I knew something smelled a little off this morning…
I guess this is why they tell you to solder the wires together before you put them into these screw terminals!
No! You’re not supposed to solder them first!
They, the wires, get soldered together? Then what is the screw terminal for then?
I twisted two wires together since a single wire straight from the power supply was too thin. The vibration from the printer eventually separated the wires, and they fell out of the plug. Well, all but a few strands fell out, leading to ridiculous heating and a terrible smelling basement!
So I guess I should say, you should tin the wires before you put them into screw terminals. Otherwise, they will eventually flatten or shake loose from the terminal!
No, tinning gem is a bad idea, and can lead to the same problems. Even aside from tin whiskers (don’t use lead free solder in a job like that), solder doesn’t stay put under a screw properly.
What you need is a crimp thingy to go around the wires.
FYI @Jasper_Janssen those crimp thingys are called wire ferrules.
I always just use Twist-on wire connectors for a quick permanent connection if the wires aren’t a visual deterrent to the project at hand. Else solder 'em together with a shrink-wrap cover-up. What’s nice about the Twist-ons is the wires don’t need to be tinned but if they already are, it doesn’t matter cause it just works.
I don’t know if performance is affected for signal/data wire versus power wire. I’m sure there is information regarding this exists already to be found.
Huh, looked up wiki…and they are not approved for use but in only North America basically.
If the wire and all its strands are properly inserted and tightened in the green terminal blocks meltdown would not occur. The meltdown is caused by a loose wire i.e the load drawing more current than that junction can supply and generates heat and will result in solder melting on circuit board in extreme cases. Checking screws and tighten a few times especially heater wires.