Making my PSU cables literally 20 times better (0.6 to 0.03ohms)

[@TroyKristoffer]

OMG I LOL'd when Clive took a moment to make sure he put the sheath's on first. I make tons of connector cables and can't tell you how many times I've zoned out and soldered the connection and realized I'd forgotten the sheath and shrink tube...

[@phatman808]

This is me all the time. I get excited and solder it all up, and as I'm patting myself on the back about a nice clean solder job I realize my piece of heatshrink and sheath are sitting there on the bench.

[@iNowHateAtSigns]

We have all suffered this pain many times along with you.

[@goku445]

hate when that happens

[@brijlal973]

You have company.

[@brijlal973]

@@phatman808 You remind me of my childhood days. And in my case after redoing it with the sheath put on the wire, the soldering could never be redone as beautiful as before. The more I kept trying, the more it would resemble crow shit.

[@joemadden567]

I just spent 20 minutes watching you terminate a pair of cables. I need to get out more!

[@chitlitlah]

I spent 20 minutes watching it and then came to the comments to see what people were saying about it.

[@dougcox835]

Same here. But once I realized what it was all about I skipped to the end.

[@MmeHyraelle]

I need to do stuff insted. Lol

[@greggregory8311]

I agree!!

[@finhas8865]

Yes, i need to terminate my own cables.

[@SLLabsKamilion]

"I'm going to connect this to something faulty and it's going to die a horrible death instantly" -- As long as that fiery death appears on youtube, half a million of us will be pleased.

[@katdeville]

Future tips: Test your wire insulation using a hot glue gun. The hot glue will stick to plastic, but not silicone or vinyl. To test between silicone and vinyl (because hot glue sticks to neither), use the hot metal tip of the glue gun. If the insulation melts or burns, it's vinyl.

[@mr.toothbrush6628]

I don't like a response with someone burning something with that profile pic xD

[@omniyambot9876]

@VeniVidiViral seems she's a professional arsonist

[@PunakiviAddikti]

Another way is to just use a soldering iron. If it melts, it's anything but silicone.

[@TheAviation101]

@@PunakiviAddikti Teflon is rated for higher temps than silicone

[@jhsevs]

Vinyl is plastic.

[@Distinctly.Average]

As others have said, the top screw is designed to fit the insulation and the screw near the lug is for the core. Back when I was at college I had a dubious job for a dubious company fitting these things to speaker cables. Probably did 10,000 of them before I decided the boss could stick his cables connector and all where the sun does not shine.

[@thehappylittlefoxakabenji8154]

yes that would be so and I wish had done as you suggested !

[@petersage5157]

Yes, you need that screw into the insulator for strain relief, especially for something like test leads that will see a lot of flexion with normal use. (Alternatively, use a ferrule that crimps over both wire and cable.) Won't be too long before Clive's new beefy cables have frayed down at the banana plugs to where their resistance is approaching an ohm again and the plugs are getting uncomfortably warm from the resistance. EDIT: Of course, Clive must know this. This can't be his first rodeo.

Hehe. Now I need to redo my cables, did the exact same bobo. And I was pissed that the screw could so easily short out.... This explains a lot :)

[@Kahito_Rin]

To be honest, I think it would look a lot nicer and be a lot better protected to get some nice heatshrink over the whole lot.

[@daze8410]

Seems like a crimp sleeve would work pretty damn well in there

[@tylerjames1716]

Silicone jacket wiring is one of my dirty little pleasures. I love the flexibility lol.

[@stupot_64]

You could have done both the leads in the thick black silicone rubber cable. The banana plugs and croc clips would tell you which is + and which is -. The advantage is that we'd get to see more bangs.

[@chemputer]

Thick, long, and black. You don't go back.

[@manolisgledsodakis873]

It's silicone rubber, not silicon.

[@CharleyWright-w1y]

The only problem with that is if you can't see both ends, or they are overlapping and you want to easily grab one of them

[@LittleFox94]

​@@user-xt1mw6vm3y silicone is the rubber stuff, silicon is a crystalline element used as e.g. semiconductor

[@LMacNeill]

One doesn't often think about the leads being the source of any inaccuracy -- this was an excellent lesson in making sure you have good leads so you can get the most accurate readings.

[@Jimmeh_B]

I like to put a bit of heat shrink on the banana's before screwing on the plastic covers too. Bit of stress relief, stops them breaking off over time.

[@shanejohns7901]

I don't know how more modern facilities make such insulated wires. But I have seen videos on here of people in either Pakistan and/or India making them rather crudely with equipment that looks older than I am (50+). It's interesting to watch. they basically pull the wire through a hot iron that melts plastic or rubber around the wire. Then they yank the end of it with the rubber on it, and pull that through that hot iron piece at a steady pace. It's quite similar to the PVC pipe making process, just with some wire in the middle, and obviously a much smaller diameter.

