Long connector to join into a ring main??

[cpvh]

Hi All,

I am wanting to connect a socket into a ring main as a spur.

The cable I want to connect to has very little slack, so once I?ve cut it, the ends will be too short to use with the old school JB I? ve got.

What would be useful would be something like a plus sized flex connector, w here there is a kind of extended 3 way chock block inside (say an inch long ) and you could connect into either end.

Does anyone know of such a product on the market?

If not, it?s either 2 JBs with a short length of T&E in the middle, or else a patress and blanking plate with a couple of choc blocs and a sho rt length of T&E - both options seem messy and a lot of work.

TIA

Chris

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If you're careful, you don't have to cut the cable. Merely the insulation and run the conductors through the terminals - on the older type of JB with U shaped terminals.

[newshound]

Wot they all said, or if there's no space for Dave's junction box method you could open up the cable in the same way and strip the insulation from each conductor, solder in a length of T&E (or individual conductors), then insulate the joints with insulating tape (and over-wrap them all afterwards).

In the past, when I have had to do soldered repairs inside double insulated appliances, I have sometimes carefully potted the connections either with epoxy or with hot glue sticks. The outer case should make it relatively fail safe even if the repair fails.

[ARW]

That is what I was going to say - had I not been at work doing the exact same thing:-)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Waiting for someone to say " but you can't use earth sleeving" ;-)

[ARW]

It is easy to fit earth sleeving.

Slice some earth sleeving long ways and put it around the cpc. You then hold the earth sleeving into place by wrapping brown insulation tape around it......

[Rob Morley]

Solder and heat-shrink?

[Tim Watts]

Soldering needs to be done right - not just blobbing 2 wires together.

Either they need to be twisted, or tied/bound with a bit of finer copper wire wrapped around, or crimped in a ferrule and soldered.

The art is that the joint should be mechanically stable *before* applying solder.

Otherwise, any overheating will cause the joint to fail and solder itself is not actually very strong.

[newshound]

Up to a point; but if the conductors approach the melting point of solder the insulation will also degrade fairly quickly.

[tabbypurr]

approaching the mp of solder has nothing to do with it. Solder has deceptively near zero strength, mechanically stablising the joint first is a must or failures will happen.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

This is sound practice in MilSpec kit, and in automotive, but in a house where there is no cable movement at all, it is I think overkill. paralleled wires with enough solder is electrically and mechanically sound as long as there is no flexure.

After all, you don't twist copper pipes together before soldering...

[Jane]

Those do however have considerable mechanical support before the solder is applied and the solder just makes the joint water tight.

[Tim Watts]

It was the way people were taught in the 50s - source, my old man's engineering books.

Pipes are stiff, obviously and don't tend to unravel anyway!

If joining to bits of flex, I would always twist first.

[invalid]

8<

Since when has solder made a joint water tight?

[Jane]

Since whenever that started to be used with plumbing.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No more than wiring

And the solder just makes the joint conductive.

[The Natural Philosopher]

So would I but with solid core it's not so easy

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well since it was first used dennis.

[cpvh]

That?s a good tip, but........

1. I?ve already cut the cable.

And

1. The situation is actually a little more complex than I described. One o f the reasons I cut the cable was so I could ascertain whether it was a sec tion of ring or if it was a spur..... unfortunately it?s a spur, so I?m going to have to re-route the ring so things stay kosher.

[invalid]

It corrodes, you only get away with it on pipes because the corrosion products block access to the water.