Note 2 on section 526.2 of BS7671 (aka 17th edition the wiring regs), which states: "Terminals without the marking R (only rigid conductor), F (only flexible conductor), S or Sol (only solid conductor) are suitable for the connection of all types of conductors

Never crimp solid conductors - it takes a small amount of expansion/contraction for them to come loose. Seen it happen a few times myself. If you HAVE to use a crimp lug on a solid conductor then instead of crimping, use solder as it provides an excellent termination. Often I have stripped the outer coloured sleeve, soldered then used a decent brand heat shrink (such as Tyco) after.

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From SMD's to 132kV... ive had a go!

Richard Talmage, LCGI EngTech TMIET

Because of inadequate crimping or temperature cycling?


I wouldn't recommend soldering, it's time consuming and also needs skill, not to mention the behaviour under fault conditions. Also, soldering of small, flexible core sizes is not allowed to BS 7671.

I wouldn't butt the ends of cores for ferrules, rather have the cores overlapping, use 2 points of crimping with the correct tool size, and carry out the tug test.

Regards

Edited: 04 July 2012 at 08:26 AM by Jaymack

Regarding 2.5mm crimping, it can be done with uninsulated crimps and a raychem adhesive heat shrink cap end.fiddly as hell though!
Did seriously rethink after this thread started though