Ferrule crimping style??

I have searched and searched and bought many... front load, side load, hexagonal, trapezoidal, hammer etc

I ended up using a couple different ones depending on the size of the wire, the one below is my one when building our trainers, I thought about selling them... they are cheap and work great and I like the way the crimp looks, the front load style is the one I use in the field because you dont always have the room for the side load when working in a tight cabinet

DSCN1809.JPG
 
I seem to remember from some conversations with a design engineer some years back that ferrules work well with screw terminals, but are a failure point on spring loaded contacts and as such they (the company designs the controllers and the integration into the manufacturer's facilities) moved from spring loaded onto screw terminals, precisely because they didn't want to sell their systems without ferrules.

The interesting bit is how some standards mention torque applied on the ferrule and yet most have no indication of the torque applied to the ferrule.
 
Although ferrules are becoming more popular here in the USA, the reality is they are just another point of failure.

One advantage of using stranded wire is that it mashes down under the terminals well and makes for a secure termination, especially if there are two wires under one terminal (assuming the terminal is rated for two wires and many are).

I’ve troubleshot many panels where the ferrule didn’t “seat” correctly under the terminal and was loose. This is especially true with terminations on IEC-style pushbutton/selector switch connectors.

Another downside to ferrules is that they are labor intensive to install, which translates to more $$$$$.

All of that being said, there are also problems with loose strands of wires causing problems IF the wire is not terminated properly.......and not installing ferrules properly can cause problems too.


Ill second this!!!!! We don't have a the regular yearly checking of terminals here in our facility simply due to manpower. The only loose connections that I keep seeing, are on the one large machine that has 8 cabinets alone that are bursting with terminal block and ferrule connections. Over the past 6 years, Iv had more call ins to this machine being down due to loose connections then I'v had to all the rest of the machines put together, and whats tight today, may very well become loose tomorrow.

Sometimes Ill find that the initial crimp is severely loose and the wire is out of the ferrule with the ferrule still under the terminal block screw.

Every time I get into one of these cabinets I find loose connections.


Perhaps some of these issues are less frequent in spring terminal applications, this machine has all screw terminals, and a frequency for panel maintenance and terminal tightening.

Then you see somebody trying to jam 2 ferrules into 1 terminal block. Ughh,


Either way. I'm sure they have their place but day to day, I don't care for them much.
 
I'd rather move away from labeling of individual wires than from using ferrules, if assembly time is a concern. Ferrules are a great help especially in hard to get to places where multiple attempts to insert a wire into a terminal without seeing just make it all messed up.

Yes, it is a bit of extra time, almost nothing with experience (two simple hand moves). Yes, there are some new issues to consider: for instance, an 18 ga wire would easily insert into a high-density slice I/O terminal from Beckhoff or Wago but is almost impossible to insert when ferruled. I am not aware of any deficiency using ferrules with cage-clamp terminals; however in our business we are never concerned with extra vibration and such.

As far as square vs. other - it depends. I use a Wago ferrule crimper which makes perfectly square tight crimps but causes a significant strain on the palm. And a Molex one, where crimps are not as tight but it is much easier for your hand.
 
IF making panel or wiring multiple wires, I use square (and I have couple of them). But If I have to go in the field only for couple of things, I really love using this only:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALRfudNYhm0

It's very easy to fit it even in your pocket

a thread a few years back on this same subject someone recommended those and i immediately bought a pair from amazon.uk and they are all i carry in my road bag, absolutely perfect for traveling light and having a tool that does many things well.
 
We used to have a lot of wires back out on screw terminals as our equipment would vibrate them loose while being shipped to different job sites. I ordered a ferrule set from Phoenix contact and never heard about wires backing out again. As long as the correct gauge wire to ferrule is being used, they are great. We switched to spring type terminals and still use the ferrules. Our equipment on oil rigs goes through a lot of vibration and shaking, and it just holds up.



They are also great if you replace components. You can keep reusing the wire without have to straighten out the strands over and over.
 
The whole spring loaded terminal design came from the train industry. Plenty of vibration there....
I believe Wago was first....
 
The whole spring loaded terminal design came from the train industry. Plenty of vibration there....
I believe Wago was first....

Yes, Wago. But lot of big companies don't like it. I guess the problem comes when you send big crowd with toolboxes in the field, during large project. It is hard to make 100% check. And many, many times I've seen pretty short ferrules (like 8-10 mm) in spring terminals, which sure will cause troubles. But Bubba will pick whatever ferrule he has in the box.
 
Yes, Wago. But lot of big companies don't like it. I guess the problem comes when you send big crowd with toolboxes in the field, during large project. It is hard to make 100% check. And many, many times I've seen pretty short ferrules (like 8-10 mm) in spring terminals, which sure will cause troubles. But Bubba will pick whatever ferrule he has in the box.




Another issue is even if a ferrule that is designed to accept two wires it will cause problems if one of those wires needs disconnected or moved. It becomes a real PIA!!
 

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