Crimps inside the CU

[Guest55]

It may look untidy, but a wago is always a superior connection on solid core, to a crimp imo....

now we have the pleasantries out the way , ;-)

agree with eng54 , wagos in CU look like amateur hour.

 

[bugsy]

Because they will look like a bloody armature has been at work. Nothing wrong with Wago's, they just don't sit well being used in a CU!!!

The last time I saw an armature is was inside a motor , armatures and wago's dont look the same!

 

[Engineer54]

The last time I saw an armature is was inside a motor , armatures and wago's dont look the same!

Haha, ....Well spotted!!!

 

[Marvo]

Unfortunately there's no way to 'like' someones signature on this board but I did try Biff

I'm probably just oldschool but I much prefer crimped ferrules. Great mechanical strength (assuming you use a good crimper) and a very low profile and neat form factor when used with heatshrink; the joints are almost invisible when they're in a wiring run. I've used Wagos (once or twice) but you hardly ever see them in this country. They're convenient but they're helluva bulky especially if there's a few of them in the same area, I can't really comment on their reliability because I haven't sufficient experience with them.

 

[Geordie Spark]

Unfortunately there's no way to 'like' someones signature on this board but I did try Biff

I'm probably just oldschool but I much prefer crimped ferrules. Great mechanical strength (assuming you use a good crimper) and a very low profile and neat form factor when used with heatshrink; the joints are almost invisible when they're in a wiring run. I've used Wagos (once or twice) but you hardly ever see them in this country. They're convenient but they're helluva bulky especially if there's a few of them in the same area, I can't really comment on their reliability because I haven't sufficient experience with them.

That's what I think too. I would either crimp & heat shrink like you say, or solder and heat shrink, but that's cos a) I'm an old gadgee and old fashioned and b) I know how to solder properly !!

 

[Marvo]

To be honest I've seen very few soldered joints ever on LV domestic and commercial wiring, only on alarms and comms etc. The only reason I wouldn't suggest it normally is because so few people know how to solder properly (present company excluded).

 

[Engineer54]

I'm not that much of a lover of those bulky PVC insulated crimps to be honest. I much prefer the uninsulated crimps (using indent crimp tool, with a couple of layers of heat shrink insulation, or the heat shrink insulated crimps with a correctly coloured heat shrink over cover . Remember all heat shrink tubing coloured, or otherwise are of XLPE construction....

 

[sedgy34]

No, ...Never use PVC tape on crimp connections always use heat shrink!!! For an even neater job you could use bare crimps with 2 layers of heat shrink to insulate them. Or you can buy heat shrinkable insulated crimps. For aesthetics sake, i always like to see the appropriate core coloured heat shrink over crimp connections...

Who made you the electrical police lol!!!

 

[seftonbarn]

I'm not that much of a lover of those bulky PVC insulated crimps to be honest. I much prefer the uninsulated crimps (using indent crimp tool, with a couple of layers of heat shrink insulation, or the heat shrink insulated crimps with a correctly coloured heat shrink over cover . Remember all heat shrink tubing coloured, or otherwise are of XLPE construction....

Read this and thought, yeah, that sounds like the dogs doo daas; I've got a heat gun, I'll do that. But then I thought. Hang on, I've got no power during the CU change, how can I use the heat gun? There's a hole in my bucket dear lisa.....What can you use as a source of heat when heat shrinking over crimped cables during a CU change

 

[Marvo]

I carry a small butane torch in my tool case, it's not much bigger that a cigarette lighter. I'm not sure if it's an officially recognised way of making heatshrink joints but I've never had an issue with it. I also use it for warming up plastic pipes to get them onto hydraulic/pneumatic fittings if they're tight especially in cold weather. I've even used a cigarette lighter before when I've had no other means but the yellow flame tends to leave black streaks on the heatshrink so I wouldn't recommend that particularly. Don't some of these cordless kits have a small battery operated heat gun option?...I'm not sure but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Run an extension lead from next door:tt1:

 

[malcolmsanford]

To be honest most board changes I do the first job, after the kind man from the DNO have removed his fuse is capture him there and remove the tails from the existing board, and if they are small tails, as we can't touch the meter can we chaps is fit into a Henley block and set up a temporary board and that kind man would re-energize the installation for me so the customer could use an extension for making me a cup of coffee or if they really want to can plug a fridge in etc.

Then after finishing the board I would release the DNO kind man from my vulcan mind lock so he could disconnect again, quickly whip the tails out of the Henley/temp board and connect the suitable tails back into the new CU, all the while the kind man from the DNO, recovering from my fiendish mind trap would re-energize the installation and bid me farewell happily singing a merry tune

So the bottom line to this drivel is, in the case of non power for your heat gun .....fit a small temp board, as the customer often wants to have some sort of power, especially if like me your CU changes last longer than an episode of Corrie

 

[Dipzy]

^^^ like it

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^^^ like it

 

[SPARTYKUS]

Made me chuckle thst malcolm

 

[malcolmsanford]

Made me chuckle thst malcolm

Thanks SK............. but in all seriousness I always fitted a temp board to give them power.

On a full rewire in an occupied house I also offered the customer the chance to have some of their bigger bulkier items that they would not miss, like display cabinets, dinning tables, if they had spare bedrooms, that furniture to be taken away and stored during the rewire, selling it that it removed any chance of damage, but in reality it made my life easier. I struck a deal with a storage company to do it, and put a little extra on the quote. I suppose today most customers would not take this offer up because of costs, but even if they didn't it still to conveys professionalism