[@macro820]

After you cut the insulation to strip the wire use the cut off piece to twist the wire, I can get the twists much tighter this way

[@rogerbarton497]

That's what I do, I strip the end but don't pull the waste piece off. I then twist and pull at the same time.

[@InvadersDie]

This also works for masturbating after a late life circumsition

[@Dime_Bar]

@@InvadersDie can't beat the twist and pull method.

[@ThePlacehole]

Weird, I know it is "the way" to do it, but it has never worked for me.

[@uK8cvPAq]

@@InvadersDie Was there any difference between fapping before and after the snip?

[@klave8511]

I always do my croc clips twice, first a nice neat job then again because I forgot to put the cover on the wire first.

[@paulmccoy2908]

That’s how I do shrink tubing. Twice.

[@keithwhitehead4897]

I am quite fond of the Farnell/Element14 1101099 style stackable Banana plugs, I am also very fond of using 3 core flex to give +/-/Gnd options with enough at the ends to allow reasonable separation for the Crocodile Clips. I have one set 3m long so I can work on stuff sitting on a trolley besides my bench at work, and there is only "one" cable to take care of.

[@kumaran627]

Everyone else : upgrade to nvidia 3090 Clive : upgrade my cables

[@the_retag]

when i read psu i thought he was upgrading his PC psu cables

[@spawnterror]

@@the_retag Clickbait confirmed.

[@ledoynier3694]

@@the_retag Everyone else : installing sleeved extensions to their PSU cables.. going from 0.03 Ohms to 0.6 Ohms :)

[@randgrithr7387]

If you have a 3090, you may as well feed your PSU with a 14awg power cable.

[@mharris5047]

@@randgrithr7387 I don't know what the power draw is on that new graphics card but some of them draw close to 1000 watts all by themselves. At that power draw you would want a 14 AWG power cable instead of the puny 18 AWG cables common to computers nowadays.

[@kc5402]

I can't figure out why I'm sitting here at a mate's house watching a video about fixing wires when I should heading ohm. (Sorry, I couldn't resist that.)

[@redsnappa7837]

Thanks for this video Clive, informative as always. You have made me want to upgrade the leads that came with my old Maplin 20V bench supply, but it's a question of getting a Round Tuit, as always!

[@Northern5tar]

- What are you watching? Me: Clive replacing wires. - Blank stare Me: What?

[@darkcnight]

who's asking you?

[@CyanDumBell_MC]

@@darkcnight The FBI

The first rule of Fight Club is: never talk to non-nerds about anything technical. Actually, don't talk to anyone about any detail unless it's essential because it's a waste of time and lowers your social IQ. People who are interested in such details should have a second, anonymous Google/KZbin account for technical matters because it is wise to hide such things from the view of others. A guy shouldn't have cat videos, parental bloopers, pickup artist, self-help, scenic wedding, electronics videos, or anything else too detrimental pop-up for entertainment viewing right before they're about to get laid, especially with nosy visitors who could turn on smart screens and be revolted by "weird" viewing habits.

[@ketas]

female of benefits and interest?

[@ianworthington2324]

Aye. Can't believe I've just passed a most pleasant 20 minutes watching Clive solder up a couple of cables. :)

[@Micro-Motive]

Great idea! I tend to use a set of good quality multi-meter leads. a. Silicon insulation b. 10amp plus rated c. Highly flexible d. Already have good quality Banana Plugs fitted. Only limit is the available lengths.

[@mrgarconjimmenald3821]

I've usually made one of the cables shorter by enough that when they lay together the ends don't touch. love your stuff!

[@RichardT2112]

This was simply terrific. I’m watching this for the second time, now a year after it was published. It just made me happy :)

[@Leif_YT]

I had often the problem that the "spring mechanism" in the tip of the banana plugs wears out quickly after a few weeks of use so the contact to the Multimeter / Power Supply would get worse after time. Currently i'm trying the ones made by Hirschmann, which seem to have a much sturdier design and they're not that much more expensive from shops like TME. About the cables - i've made the same experience. There are so many pre-made test cords that have a tiny copper core inside. I started to realize it when one of my cables got so hot at 4A that i could barely touch it.

[@garethwilliams5809]

Over 35 years in the electronics industry and you have found my level!!

[@ronaldroberts7221]

Use the thickest copper cross-section wire, and then add a DIY variable resistor on one of them (or both).

[@KG4JYS]

You inspired me. I replaced my bench cables with some 680 strand 12AWG(8.25mm) copper with silicone insulation. I had ordered a couple hundred meters of the cable last year for a project and somehow hadn't thought of replacing the chinsey cables on my test equipment until now. Personally, I don't feel like protecting the psu or meter equipment by having thin cables is something I want to do. My meters have proper fusing, but I might have to add a fuse to the psu.

