Molex connectors

[Doug McKalip]

rangebob wrote:

Doug, do you have to purchase the tool that they sell for the connectors or can you crimp it with something else? It looks like the tool for 18-14 ga wire is $520.00.

I bought a Paladin CrimpALL with a replaceable die set for around $100.00 shipped. I remember that the same outfit had a cheaper tool as well. I will try to find if the place is still around.

I found most of the connector and cable items I used on EBay and the electrical stuff from Home Depot or Menards. I have more pictures that may save time if anyone wants to see them.

Doug

[rangebob]

Yes, please share. I've been looking at doing this.

[JimCanfield]

That is quite the investment!

[Doug McKalip]

I make up these pigtails for the outlet boxes first. The short ones are for terminating boxes and the long ones are for daisy chaining.


Attached files

[JeffF]

You look like a true tinkerer Doug. Hats off to you for creativity!

[Doug McKalip]

I use open back boxes bolted together. I think I heard an electrician call them box extenders. If anyone knows of an affordable plastic substitute, please let me know.


Attached files

[Doug McKalip]

One partially assembled box and one assembled. Remember to break the tab on the hot side of the outlet to seperate them.


Attached files

[Doug McKalip]

The 8 hot wires are 16 AWG stranded 8 conductor jacketed cable and the neutral is 14 AWG stranded. I cover with a braided sleeve and shrink tube the ends. I reduced the fuse in the controllers to a 15A because I did not need the big amps and the available (read: cheap EBay) wire was a little light.

The wire and connectors I picked for the suitability to my application and anyone using the total potential of the LOR controllers should size up to match the maximum amperage draw.

I had a version that used a 10th ground wire and grounded the outlet boxes, but it was a pain to hook up and I was replacing two wire extention cords so I thought it was overkill. Maybe one of the electricians could give an opinion?

Thanks,

Doug


Attached files

[Donald Puryear]

You should always use a ground with metal boxes and 3 prong outlets. If your boxes were plastic and rec. were 2 prong it would be safer

[Doug McKalip]

Donald Puryear wrote:

You should always use a ground with metal boxes and 3 prong outlets. If your boxes were plastic and rec. were 2 prong it would be safer

Thanks Don, I suspected that would be true and will keep looking for affordable plastic boxes and covers. Otherwise I will switch to a CPC connector with more pins. Pulling the extra conductor, 14 AWG Stranded green, out of the sleeve and bolting to the box is a pain. My first revision had the extra ground wire implemented that way.

I do not hook up the ground pin on the outlets and only use two wire plugs for the lights, so it should not make any difference there. These are not regular extension cords and only plug into LOR controllers. I suppose I could epoxy the ground holes shut cheaper than changing the receptacles to prevent the possiblility of someone plugging a drill into one.

Maybe you would know this.

I lay these boxes directly on the ground and use GFI outlets or GFI circuit breakers coming from the house. If a hot wire came loose in the box and touched the metal box, (not grounded or hooked up anywhere except it is laying on the ground) would it trip the GFI through the LOR controller?

Thanks,

Doug

[Doug McKalip]

Jeff Millard wrote:

Doug,

Ditto on what Donald said. I don't know if you choose to use GFCI or not, and I've beaten my pro GFCI stance to death here on this forum. The thing that does scare me a little is using the metal boxes outside without a ground on them. . . .

Now, I have a couple questions for you. First, where did you find the #16 wire and how was the price? I need some cheap #16 and #18 for a couple projects I have.

Where did you get the braided sleeve? That's a very clean way to finish the cables. I hand wrapped 3/4" black electrical tape to mine. Most of them were 40' + runs from the controllers in the house out to the items in the display. (I made them 18 months ago and my hands still hurt)

Jeff

Thanks Jeff,

I am a believer and user of GFI and recognizable wire colors. I don't know if it is overkill with GFI, but I also consciously try to not have both phases (220 Volt potential) in any display element.

It is possible because I live in Cook County Illinois, where metal conduit is code, my local Home Depot and Menards do not have suitable plastic boxes and covers. I found I could not find the gray PVC conduit here either and needed to drive to Will County to get it.

Copper prices are high and multi-conductor wire is unreasonably high. I purchase all the wire and sleeve on EBay and just kept watching the auctions until I found what I needed. The sleeve size is not critical to be exact in size, because when you push it together it gets larger and when you pull it, it gets smaller like a Chinese finger trap.

The braided sleeve makes the cables less prone to tangle or knot and are very durable. I would use the sleeve even if I did not need to add conductors. Putting two or three wires into 36' segments of sleeve is a little bit of a pain, but I imagine much easier than wrapping them in tape.

Doug

[Guest wbottomley]

Jeff Millard wrote:

I worked at a Nuke plant for five years. Jeff

So Jeff... That's what you're blaming it on. LOL

[ndiaz]

Doug Amazing Idea! I was thinking about the Molex, but now I think its going to be a for sure deal.

