multiple wiring

[broadbent]

I have a whole lot of wires that need to be connected together and then eventually to a single feed.

I want to wire them really neatly.

Any ideas?

[cliff park]

Chocolate block connectors. Links down one side, wires to other side. That way you can take individual wires out if you need to fault find. If you solder them and have problems you really have problems. Are they single or multicore ? This could influence the answer.

[Judge Dread]

I have a whole lot of wires that need to be connected together and then eventually to a single feed.

I want to wire them really neatly.

Any ideas?

Before anyone tries to get you purchase the most expensive connector ever made, try this method.

A 5 amp strip with 2.5mm copper wire stripped from twin and earth mains wiring. 

It would pay you to solder the ends of each conductor to prevent them being damaged by the screws and do not twist them together.  

The photo is of one on my present exhibition layout "Meopham East Junction" and to date none have failed.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Judge Dread

[broadbent]

Before anyone tries to get you purchase the most expensive connector ever made, try this method.

A 5 amp strip with 2.5mm copper wire stripped from twin and earth mains wiring. 

It would pay you to solder the ends of each conductor to prevent them being damaged by the screws and do not twist them together.  

connect strip.jpg

The photo is of one on my present exhibition layout "Meopham East Junction" and to date none have failed.

Is there a multiple connector as your photo, but with a fixed built-in connecting strip on one side instead of the copper wire?

[Judge Dread]

Is there a multiple connector as your photo, but with a fixed built-in connecting strip on one side instead of the copper wire?

I could not say, being a tight Yorkshire man, I use anything that comes to hand. We are talking here low voltage and I could not see a fixed built-in connecting strip for mains use without suitable protection. I'm talking here off cuts, scrap pieces of wire. By the way, I am a retired electrician.

[broadbent]

Thanks

[Free At Last]

You could try an earth block, example - http://www.screwfix.com/p/8-way-earth-block/11385 but they are not insulated and not cheap.

[ejstubbs]

It would pay you to solder the ends of each conductor to prevent them being damaged by the screws and do not twist them together.

 

Tinned wire ends get squished and weakened when the connector block screws are driven home, much more so than if the individual cores are able to shuffle about to accommodate the pressure.  Ideally, wire ends going in to connector blocks should be kept tidy with a bootlace ferrule of the correct size crimped on.

 

Why would you need to twist them together, if you're using a choc block with terminals looped together like in your photo?  One wire per terminal would work fine - in fact, that's pretty much exactly what the OP was asking for!  (Your photo is a bit puzzling in that respect: you've created two sets of three linked terminals, but only used one terminal in each set - but used that single terminal for two wires, leaving two terminals in each group unused.  Maybe it's just a poor choice of example, and you do actually have a use for the other two terminals.)

 

Using solid cable core for the connectors between the terminals on the other side of the choc block is a good idea* because the solid core is largely impervious to the terminal screw.  You don't have to cut multiple short pieces: you can use one continuous length bent in to loops of the correct width.  A pair of pliers is helpful to crimp the two "legs" of each pair of adjacent loops tightly together (but no so tightly that it weakens the wire too much) so that they go in to the terminal holes without a fight.  This also means that you know that both loops into each terminal have the same connection - hopefully a good one - rather than risk one "leg" being held less tightly by the terminal screw then the other - which could be a troubleshooting nightmare if any problems ever arose.

 

* Of course it goes without saying - doesn't it? - that an arrangement like that with exposed, uninsulated conductors should never be used for mains voltages.  It may be a shorting risk even with low voltages, if you have two such blocks close together "back to back".

Edited August 28, 2017 by ejstubbs

[Crosland]

It would pay you to solder the ends of each conductor to prevent them being damaged by the screws 

 

 

That's the last thing you should do. Twist the strands of each conductor and preferably use a boot lace ferrule crimped on.

[broadbent]

What I have finally done, and only because I had a long brass rod. I fixed each end with a standard connector and soldered each wire onto it. It seems to work.

[Tricky Dicky]

I have a whole lot of wires that need to be connected together and then eventually to a single feed.

I want to wire them really neatly.

Any ideas?

Another alternative is Wago Connectors, they will grip 7/02mm to 4mm2 available in 2,3 & 5 way. Tool less installation and they are one of the few permitted connectors allowed under the wiring regs. to be used in inaccessible places. Many electricians recommend them in place of choc blocks. They can also be easily reused.

 

http://www.screwfix.com/p/wago-3-way-lever-connector-221-series-32a-pack-of-50/2803r

 

Richard

[Junctionmad]

I never use " chocolate block " connectors unless I use bootlace ferrules properly crimped on, I now prefer crimped ring terminals and screw based terminal blocks ( cheap from China)

 

Commoing blocks are cheaply available and also can be easyily made from a flat brass bar , tapped appropriately, and use crimped ring or fork wire ends

 

Whatever you do , don't thin ends of multi strand wire to go into a chocolate block , overtime under the clamp pressure , the solder " flows" and the connection loosens , furthermore when subject to any vibration , the wire will fail at the solder point.

 

just fixed a friends control panel where all this happened , !!