And there it was. Good thing I have some spares on hand!
I thought I smelled burning....
- Thread starter ryan_george
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MrSaLTy
Well-Known Member
DOH! So any idea what caused it? Have a short somewhere? Do you have a GFCI in your setup?
Well I assume it was just a poor connection that slowly got worse and worse over time. This connector hasn't been touched in about 2 years of electric brewing. Nothing shorted or caused a ground fault, I just shut everything down when I felt how warm that connector was getting! I do have everything protected with a GFCI.
This is so common that soldering on spade, fork, and ring terminals is the only foolproof way.
processhead
Well-Known Member
That is a classic example of a high resistance connection that either started loose or got loose, and then got hot.
I like the solder-on terminals idea to make a better connection with fine stranded wire.
I like the solder-on terminals idea to make a better connection with fine stranded wire.
MrSaLTy
Well-Known Member
How exactly could you do that? That type of plug has the screw terminal at the bottom of a fairly long plastic tunnel. Could you get a fork terminal down in there? It just so happens I just got plugs like this and was about to start connecting them and if there is a better way to do it now is the time for me to do it.
Shockerengr
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for those kind of connectors, it's not a bad habit to check the screw terminals annually or so and make sure they are all tight.
Agreed.
A well-soldered connection is your friend.
orangehero
Well-Known Member
The instructions that came with my connector explicitly state to use bare, twisted stranded wire and to not tin the conductors.
Tighten the screws then solder the screw to the plate prevents the loosening of the screw due to thermal expansion (just the side you don't want solder in the screw head) do it all the time at work on hot plates and 3 phase ovens.