[@Boz1211111]

How many amps is your power supply to use such insane thick wire?

[@JoshStLouis314]

As another grossly undersized cable improvement: some vehicle jumper cables are 12mm insulation over 2.6mm^2 wire. (Converted from inches and AWG) Melting a set is pretty common when starting a medium size engine with a dead battery. The -25C winter here may be the only reason they all don't melt. I made my own set out of 2AWG welding lead cable for flexibility and jumping trucks.

[@PunakiviAddikti]

Those banana plugs with rotating end does make good connection when it's plugged in. It sort of expands sideways when pushed in and makes a rotating friction fit.

[@marknorton5951]

Yes the cables were not fit for purpose but no matter how thick you make them, there is always going to be some voltage drop which becomes a real issue in high current applications. This additional series resistance affects the voltage regulation from the power supply so the hard work which went into the power supply design is wasted. Much better is to use a power supply with remote sensing where the output voltage is measured using a separate pair of wires - which can be as thin as you like - and the power supply regulates the output voltage at the point of connection.

[@ryanmalin]

When I attended Uni I was disappointed with our engineering dept's electronic lab. I had a spare bedroom in my house and a few thousand dollars to burn and I made my own electronics lab in my house. I got a "cheap" Rigol scope. I had a decent regulated PSU (19.2vdc @ 20A). I also had a regulated 13.5vdc PSU that supplied 50amps constant! That big PSU took 13.5a @ 115vac all day long and it would not overheat! It had a passive aluminum heatsync on the back about 6"x12"x3". My most glorious project I turned into my Uni was a DC motor that had to self start and provide enough torque to lift a string with 13 paper clips tied to it (SMH). I brought my motor in with a string with 13 deep well 3/8" drive sockets tied to it. I made it from one huge galvanized nail with some beefy 22awg transformer wire and it was triggered by a old through hole resistor, a random NPN mosfet I took from the trash, a reed switch and a neo magnet. I used 3/4" pvc and 2"x4" wood to make the motor. I used bearings from a roller blade wheel and a wooden dowel as the shaft. Used a wood paddle bit to bore the hole for the bearing. And used tar tape (Im a refrigeration tech like you used to be working on Hussmann crap) cork tape whatever you want to call it and a drinking straw to hold the reed switch. I got the reed switch out of a Rockband drum pedal that I had RMA'd, I swiped the controls out of the pedal before sending it back for warranty (as they had already sent me a replacement). Thanks for putting cool stuff on the internet Mr. Clive. I been watching for years and you've helped keep my creative spirit alive throughout the years and just helped me stay grounded somedays at work. I generally watch (listen) to your videos while working with my bluetooth earbuds (11mm subwoofer in my truewireless earbuds and a seperate tweeter! love Anker products). Cheers from Florida! If you read to the end, here's a burrito! 🌯

[@HouseGurke]

Marco Reps: **laughs in microvolts**

[@nottheinternet6276]

If that banana plug is like the ones I have used, they have 2 different set screws, the outer one that you used to clamp the wire is meant to grab the insulation for strain relief, and the inner one on the other side of the plug is meant to grab the actual wire. The inner one has a smaller diameter barrel for the wire to go into, so it is clamped more securely.

[@TheMovieCreator]

Then there's always the 4-point PSUs with separate voltage sense leads. Then the PSU will be able to automatically compensate for the voltage drop in the cables.

[@Mr.Leeroy]

there is "32A banana connector" on Ali, not a lantern type, but made of several thick spring conductors. They are super nice in use. Also have a hole for 4mm banana connecting perpendicular.

[@BrianB2579]

I have my leads where the black is shorter so that if they lie next to each other they don't short out.....😉

[@aterack833]

Brian but how do you connect them to each other to keep them from running away?

[@Polite_Cat]

Hmm, interesting. Usually the black one is longer :)

[@elonmask50]

Brian, that’s discrimination, Black leads matter...

[@flexairz]

@@elonmask50 White, yellow and red leads too. Who's discriminating now?

[@elonmask50]

flexairz, I was replying to Brian, he has been deliberately make his black leads shorter :D Terrible behaviour....

[@Fam2014Ch]

I encounter the same problem with the tiny screws... so I ended up running some flux on the cable ends and the screws pinched the flux and stayed there very secured. Salute Clive !!!

[@5switch09]

"Oh this is absolutely tiny, I didn't realise it was that thin..." Well that's what she said.

[@terrym3543]

If you're concerned about constant current or would like to be able to control the current you should look at these " RD DPS5020 ". The company makes several different models. The one that I'm suggesting I own two of. They work really well in fact so well that I'm thinking about purchasing two more. I pair them up with meanwell power supplies, but you can use pretty much any power supply you have. I purchased mine off eBay but you can get them in a lot of places. Another good video thank you. just a side note, when terminating the banana plugs side of the test leads, I stripped, fold in half, tin and then flood the banana plugs.

