow is 1, large red embosses the numeral '8'
instead, as do the larger ones up through 4-0.
Or -- if you don't have room for the terminal strip, another
choice is crimped on ring terminals with a short bolt and nut holding
them together, and heat-shrink sleeving on over the pair (or three or
four) to insulate them from the other sets of terminals.
In either case, the grease, or a spritz some good contact
cleaner is a good idea anyway -- just as with the wirenuts.
Another form of terminal strip is one with a bunch of male
(quick-disconnect) spade terminals sticking up connected together in
pairs or fours, and each wire terminating with a crimper-on female
quick-disconnect (spade). Ideally, use the pre-insulated crimp spade
females so if you pull one off the male terminal and it touches the
chassis (either while testing, or a loose terminal and a heavy bump),
you don't form a short.
Enjoy,
DoN.
--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. |
http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---