Shower cieling switch / cable crimping

[geoff]

In message , "dennis@home" writes

Selective blindness eh, denboi ?

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Bob writes

I think it's acceptable if done properly (for example, I've just done it to relocate a wall light). By 'properly' I mean using heatshrink sleeving over each crimped connection and a larger sleeve over the entire joint. Also using the correct ratchet tool, not those crappy tools you get in the boxes of assorted crimp connectors.

Crimps commonly come in yellow, blue or red for the various wire sizes. There's no way you will get 10mm cable into those, so you'd have to buy larger crimps and the tool for the purpose. If you didn't have this already, it'd be a waste of money buying it for the one job, so it seems to me the JB is the most suitable solution in your case (if you had needed to use one, of course.)

On a side note, when crimping wires, I use a crimp one size larger so I can overlap the two wires within the joint to ensure a decent electrical and mechanical connection. Probably not necessary but that's just me.

[PeterC]

I do that with connector block, especially melamine type in a mechanical environment. Clamp both conductors with both screws and less chance of the connection vibrating loose and causing the horrible fishy smell (although that's a useful indicator of a problem).

[Bob]

That's interesting about applying heatshrink over each connection. Is that just using a smaller gauge of the same kind of heatshrink used for the outer sheathing?

I must admit, I mainly derived my knowledge of crimping from

and that does not mention this step. IIRC, that wiki grew out of contributors to uk.d-i-y which is why I had put some trust in it.

Bob

[Mike Tomlinson]

In article , Bob writes

Just a belt and braces approach, really. It'll depend on how much slack wire there is and how much room you have to work with.

I also did this 'cos I was going to slap a load of wet polyfilla into the hole after making the joint and wanted to get the power back on.

I would trust it too. Nice clear photos and the advice about the cheap tools being fit only for the bin is right. Nice tip too about staggering the crimps to reduce overall bulk.

[John Rumm]

Heatshrinking the individual wires is a required step if you are using non insulated crimps and associated tool. There is little need for it in most cases with insulated ones IME.

Where you need a water tight joint might be one occasion where adhesive lined heatshrink on the individual wires would be handy. Although a more common approach if you have space is some form of glanded or potted waterproof enclosure over the whole joint.

It hints at it in passing when talking about different types of crimps.