[@rimmersbryggeri]

Maybe they are hifi banana plugs intended for cables the size of garden hoses.

[@Jimmeh_B]

Hahahahahaha!

[@gpk6458]

They are. I have ones with exactly the same design. I use the top screw to grip the core and the lower screw to grip the sheath to prevent any bare wire.

[@Dlck.C.Normous]

Those type of banana plus are used in audio applications?

[@Dlck.C.Normous]

@DanGraves1983 Good job, thanks for that!

[@majbummer69]

A fair amount of test leads sold for multimeters use the same banana plug and alligator clips so he's not too far off from the Chinesium products.

[@AlpineTheHusky]

The thing with the tiny wires with big insulation is that they are usually for measuring stuff where voltage drop is not too important and as such have very high safety for working with somewhat high voltages

[@stridermt2k]

This is a great subject and I'm glad you made a video! We do this at work. During the day cables get used hard, so having and maintaining our cables is part of the job. Clive, you should show how poorly made those cheap insulated alligator clip jumper wires are made. The ones my company buys have the wires stripped folded back and crimped. We typically rebuild them with a dot of solder so they can pass a little current when we get a pack.

[@bigclivedotcom]

Yeah, the jumper cables with the folded back and crimped wires are terrible. I do the rebuild thing too.

[@AndrewGillard]

I bought a set of Adafruit-branded crocodile clip leads from Digi-Key a couple of years ago, and then last month I discovered that the cables were just stripped, folded back, and crimped, which was a bit disappointing. I'm no expert on the subject, and I'm sure it's "fine" for typical hobby purposes, but just trapping the conductor between the metal "sleeve"(?) of the crocodile clip and the soft plastic insulation of the cable doesn't "feel" like it would provide a great connection. Unfortunately these leads don't use that special, ultra-premium *magnetic* copper for the inner core, like some of the crocodile clip leads I have: what a great convenience it is to be able to store them out of the way by simply hanging them from a magnet!! 👀

[@userPrehistoricman]

Any lead that has the copper folded over the insulation and crimped is crap. If you pass high current, the croc clips will get hot because that's the highest resistance part of the cable. I've even had one do a burnout after some of the strands broke.

[@mfbfreak]

@@AndrewGillard even the copper ones are bad. After just a couple of uses they start getting intermittent contacts. And of course the iron-core cables have a way too high resistance. I found out when i was running about an amp through them and they got blisteringly hot.

[@uK8cvPAq]

@@bigclivedotcom Is there a proper crimp tool for these alligator clip connectors and strain relief wings? I tried to find one a while back but couldn't really find anything, I'm guessing they go by an industry name which hides them from hobbyists.

[@Darwinpasta]

I bought a bunch of cheap gator clip leads a while ago and rapidly discovered that they were cheap for a reason. The wire was very thin, not well connected, and the core appeared to be steel instead of copper (stuck to a magnet). I melted a few of them. Others just quit working on their own. I stripped them down to their ends and rebuilt them with whatever wire was handy, resulting in an aggressively mismatched set of cables of varying lengths and gauges that work a whole lot better than what I started with!

[@chris746568462]

I have always used 2.5mm2, 4mm2, and 6mm2 on my everyday power test leads, and I always solder them both ends. That original cable looks like it should be used to wire a doorbell 😂 Current limiting should be done by the power supply, not the test lead...

[@erlendse]

Only use the original wire on a doorbell, if you don't want to be disturbed!

[@thomasvlaskampiii6850]

No, current limiting should absolutely be done by the leads. Makes for good videos when things go thermonuclear

[@Anvilshock]

If I was that worried about the protecting factor of the leads, I'd just add an inline fuse holder and fuse.

[@chris746568462]

@@Anvilshock Does no one have a constant current supply?

[@Anvilshock]

@@chris746568462 Let's read this clause again, shall we? "If I was that worried about the protecting factor of the leads" - Did you notice the "protecting factor of the leads" part in "If I was that worried about the protecting factor of the leads"? Hint: It's the "protecting factor of the leads" part in "If I was that worried about the protecting factor of the leads" that you should pay attention to so that I was talking strictly about a protecting factor of the leads, not a protecting factor of a constant-current supply. I trust this has made it abundantly clear what I was talking about and what I wasn't talking about and also what you ought or oughtn't be asking me about.

[@LydellAaron]

12:22 I could empathize with how you felt, feeling like everything was going wrong. The length, the connector method...then talking yourself out of it. I had a good laugh there.

[@fredderf6491]

Some PSU's have a sense connection by the output terminals. With that you could keep your existing cables and add thin sense lines out to the crocs. That way the PSU will compensate for the volts drop across the cable.

