IDC Terminals and stranded wire

Does anyone have any experience with this? I always Thought That IDC needed to be used with solid wire.

Bob

We have had excellent results with the Entrelec IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector) terminal blocks with stranded wire. In many cases we use one side IDC for internal connections and one side screw terminals for field connections. In all cases we have had fewer problems with the IDC side with wire working loose from vibration etc. than the screw side. We use the Entrelec because it is rated for two wires in each IDC connection, which is a great help if you have to add jumpers in the field between two widely spaced terminals.

Thanks Tom,

I also use Entrelec but have not used the IDC terminals yet. Thanks for the info.

Bob

Wow I think I have just crossed the line that I hoped I would never cross. I "THOUGHT' that I wouldn't use these things. Why change from the old screw style - it'll never work. Looking at it, I really can't come up with a good reason why. We pretty much have mostly AB stuff here and on their web site they have a good shockwave of how these things work (for the few of us who really haven't a salesman come show them this).

IDC demo

I thought that this won't work because you can't jump and install wires on the same side, but I noticed that they have styles with multiple terminals on a block. On the intro page, it states that these can be used with both solid and stranded wire. Up until now, I've always used a screw terminal with a ferrule on the end of the wire. I hate when a small strand doesn't go in (and in rare cases touches another terminal).

Most of the guys I work with hate the spring clamp style. They NEVER have the right size screwdrive to release the spring. I think that for the most part, it is just resistance to change; just like my original reaction.

Who knows, I might start trying these if no one posts anything bad about them. At least it will eliminate someone putting 3 and 4 wires under 1 screw terminal. I just hope whoever uses these leave enough DIN rail space to add some blocks whenever the machine need some mods.

Hope I didn't ramble too much, I just never considered these.

BGC