Should you use blade connectors for...

I'm getting ready to wire up my panel. I was thinking of using blade connectors with the relays. A buddy was telling me that it was smarter to use ring terminals or spades for the higher amp connections. These will be 30 amp lines.

Does it matter? There are terminal screws. I just wondererd if it matters.

Cheers.

The ring connectors are less likely to come unhooked since the terminal screw has to be completely removed. I would imagine that there is an electrical code that governs this, but it's a safety thing.

Dgonza9 said:

I'm getting ready to wire up my panel. I was thinking of using blade connectors with the relays. A buddy was telling me that it was smarter to use ring terminals or spades for the higher amp connections. These will be 30 amp lines.

Does it matter? There are terminal screws. I just wondererd if it matters.

Cheers.

Click to expand...

Their is nothing wrong with either as long as the terminal is rated for the current load AND the terminal is crimped correctly.

And BTW, the way to test for a good crimp is to grab the terminal with one hand and pull the wire back and forth with the other. Any movement inside the crimp is a bad crimp and the joint will eventually fail. It may be this month, this year, next year or the following. But eventually enough heat will biuld up to temper the crimp, the crimp will loosen and you will hear a "pop" and have no power.

I believe you will discover that it's impossible to get a good enough crimp with the terminals sold by Harbor Freight.

Agree, the use of ring terminals is to prevent accidental disconnect, unlikely as that is. I personally never used blade connectors, I don't like the design. I do like spades, but only the ones that are completely insulated. Properly rated, insulated, and crimped terminals will work, it's a personal preference. I don't like fork terminals for large amperage connections because if you torque them enough you forks may separate without you even noticing. I've had a fork terminal fail before and I never used anything but ring terminals for anything that requires 10 gauge wire or greater (because of the amount of torque required to tighten).