[@FarleyHillBilly]

Known as Kelvin sensing, after William Thomson, Lord Kelvin.

[@AndrewGillard]

@@Okurka. I thought it was an old power supply from Maplin? (With a processor that crashes, causing it to randomly output a random voltage 😐)

[@LeonMatthews]

In the same vein as the thin cables occasionally saving the day with their resistance: a trick those of us that build quad-copters is to add a 12V automotive light bulb in series with our high-power supply or battery (only during first plug-in) as a quick-and-dirty protection in case of an errant short somewhere. A pluggable set is known as a 'smoke-stopper'. The fast PTC effect and visual feedback is great, and once hot they drop almost all of the circuits voltage. Very handy when your batteries can provide many 100s of amps!

[@happyharry5153]

Do you mean thin cables have a higher resistance that will prevent too much current? My curiosity stems from using a mains powered e-stim (adults only) that occasionally gives me a nasty shock. Do you mean if I add a light bulb to the circuit, it could limit the amount of excess current?

[@JGnLAU8OAWF6]

No ferule under the screw, i fell betrayed

[@skoronesa1]

I have the same cheap banana plugs. I almost always solder my wires into them, or pre tin the wire so the screw grips firmly.

[@bobblebardsley]

Complete success, other than the area of each wire, the finished length of each cable, the size of the crocodile clips and the method of terminating all four ends. Other than that, total success! :P

The number and diameter of each strand and insulation material and thickness are also important. Ideally, the smallest strands as possible and thin silicone insulation without phthalates.

[@nicusor86]

as some others pointed out, best way is to crimp a ferrule like for banana plugs, squeeze the copper on alligators and eventually tin them later for some added meccanical strenght. twisted strands (on single wire) make so that strands will not get squeezed properly and will not increase surface area contact so you will have a bottleneck, twisting and bending is generally even worse because of what elechickens call skin effect on AC.

[@CampKohler]

If you use rubber insulation on one lead and plastic on the other, depending on whether you are on the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, pelvanic currents in one direction or the other will establish molecular spin in the insulation that will cause one conductor to shrink and the other to lengthen resulting in a curving force that (strangely enough) always drags the device under test to walk off the edge of the bench and crash to the floor. Should you anchor the DUT to the bench to prevent this, the bench will flip over violently. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

[@Darieee]

I always solder in the banana jacks too .. can't sleep at night otherwise

[@JCGver]

4 mm^2 (2,5 mm diameter) wire is fun, I made some cables and decided to test how much current they could handle without noticable heating up. The 60A powersupply had an unexpected thermal event during the test. The cable was fine.

[@namibjDerEchte]

Well, we put 32 A breakers on those, and that's when the cables are buried in plaster.

[@wherami]

Wow that was a thin wire for that psu. Good advice on upgrading. Sometimes I just enjoy building cables and connectors

[@jeffsmith2283]

11:15 - The banana plug connectors have 2 screws, one for the wire and one for a cable grip.

[@rowenkylee5627]

You were 8 months faster than me to say that. I find it strange he doesn't know this.

[@DoctorX17]

I’m honestly surprised you don’t have several sets of cables for your PSU! I’m planning to build my own bench PSU in the near future, and plan to have cables with big clips, little clips, breadboard pins, and maybe hooks to hook into thru-holes on circuit boards or chip pins…

[@tonywright8294]

Only bigclive could make this interesting !

[@MMuraseofSandvich]

Searching Amazon for "drone power cables" was quite fruitful. I've upgraded the high-current wiring in the office Prusa with 14AWG silicone wire designed for hobby drone batteries and motors (the kind that require FAA licensing). Probably overkill, but probably better than the 16 AWG speaker wire I was using earlier. We had a CNC repair tech use some of that stuff to replace wiring or install wiring for diagnostic purposes. Only thing I don't like about them is that they are a complete PITA to solder to things like XT60 gold cup connectors. I've melted the connector on a few occasions because the wire kept sucking away the heat. This didn't matter for the above power connections because those used fork and ring crimped terminals.

[@WizardTim]

When I first bought a lab PSU I made my own cables and they ‘worked’ although screwing the cable in wasn’t reliable at all so I soldered them, but still the plastic covers would often come unscrewed and the lack of strain relief was a big problem. But, after being in a proper lab with proper stackable banana plugs with not only red and black but also green, yellow and blue I couldn’t go back so I bought a couple of sets from some eBay seller and they’ve been fantastic.

[@peterg.8245]

Treat yo self is what I did with a set of Pomona cables. It’s been 15yrs since I bought them in an education buy with my college so the quality and certainly the price may have changed.

[@peterg.8245]

Pomona 2BA-AL-36, $34 from Digikey, is what I’ve been using... or at least the newest version of

[@ethanpoole3443]

A drop of superglue or thread-lock will solve the unthreading issue, yet can be broken loose with some force down the road if you absolutely need to unthread the cover.