Thanks for sharing!

P.S. I think the Menards at 159th and harlem has plastic boxes...but don't quote me.

[Doug McKalip]

Jeff Millard wrote:

Doug McKalip wrote:

I lay these boxes directly on the ground and use GFI outlets or GFI circuit breakers coming from the house. If a hot wire came loose in the box and touched the metal box, (not grounded or hooked up anywhere except it is laying on the ground) would it trip the GFI through the LOR controller?

Yes or no. It all depends on how bonded the box becomes to a path to ground. If it was wet and a little dirty... probably. If it was dry and setting atop grass. No, not until someone picked it up to see what was wrong with it. Then your weight pressing down on Earth would be sufficient for your body to leak current away from the normal path. The protection will recognize a difference in the current on the hot and neutral and trip. Unless it's defective. . .

Jeff

Thanks Jeff for the clarification on the GFCI, I was thinking it worked that way but was not sure.

I seem to read or hear on the radio every year about some guy killing himself working on his 220v pool pump. I never saw an article on someone killing themselves on their Christmas lights or electric hedge trimmer (110v). Maybe some of that is because of GFCI installations, but I know most older homes do not have it and even I had been guilty of plugging in on the only circuits not overloaded already when the lights would not stay on. (not GFCI)

In my old house I had one outlet pair that was powered by two phases and it first came to mind when I build my first controller. I thought if I put two power cords on my LOR controller and I plugged into that old outlet, that would put 220v potential in the box and possibly the same display element.

I agree totally and I stay away from non GFCI circuits and make an effort to not mix phases in the same area of the display.

Thanks for the input.

Doug

[Doug McKalip]

ndiaz wrote:

Doug Amazing Idea! I was thinking about the Molex, but now I think its going to be a for sure deal.

Thanks for sharing!

P.S. I think the Menards at 159th and harlem has plastic boxes...but don't quote me.

Thanks for the kind words.

I did not see anything that was a direct replacement for what I was using locally. They either needed much modificaton or were ten times the cost (and still needed some modification). I was looking for something a little easier / cheaper.

I found some 6 inch ID shrink tubing and will try to find some new non conductive covers and try the shrink tube. I will report back with the results.

Thanks,

Doug

[kellyhaglund]

On the other hand, what a great anti-theft set up!

[John Hertig]

Doug, wonderful idea. I'm looking into doing that.

I'm having trouble finding the wiring, there do not seem to be any auctions at eBay for it at present. I did find 16 AWG 9 conductor wire for $1.24 a foot (at Elliots Electronics in Tucson), and 18 AWG with various numbers of conductors up to 10 (the latter at Home Depot) for under $1 per foot. 16 guage should be fine for the power circuits, but I don't think it will be big enough for the common return. If I have to, I might string separate power return and ground wires inside the loom.

The web site above seems a reasonably priced place to get the CPC connectors. I found them locally, but the price was horrendous. Still, got one set to play with; bulk will be from the internet.

I did find an auction for the loom; their eBay store has all the sizes and a few of the colors.

Elliots had a 'pliar type' crimper by GC they claimed would work, under $30. Model 12-464. It works, but is very slow (takes 4 operations to crimp each pin).

I have a bunch of those plastic 'power stakes' which rotate downwards to protect the cords plugged into them from the weather. Hopefully those will be usable to convert from the cable to regular outlets. If only they had 4 outlets instead of 3... They do have a switch; maybe I can replace that with another outlet.

[Steven]

Jeff Millard wrote:

I have 6 new work PVC quad boxes with 3 prong recepticals that don't have the ground connected either. I went with this due to cost. The 2 prong outlets were 3X the price. I really should have spent the extra $4 and got the right thing...

So why not convert the 3 prong outlets into 2 prong outlets with some epoxy?

[John Hertig]

Interesting, it seems to have thrown away my edit of the append above.

In any case, I found that by putting the pins in the GC crimper with the correct orientation, it works much better; down to 2 operations (crimp the wire then crimp the insulation in a different postion of the tool).

[John Hertig]

I have been looking for the wire to make the '8 channel' cords and found a company which will make a custom wire of 8 16 ga and 2 14 guage wires. Price looks pretty good, under $2 a foot for 500' and under $1.50 a foot for 1000'. Interior insulation I specified was Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet and Gray (1 - 8 in resistor color code) for the 16 guage wires, and White with black stripe and green with black stripe for the 14 guage wires (AC common return and ground). External color could be tan, green or gray, or perhaps another color.

With this wire, the braided loom would be optional. If you didn't hook up the ground wire, the size 13 9 conductor connectors would do; the next size up appears to be size 17 14 conductor (there is a 17 - 10 with 2 of the pins much bigger than normal, but the pricing might be much higher, particularly for the bigger pins).

Is anyone else interested enough that I should find out what price we can get a bigger quantity of this wire for?

Would there be a configuration which would be better or preferable to this?

Lead time to get this made should be under 2 months.