Dear Inventor of Elk's Quick Connection Terminals...

Dear Inventor of Elk's Green Quick Connection Terminals,

I wish you banished to hell only to install wire in your 'easy' terminals in every position other than flat and level for all the days of your life.

Your avid supporter of this sentence,
Mike

Huh?

Care to explain your frustrations in a little more detail?

How would you make them different?

You know they can be removed to easily make the the connection?

Dear Mike;

FIrst off, Elk did not 'invent' those terminals, Phoenix contact is the manufacturer.

Second, these are standard connection types for a lot of industries, including professional process control installations.

Third, you need some help or guidance as these are standard connector types, so something basic must not be getting done correctly. As stated above, what exactly is the problem with the connectors? What wire gauge and type (stranded, solid) are you using? How are you stripping the insulation off? How are you making the final connection?

Ok, so I guess I'm the only one that sees these *specific* connectors as a PIA. These connectors screw UP so unless you are level, gravity is always working against you - I find this extremely frustrating. Just when you think you've got the wire in there, you realize you are below the opening, and they fall out. While I don't have experence with all brands, RCS for example screws down and has a gate above the hole, so you know that if you can insert a wire you have the right opening.

You do realize the connectors come off. Leave yourself enough cable slack so you can take the connector off and work with it that way. Also back the screw all the way out, make sure the connector is fully open. That's the only advice I have.

I really think the frustration (and I share it with you having just adding some more sensors this weekend) is more with working with 22ga wire in a tight space than the connectors. I don't really know if I have seen any better connector options and I have certainly seen worse.

The connectors on the M1G are not the issue as much as the relays, serial board, etc because they *dont* come off

Once you get some experience with them they'll not be a problem. As said before, those style of connectors are very common in the (Insert low voltage industry here) world. Sometimes you may have to loosen the connection point before inserting the wire because they can close up due to shipping, vibration, etc....

What would you consider a better connector to use?

As they say,a poor musician blames their instrument. <_<

On the M1 and related XIN/XOVR or RB, you remove the plugs, prewire, then plug. On the M1 itself, they're angled so you really can wire them in place if you want to. Very nice design, I'd take that over some of their competition's design for boards.

Some of the most reliable and stable connectors out there and very common in the industry. While I'd love for all hardware to be shipped with the terminals loose so it's a wire up and go, not all do that, as alluded to by Gatchel. Only downside, and I quickly got over it, is you wire the board in your hand, then slide the board into the can, call it a day.

The only other ones they could've used IMO on the other boards are the blocks that slide over solder pins on a board, however those loosen up over time or can be easily bent. I would, however, had asked for more ty-rap slots to have been punched into their enclosures, with the large knockouts coming out a little better than they do (I hate having to drag out the slugbuster to get them out cleanly).

I wired everything in place, not realizing the blocks come off (I kinda thought they did, but didnt want to pry too hard on them). Honestly I had zero issues getting the wires in place. Before I mounted the board and can on the wall I opened all of the connectors so all I needed to do was insert wire and run them back down. Before insert each wire I would strip the insulation off and then give the bare portion a nice bend so that I could "hook" it into the contact from the front. I did all of the wires this way before I realized I could have taken the blocks off. It didnt take me much time at all, so I kinda agree with DEL: dont blame the equipment

Also helpful was a precision screwdriver with a "knob" at the top that let me spin the screwdriver with my two fingers while pressing on the knob with my palm. Made for a quick way to run the connector back down from fully open to closed in a few seconds.

Wiha makes absolutely the BEST screwdrivers for this application. You will not regret the purchase ('m not affiliated with them)!

http://www.amazon.co...ywords=wiha set

http://www.amazon.co...g=5336653668-20

FWIW I have a set of Craftsman Professional precision screwdrivers and they work great. I have some Wiha hex drivers too and love them....just got a little cheap on the screwdrivers

I have a bunch of these sets - I keep them in all my tool kits. I've gotten the occasional bent tip, so they're probably not the quality of the Wiha ones, but they have all the weird hex sized that come up when working on random electronics.

BraveSirRobbin said:

Wiha makes absolutely the BEST screwdrivers for this application. You will not regret the purchase ('m not affiliated with them)!

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I wait for manufacturer seminars, trainings and trade shows for mine

The best ones come from Software House packed with their panels, I'll have to look but they're on par with Wiha.

DELInstallations said:

I wait for manufacturer seminars, trainings and trade shows for mine

The best ones come from Software House packed with their panels, I'll have to look but they're on par with Wiha.

Click to expand...

+1 for the SWH tweekers. I stick mainly to craftsman ones solely because they are convenient to replace around here