[@RicardoPenders]

All the test leads that I'm using everywhere I made myself from a used extension cable with rubber insulation and 3x 6mm² tinned copper cores and I soldered every connection to alligator clips, I'm using the better quality connectors that also have the screws that grip really good on my 6mm² cores. I can't even fold the core as you did to get a better grip because the core I'm using is too thick to do that and it's unnecessary. The rubber insulation feels about the same as silicone and it makes the test leads more flexible. If you're scared to blow up your power supply with those thick leads you simply use the wrong power supply, I made a super simple power supply myself using a chip from Linear Technology (LT1084CP) that can be used to replace an LM317 without any changes to the PCB and have double the output power with all the safety stuff you can think of already built-in the chip, I've tested my power supply shorting the test leads when on full power and nothing bad happens, it detects that there's a short and protects itself accordingly. The chip is so good in detecting any faults in the circuit that I haven't been able to destroy my power supply with all the abuse I've thrown at it, while the LM317 did not protect itself in several cases the Linear Technology chip did it outstandingly good. Of course the LT chip has it's pros and cons just as anything else, the one thing that I found that the LT chip detects a short and just won't work is when I connect a little incandescent light bulb to it, it sees it as a short and won't light up the bulb where the LM317 does light up the bulb but I'm ok with that because I'm rarely using those incandescent light bulbs nowadays. I'm sure you can make your power supply have the right safety measures with something simple to prevent it from destroying itself when you short the test leads, that shouldn't be a problem for you. Especially if your power supply is based on the LM317 you now have the perfect solution that I gave you in this comment. Hope this is helpful to you and best regards, Ricardo Penders

[@noahderrington5156]

Those are speaker ‘banana plugs’ designed for larger cross section speaker cables.

[@thesunexpress]

Had the same issue as you, disappointing myself with sleeved barrel connectors featuring perceived flimsy grub screws. I added a touch of solder to the leads before folding them over the second time, giving the screw a more solid core to press against. Slid some thin heat-shrink over the barrels, covering the screw holes & leads, effectively seizing the screws in place, before screwing the barrel sleeves back over. The added bonus is that the heat-shrink offers a little more support to the core strands where they meet the barrel... should virtually eliminate the chance of the strands fatigue-breaking over time from all the waggling; also keeps crud & moisture from finding its way into the connectors, useful depending on work environment.

[@papaalphaoscar5537]

Silicone cables FTW! I love how they feel and can also survive several bouts with the iron! Hahaha.

[@deezelfairy]

And due to the radio control model industry is available surprisingly cheap on ebay 👍

[@CanonFirefly]

Quite fragile though. Silicone tends to tear quite easily.

[@lovotcore6946]

I feel you, I recently made a set of jumper cables out of what was at least 00AWG welding cable. Also, wrap the stranded wire with solid core wire in order to fill up connectors so they clamp properly, and the solid over wrap prevents the screw fro cutting the stranded core, copper tape also works, but is less common to have on hand.

[@thomasives7560]

In connectors with a grub-screw, try using a crimp-on ferrule (search your favorite seller for crimp ferrules) which are also known as 'bootlace ferrules'. The ferrule will make excellent contact with the wire and when the grub screw is tightened, it will make very good contact with the ferrule. Solder is probably better, but for quick work, ferrules are great. They also work very good in DIN and relay-block connectors, since they reduce the fraying of the conductors.

[@ME-cb1vw]

thats exactly what the ferrules are for

[@molitovv]

Lol, I am pretty sure Clive knows what a ferrule is.

[@Elberto71]

You can also just tin the leads after you have doubled them over, so the grub screw has something solid to screw into

[@RavenLuni]

Keeping a bit of sheet aluminium around has been one of the most useful things ever for me. Whenever a wire grip situation pops up, just cut a bit and use it as a ferrule, lug or whatever. I even heat sinked a Speccy ULA with it.

[@AlexeyOsodoev]

Aluminium ferrule with copper wires and screws?

[@RavenLuni]

@@AlexeyOsodoev Good enough for hobby projects but I assume thats a bad thing in general?

[@boots7859]

@@RavenLuni Look up dissimilar metals, probably even worse when used in this exact situation.

[@AlexeyOsodoev]

​@@RavenLuni Yes, galvanic corrosion of dissimilar metals and aluminium is too soft to maintain good contact after being squashed by screw.

[@ezedjay]

Nice. Always good to hear someone keeping a Speccy alive. You win the comments.

[@MoultrieGeek]

Clive: "...if it's worth doing it's worth doing to excess..." I've found that in life wretched excess is barely adequate

[@stewartcaldwell5299]

Clive, I bought some "for stainless steel" solder and flux on ebay, and it works amazingly well.

