changing a consumer unit and short cables

[bagpiperay]

I have replace my consumer unit and the neutral and earths are not in the sam eplace as the previous box. Therefore some of the cables are too short to connect. There is no way of replacing these cables as they are buried in the wall.

What is the best way of extending several of the cables i.e. crimping, soldering, connector strips or is there another way such as a fixed connector strip/bar enclosed and more permanent?

 

[Steve]

crimping. Though it would look neater and avoid clutter if you made the joints in a seperate enclosure.

 

[plugwash]

soldering is the best way if you do a good job of it, the important thing to remember is that you must find a way to hold the wires in close contact (binding them together with thin wire is generally pretty effective) before soldering them. You will also need to insulate your solder joints with heatshrink.

crimping is ok but make sure you use good quality crimps (if possible try and get a known brand like amp) of the right size and use a decent ratchet crimper. Note that insulated crimps are only suitable for cables up to 6mm so for large cables you will have to use bare metal ones and heatshrink

terminal block is pretty horrid stuff especially if used floating with nowhere to fix it down to, i'd avoid it.

 

[bagpiperay]

Thanks everyone. I think I'll go with crimping as they are neat.

Only question is what is shrink wrap? In the past all I've ever done is strip some larger core copper wire out of some cable and use that.

 

[davy_owen_88]

Heatshrink