Push-fits vs Crimps

[Badger]

thats probably best to go with unisluated then ill try that abit later, when i return to work, got just the consumer unit for that!

 

[Andy™]

Appreciate that Andy. I have scoobed you appropriately. I'm secretly glad that a proper electricians insulated crimp failed too.

who is this 'proper electrician' you talk of?!

 

[Graham Lister]

Seeing all these experiments made me go out to the shed and try it. Got a 2.5 blue crimp and a pushfit and tried to pull it apart. The effort required was significant to say the least and I am a pure muscle 12 stone .

My results after a lot of pulling were the pushfit failed and not the crimp. Either way the effort required was well over and above what I would consider either to be exposed to in normal service. I had pliers wrapped around both ends of the cable, one end held on the floor with my foot and me pulling the other end so a lot of force. This proves to me that I am happy to use either and if you find them easy to pull apart you are either the incredible hulk or your crimp tool is not properly adjusted.

Will post pictures later when I get the chance.

Here is the photos hope they work!

http://www.myphotos.yahoo.com/s/21cqunjiof4uu4lop4kq

 

[Manator]

The best part of this thread is the fact that people are now conducting their own experiments.

 

[alchemist]

This is a good thread, seems to get quite a few people worked up. Anything that leads to people using better methods or questioning what they do can only be a good thing for quality and safety.

Does anyone solder solid copper cores and use heatshrink over them?

I'm sure I remember reading somewhere in the regs that you can only hide connections under plaster or other inaccessible places when using soldered joints. That suggests that they must be very reliable.

I'm too new to the game to really have developed a preference for crimped or push fit in a CCU, although I can see crimps will be less obtrusive, and not subjected to any mechanical stress, but much harder to get right. One thing I know about push fit connectors having used them a lot recently, is that they do remove human error and just seem to lead to something working first time (compared to terminal blocks which can lead to lots of swearing when using in tight spaces).

I wouldn't really fancy using a soldering iron in a CCU personally, but does anyone do soldering any more, or is it just too much hassle?

Cheers.

 

[Andy™]

crimped joints and push fit can also be inaccessible. i have soldered joints on the odd occasion, but not something i normally do. too much time compared to crimp/push fit

 

[Phoenix]

Andy,

Where do you get the uninsulated crimps and tooling for smaller sizes?, as far as I know (although I'm yet to ask) our local wholesalers don't seem to have them (at least they arn't on the 'start to serve yourself while you're waiting' shelves like the red, blue and yellows are)

I developed a lack of trust in pre-insulated crimps a while who while changing a CU, some of the cables had already been crimped to extend them due to circuit shuffling about, and they seemed pretty secure at first, but once I dragged the cables out of the board, the twisting and bending of the conductor had caused them to become look and you could rotate the conductors within the terminals by a few degrees!. I did manage to avoid having to crimp anything at all when putting the new board on, at the expense of it not being quite as tidy as I would have liked (but what can you do when you have 12/13 odd rcbos and existing cabling )

 

[Andy™]

cant remember where i got the last lot or crimps from (buy in bulk every so often)

CPC sell uninsulated crimp tools for 1.5-16mm. IIRC, its about

 

[mattyevz]

good experiment guys. I use helacon connectors same as wagos but cheaper. helacon only go up to 2.5mm though. you can get 100 for like