The subtleties of connecting the machine in the switchboard

Hello dear guests and subscribers of my channel. All of us in the house periodically carry out minor repairs, and sometimes it becomes necessary to connect a new or replace the old automatic machine in the switchboard. In this article I will talk about all the subtleties of this process so that the connection is as reliable and secure as possible.

How is it right above or below

Note. If you do not have the necessary knowledge and skills when working with electricity, then entrust the work to professionals. Remember, electricity is unforgiving. And the correct connection algorithm will be useful to know when accepting the work of an electrician.

So, the first point on which I want to draw your attention is from which side the power should come to the machine.

If you refer to the technical documentation, then according to the rules, namely PUE clause 3.1.6, in the case of one-way power supply, connection should be made to fixed contacts. This requirement can only conditionally be attributed to modern machines, in which connection both from below and from above is permissible.

But it is generally accepted that the power supply to the machine is always carried out from above. Exceptions are allowed only if it is impossible to connect in a different way.

Important. You cannot rely on generally accepted rules, therefore, after turning off the machine, you need to take a multimeter and personally make sure that, for example, the power supply is made from above.

How to connect a solid wire

We monitor the insulation of the core

Despite the seeming simplicity of connection: cleaned - inserted - tightened, even here you can make many stupid mistakes. And the first of them is the accidental clamping of the core insulation.

So this situation is unpleasant in that there will be either no contact completely, or it will be weak and when the load flows, this place will be very hot, which can lead to such consequences.

And here it is not far from the fire. Therefore, you should be extremely careful that the conductor is stripped to a sufficient length and make sure that only the bare part of the conductor is tightened.

We do not clamp wires of different cross-sections

Often it is necessary to connect not one machine, but a group at once. So in this case, it is best to use a special series of the machines themselves and a specialized connecting comb.

But in most cases, we use the good old jumper.

So the main condition for such a connection is that the wires are strictly of the same cross-section as the wire through which the power is supplied.

If this condition is not met, then the following will happen:

When tightening the terminal, a wire of a larger cross-section will be clamped well, and a wire of a smaller cross-section will be slightly stuck at a maximum. Thus, in this case, there is no need to talk about reliable contact.

This means that when the load flows in the place of poor contact, there will be strong heating, which can lead to disastrous consequences.

How to increase your contact area

In most cases, any electrician will simply strip the wire, insert it into the machine, and tighten it. This is all true, but to make the contact more reliable, you should use the following trick and make just such a loop.

Thus, the contact area will be additionally increased and the contact resistance will decrease, which means that the connection will be more reliable.

How to connect stranded wires correctly

In order to correctly connect a stranded wire, it is not enough just to strip the conductor and clamp it in the machine. Thus, we will not get reliable contact with you, and even damage the multi-wire core itself with the sponges of the machine.

In this case, the only correct option is to pre-crimp the core with special tips of the NSHVI type. And in order to make a jumper from a flexible stranded wire, you need to use special NSHVI-2 lugs.

This is the only way to get the most reliable contact. Some masters may object and say that you can simply tin the ends of the flexible wire and clamp it in the machine. So here I am against this type of connection and here's why:

Yes, of course, at first such a connection will be quite reliable, but the trouble is that solder has the property of "flowing" over time, and this process is accelerated with increasing load in place connections.

This means that with this type of connection, you need to broach the contacts a little more often. And who is doing this in the private sector? Almost nobody.

This means that a soldered flexible conductor can leak, which will lead to heating of the contact point and further melting of the insulation, short circuit and even fire.

Therefore, it is better not to use soldering when connecting flexible conductors to the machine, but to use exclusively crimping.

In this way, you can correctly connect the machine in the switchboard, and knowing the algorithm of actions, you can also control the work of the hired specialist.

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