Extending Cable's

[VulcanElectrical]

Hi,

What is the correct way to extend a cable inside a consumer unit? Will crimps do the job?

Thanks

 

[streetlighter]

The actual correct way to extend the cable inside a consumer unit is not to cut it too short to begin with (only jokin)

crimps are fine as long as they are insulated ones
hope this helps

 

[Taylortwocities]

A piece of terminal block (chock block) is also acceoptable as the joint is accessible. It doesn't look pretty though - only to be used if there are no other alternatives!

 

[wreck-it-steve]

Can cables be crimped before they enter the consumer unit so you have nice fresh cable in side the board, The cables would sit behind the mounting board?

 

[barera]

i may be wrong but i seem to remember reading somewhere that crimps are only suitable on 6amp circuits as they are not rated high enough for 15 or 32amp circuits.!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I wonder why they bother to make them to fit really large cables then....

 

[GaryMo]

Can cables be crimped before they enter the consumer unit so you have nice fresh cable in side the board, The cables would sit behind the mounting board?

Probably fine if the termination was then covered with heatshrink.
Still, better to make the connection inside the consumer unit.

 

[ericmark]

There are three sizes of pre-insulated crimp red, blue, and yellow and they are for 1.25mm, 2mm and 5.5mm (22-16, 16-14, 12-10 AWG). The crimp pliers can be calibrated

you can see the dial to calibrate and 1mm and 1.5mm or 4mm and 6mm will clearly need the tool recalibrated to change between them.

When working for GEC Large Steam Turbines (the only company who I have worked for who calibrated the crimp pliers) they would not accept the three in one pliers we have to have three separate sets of pliers.

Not had a problem with crimps I have done, but have found over heated crimps in the past. I would guess most electricians would realise when the crimp pliers seem not to need the normal pressure that there is something wrong. But unless used a lot one may not realise. I would not want to hide a crimp if it has gone wrong you want anyone inspecting to see it's gone wrong. Forget looks it's safety first.

As to current rating took some finding but here is the document which says:-
Red = 19A
Blue = 27A
Yellow = 48A
These are vinyl insulated may be different with PVC.

These crimp pliers are priced at £273.23 from Farnell which seems a silly price but one must remember there is a huge difference in quality of crimp pliers and although the crimp may take 48A using the matching pliers even swapping manufacturer of crimp can mean the pliers need recalibrating and only with calibrated pliers can one really go to the limit with the amp rating.

 

[JohnW2]

These are vinyl insulated may be different with PVC.

Are you sure they don't actually mean PVC? 'Vinyl' is an imprecise term, but most commonly used to refer to PVC; other polymerised vinyl compounds (e.g.polyvinyl fluoride, PVF, and polyvinyl acetate, PVAc) are much less common.

Kind Regards, John.