[@sikkepossu]

8:16 Fun fact: Crocodile/alligator clip is called in Finland as "(northern) pike jaw" = hauenleuka.

[@blahblahblahblah2933]

That's awsome. I love hearing localized names for machines and equipment.

[@horrovac]

@@blahblahblahblah2933 Bananenstecker in German. But those aren't banana plugs, that's a different kind of plug. These here are called Lamellenstecker.

[@acmefixer1]

Yeah? Well, what is sikkepossu? Or should we not be asking?? 😵😵

[@Ziferten]

Northern Pike are mean bastards. A friend of my father's used to bring a .22 target pistol when we went fishing to shoot the damn things in the head before pulling them off the line.

[@sebastianweinert3802]

This is why I love my upgraded Rohde&Schwarz NGPU 70/20, it has sens wires, a self upgraded voltage meter that shows the difference between load and sense, two silent fans with PWM PID mod as well as an option to control, view and log it over wifi due to an ESP8266 connected to the IEC BUS connector and 4 Multiplexed ADCs what gives me the option to use it as a U/I/T curve controlled charger with a diode in series :)

[@mfx1]

Plenty of 14, 12 and 10 AWG silicone cable on Amazon. Use solder banana plugs.

[@gd.ritter]

I had a similar issue with banana jacks recently. I popped a small length of solder into the jack hole and added the bent over wire like you did at first, then took a mini butane torch to it to melt the solder in the jack. worked well

[@benjaminsmith3625]

Could the plugs have had two screws so that one could clamp the insulation? Will they last okay with no strain relief on them?

[@plasmachicken]

Most likely yes, but mostly it's okay as the stress isn't that big in a private lab. If it's being used by other people consider a stress relief.

[@userPrehistoricman]

bingo

[@phoenixdundee]

Yea, I think they are speaker terminals and I always use the top screw to gently grip the insulation.

[@solidstate90]

I used the same type of grub screw Banana Plugs for years but was never really thrilled with them, so I decided to try some nice quality solder style ones & they are so much better

[@RasaelX]

Isn't the first screw for holding isolation (like string relief), and only second for wire core? Just thinking loud here.

[@Ziferten]

Strain relief*

[@RasaelX]

@@Ziferten Thanks for correction. English is my second language. ;)

[@Ziferten]

@@RasaelX No worries, English is my first language but I make so many mistakes that you'd think it was my fourth or fifth.

[@RasaelX]

@@Ziferten But I honestly thanked you. I didn't know how to spell strain relief, so i used google translator. XD

[@eyedrcarlson]

Not to worry about the plugs that rotate (I suspected the same-possible poor connection). I checked a couple of different brands of banana plugs that rotate and found that the part that gets squeezed thinner to fit into the meter has a dual purpose...along with retaining the plug in the socket it also makes better contact (front and back) due to the fact that the "spinny" part get a little bit longer.

[@manolisgledsodakis873]

Clive, those clips are nickel-plated (not chromium).

[@martinwinfield2935]

So what

[@manolisgledsodakis873]

@@martinwinfield2935 So he said "chromium", which is wrong. Unlike some people, Clive is open to learning, which is why he can do what he does. People who refuse to learn will remain dumb.

[@TheCod3r]

Great video as always. I used those easy fix banana plugs on a bench lead for my TS100 iron and wasn't very well impressed with them either. I thought it was just me being a bit picky lol

[@trif55]

Those are rookie numbers! I've got some 5mm od 3mm core diameter cable, apparently around 9 AWG / 6.63mm2! It's great for all current carrying applications!

[@Personnenenparle]

Switching from a bench soldering iron to a ts80 was the best freakin upgrade ever. Way more powerfull than it seems, can easily heat up a big chunk of copper to 400°C.

[@horrovac]

Heh. I made me a set just yesterday, out of cheap banana plugs and with... spring test clips? The type where you press the plunger on the end and a small hook comes out of the tip. I find these much more convenient than crocodile clips. More precise and far less likely to short out.

[@gorky_vk]

thanks for good idea, I just order some parts for new power supply project and I totally forget these things exist, key word you are looking for are "Test Hook Clip" ;)

[@aterack833]

You mean god clips? (Jk, but I wish I had those magical things

[@eDoc2020]

The hook clips I have can't handle much current. The plastic tip melted from the current while the 24awg wire I was using stayed stone cold.

[@IrishSkruffles]

@@eDoc2020 Depends on the quality I think, I used ones in my workplace up to 5A and loved them. Immediately went on eBay to find a cheaper version for my home set up and they melted at just over 2A - they were the exact same physical size I may add

[@gorky_vk]

@@eDoc2020 well, I never thinking about using them for high current stuff, for normal diagnostic or running smaller projects PS is in current limiting mod anyway so it will not be a problem. But even if having different leads for different task is good thing, it's probably harder to beat lazyness and actually change them when needed so your point is good, I'll order few spare ones :)

[@nevermorefuzzy]

If its worth doing its worth doing to the excess... Glad to see your return Clive

[@Lobo204RHF]

The cpc catalog is the electrician version of a naughty magazine.

