Bootlace Ferrules

[Adam W]

"526.8.1 In order to avoid inappropriate separation or spreading of individual wires of multiwire, fine wire or very fine wire conductors, suitable terminals shall be used or the conductor ends shall be suitably treated."

I'm currently working on boats where vibration is an issue, so we use ferrule crimps in situations where a terminal screw directly touches the stranded conductors (such as in a socket) in order to comply with the above, but I had never seen them used on site before.
The way I understand this reg it suggests that when wiring a plugtop the ends should be terminated in a ferrule (or other suitable treatment) before tightening the terminal screws.

I have never seen this done before, other than on factory fitted plugtops.

Do you use them?
If so do you use the insulated ferrules or the uninsulated ones, and why?

 

[alarm man]

when i did marine every cable had a ferrule on,and the terminals had a spring between the clamp bit of the terminal and the screw...that was in the engine room control equipment and the like,not sure about sockets/lights etc on board if they had the same set up..

 

[Adam W]

Pretty much the only ac lights we use are in the engine room, where we use ferrules.
On the dc lights we use bullet crimps, and ferrule UK sockets because they don't have the plate between the screw and the cable (US, euro etc sockets and the switches we use have them so we don't use ferrules with them).

Have you used ferrules other than in marine, eg in a BS1363 plugtop?

 

[alarm man]

Pretty much the only ac lights we use are in the engine room, where we use ferrules.
On the dc lights we use bullet crimps, and ferrule UK sockets because they don't have the plate between the screw and the cable (US, euro etc sockets and the switches we use have them so we don't use ferrules with them).

Have you used ferrules other than in marine, eg in a BS1363 plugtop?

i havnt used them in plug tops,have seen them in plugs before tho,usually in decent high end types of kit

 

[jeremy]

All our jobs are wired with tri rated cable and I'm now used to ferruling everything stranded. It gives a better contact and I get them free from work!! There are also available ferrules for joining 2 conductors eg in a skt, I find generally 2 individual collared ferrules dont fit well in a recess. If eg on a FCU I'll ferrule the earth supply and the box bond but remove the pvc collar from the bond. Hope this helps

 

[drywax]

Open to interpretation like alot of the BRB what would you describe as a suitable terminal?

 

[Adam W]

I suppose one which uniformly grips all the strands together such as a wago terminal.

 

[johnboy6083]

bootlace crimps, and evebn normal spade type crimps are used a lot in industry, and in control wiring. I used to use them for wiring plant rooms, because as our firm was responsible for maintenance as well as installation, we knew that we would not get called out for conductors dropping out ect.

 

[ian.settle1]

"526.8.1 In order to avoid inappropriate separation or spreading of individual wires of multiwire, fine wire or very fine wire conductors, suitable terminals shall be used or the conductor ends shall be suitably treated."

I'm currently working on boats where vibration is an issue, so we use ferrule crimps in situations where a terminal screw directly touches the stranded conductors (such as in a socket) in order to comply with the above, but I had never seen them used on site before.
The way I understand this reg it suggests that when wiring a plugtop the ends should be terminated in a ferrule (or other suitable treatment) before tightening the terminal screws.

I have never seen this done before, other than on factory fitted plugtops.

Do you use them?
If so do you use the insulated ferrules or the uninsulated ones, and why?

Regs don't apply to boats they are for buldings

 

[Amp David]

I use em every time i connect flex to a FCU, JB, downlight etc

 

[pennywise]

Bootlace ferrules make everything look factory finished pucker job

 

[Amp David]

Too right pennywise. Alot of guys say why bother as no one will see it, but a million times neater.

Good work!

 

[Adam W]

Regs don't apply to boats they are for buldings

What I was saying is I have only ever used them on boats, where like you say the regs don't even apply.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

I have seen this loads of times in offices and small ind units, it does look professional and finished especially on the 4mm stranded cables.

 

[RB2004]

I know this thread is years old lol, so apologies for dragging it up, was just something I came accross.

But I also find them great for use on solid core cable, as above shown in the picture.

not only do they look more professional, but the twin entry ones are great for use inside the consumer units for ring circuits... and I also found while not usually a problem, solid core cable gets crushed slightly as you tighten the screw leaving an imprint from the screw.. if accidentally overtightened then it can lead to failure of that connection on thinner cables like 1.0 or 1.5 so I found these offer a little extra re-inforcement.