On Tuesday, 29 January 2019 08:47:13 UTC, sm_jamieson wrote:
On Monday, January 28, 2019 at 6:52:14 PM UTC, ARW wrote:
On 28/01/2019 16:06, sm_jamieson wrote:

I've just finished tidying up the CU so there is space to fit RCBOs in place of MCBs, and it looks quite neat. But then there is a pile of blue and white spaghetti from the few RCBOs that I have already fitted.
What is the best way to treat the neutral and earth tails from the RCBOs ?
Can they be cut ?
Should they be rolled up ?
Of course its fine strand wire, so I suppose ferrules would be needed ...

They must be cut down to size (esp the neutrals)

I would not bother with ferrules for the neutrals.

The last one I did I put all the earth leads together.

Photo here of part finished job.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/images/6/6d/RCBOmeters.jpg

I was never that convinced with the need to put ferrules on all finely stranded cables to be honest. I get the point of it though. I would be inclined to twist such cable to reduce the change of it spreading away from the screw.
I tinning then end with solder considered any use in place of ferrules ?
What is the actual legal requirement/regulation for them ?

So in fact you didn't put ferrules on any of the cut tails ?
The earth ones I know are only a reference point for the RCBOs anyway - thats why they are so thin !

So if I twist together a whole lot of FE tails and put in one earth terminal that will be OK ?

Simon.

Soldering the ends then screwing them is a big no. Solder is soft & creeps, so a tight screw becomes a completely loose screw over time.


NT