Joining Alarm Cable

[sixwheeledbeast]

Exactly, any crimped connection has only friction to maintain a good connection (lowest resistance), even with the friction of the copper twisted together.

Issue with crimped type connections is they rely on exact pressure over the crimps surface area to have perfect friction, too much pressure or unequal you get conductor damage and too little you get a poor/loose connection and insulator.

Those generally have engineers put there side cutters through them and pushed into a passive, no consideration of a perfect connection.

 

The same issue applies to your red yellow blue crimps however, I would only ever use a proper crimping tool with these for the connect conductor size. This provides the perfect crimp.

[Specialist]

Yes but every time I've seen them used, they weren't actually the connection. The connection twisted & folded was placed inside one end of the connector more as an insulator, yes they were crimped in place but to hold them in place. Makes a better insulator than tape.

[Specialist]

14 minutes ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

Exactly, any crimped connection has only friction to maintain a good connection (lowest resistance), even with the friction of the copper twisted together.

Issue with crimped type connections is they rely on exact pressure over the crimps surface area to have perfect friction, too much pressure or unequal you get conductor damage and too little you get a poor/loose connection and insulator.

Those generally have engineers put there side cutters through them and pushed into a passive, no consideration of a perfect connection.

 

The same issue applies to your red yellow blue crimps however, I would only ever use a proper crimping tool with these for the connect conductor size. This provides the perfect crimp.

Wasn't actually talking about crimps in passives (Don't think I've ever seen someone do that), where I've seen red butt connectors being used is inside Junction boxes and control panels.

Wouldn't call someone using cutters or pliers on crimps an engineer to be honest, I'm a great believer in using the right tool for the job especially with crimps.

You can also get high resistance joints with soldered connections if not done properly & when hidden inside heat shrink, they can be a total pig to find.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Specialist

[al-yeti]

7 minutes ago, Specialist said:

Wasn't actually talking about crimps in passives (Don't think I've ever seen someone do that), where I've seen red butt connectors being used is inside Junction boxes and control panels.

Wouldn't call someone using cutters or pliers on crimps an engineer to be honest, I'm a great believer in using the right tool for the job especially with crimps.

You can also get high resistance joints with soldered connections if not done properly & when hidden inside heat shrink, they can be a total pig to find.

Blagger 

 

Stick to twist and tape man your better off lol

[Specialist]

Sorry fella: Never used twist & tape, I've never owned a horse or Stetson.

By the way, the Longman dictionary definition of a blagger is someone who lies cleverly to get what they want. Don't appreciate that.

I don't need to lie to people, I tell people what I think whether it pleases or offends.

Edited May 3, 2019 by Specialist

[al-yeti]

2 hours ago, Specialist said:

Sorry fella: Never used twist & tape, I've never owned a horse or Stetson.

By the way, the Longman dictionary definition of a blagger is someone who lies cleverly to get what they want. Don't appreciate that.

I don't need to lie to people, I tell people what I think whether it pleases or offends.

To serious man lol 

 

Although blagger has many definitions.....

[sixwheeledbeast]

I have never seen a high resistance issue on a soldered cable connection, whereas I have been to a few call outs (takeovers) for bad closed splices.

Taking connection quality aside you still can't improve on soldering and shrink when it comes to the size of the completed connection either.

There's also moisture protection with solder and shrink... it takes a little more time but if you must joint a cable it's worth the time to do it the best way possible. The ideal solution is replace the cable where possible obviously.

 

[Specialist]

10 hours ago, sixwheeledbeast said:

I have never seen a high resistance issue on a soldered cable connection, whereas I have been to a few call outs (takeovers) for bad closed splices.

Taking connection quality aside you still can't improve on soldering and shrink when it comes to the size of the completed connection either.

There's also moisture protection with solder and shrink... it takes a little more time but if you must joint a cable it's worth the time to do it the best way possible. The ideal solution is replace the cable where possible obviously.

 

As I already said, soldered & shrunk is the best way to go and what I prefer, but I've also seen badly made soldered connections that over a period of time have gone high resistance.

It doesn't matter whether it's a soldered or crimped joint, if it's not done properly then it's going to cause problems eventually.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2019 by Specialist

[Specialist]

People: The op asked for alternatives to soldered and shrunk cable joints & that's exactly what I gave him,  no more & no less. If that offends some people's sensibilities then so be it.

As far as I'm concerned that's it, end of story. To carry the the subject on won't serve any useful purpose.

 

[sixwheeledbeast]

There's no offence.

People come here asking for advice and opinions from people in the trade, if people here think there is no better alternative then why would you not explain your reasoning to that?

I read the post as "is there a better way", answer "no, and here's why".

 

In the many years being here I can say we often have to decode "XY problems" from people on the public side.

Maybe this comes across as answering a question with a question but you can only give advise on what you know for certain.

We haven't even got into an argument about why you wouldn't use a tampered junction box but we don't know the full picture, for example. ;)