[@3Dsjk]

20+ years ago we were all about low-resistance wires and connectors and even solder in R/C car racing, because it actually did make a difference with the older NiCad batteries and brushed motors. Now we have brushless motors and high-capacity lithium batteries and I haven’t seen anybody mention it in years.

[@oldskoolhead0]

"im almost embarassed by how thin that is" big clive 2020

[@jacksonblack9408]

Constructive contributions Clive! Its something I've long wondered about too, along with the possibility of corrosion on terminals affecting low voltage connections. It's one of those things that seems boring and best skipped over, but actually forms the foundation on which other things are built. A good foundation can prevent many issues If you're concerned about accidental high current shorts, would it be worth adding an in-line fuse holder to it? That way you could match the fuse rating to the application at the time.

[@lordpitnolen2196]

A short clip, "See you later, Alligator, In a while Crocodile."

[@umxrr8677]

What do you call an alligator in a vest (No googling pls)

[@alasdairhurst]

@@umxrr8677 That's a strange name for an alligator

[@umxrr8677]

@ i have no idea what you guys are talking about. (I'm not American). Anyways an alligator in a vest is called an investigator

[@thiagoschp]

I'm making my own charger for a couple phones, and was cursing about voltage drop, didn't cross my mind to measure between the solder point of the wire and the wire tip... thanks again bigclive(i measure resistance, but not voltage)

[@thebrowns5337]

Go with your heart. And ours. If 2.5mm gives us a chance of bigger explosions then that's your puppy.

[@Azlehria]

My gold standard for lead clips is telephone test set ("butt set") clips, typically ABN. Not generally the cheapest parts, but remarkably robust as they're designed to carry _signals,_ rather than simply power, even outdoors in bad weather. The piercing pin and bed of nails provide even more connection options in the same cord set. On the other hand, they're _absurdly_ large in comparison to typical alligator clips.

[@GavinTheGoose]

"That is super thin, I'm so embarrassed by how thin that is" There is surgery for that now.

[@ezedjay]

Link needed. For a friend obviously.

[@GavinTheGoose]

@@ezedjay the procedure takes place in Beverly Hills.

[@guygordon2780]

And who wouldn't go for an extra few inches?

[@paulstubbs7678]

I've also fought plugs with crappy screws that only wanted to mangle the wire strands, so I tossed the screws and treated them as solder bucket connectors.

[@farmersteve129]

I personally prefer to use 4mm plugs both ends and then you can use them with either the crocodile clips that have a built in 4mm socket, or you can use test probes etc. - great for quickly dabbing power into questionable kit!

[@eDoc2020]

I saw test lead kits like that on sale at my local electronics store back when I bought my first DMM. I regret not buying them.

[@Mark1024MAK]

FarmerSteve - I like this type as well. But they have a nasty habit of getting used for semi-temporary that kinda become semi-permanent, err, set-ups. So despite buying and making more, I always never have enough when I want them...

[@apollorobb]

Just did the same upgrade to my 60v 10A dual supply and went one step further and added banana jacks on both outputs on the front of the supply for the Sense line so i really have dual 4 wire setups . Works very well basicly no voltage drop at the clips

[@Joe-bm4wx]

I'd have soldered the cables in to the banana plugs instead of using those fiddly screws

[@101rotarypower]

Would love to see more PS tips and tricks, as well as hardware you use and found to be helpful!

[@boldsword1]

I'm surprised you didn't have silicone leads as an option. I use wire from hobbyking meant for RC, it's awesome stuff.

[@gorky_vk]

I think "rubber" ones are actually silicone :)

[@gorky_vk]

@@cavemancamping and that will happen more often than any of us want to admit :)

[@exgenica]

I bought a Chinese mfg PSU where the leads ends with the alligator clips were just crimped on over the plastic. No stripping of the wire ends at all, and NO SOLDER or even spot welds. They relied on the crimping tool and connector to "cut" through the insulation to make the connection between the wire and the alligator clips. In addition, the crimping only connected electrically with TWO strands of the stranded wire core on one clip and about half of them on the other clip. Over time, those of course began to fail intermittently and operation was completely compromised.

[@justpaulo]

“That’s huge, that’s enormous” That’s what she said...

[@hullinstruments]

HELL YES....I’m always starving for test equipment content on your channel! This video isn’t fancy or anything… But hey… At least it’s related to test equipment or lab gear!

[@jamesharmer9293]

The thickest leads I ever made up were for a hi-fi nut who specified 4mm CSA oxygen free copper cables. As if you could hear the impact of electrons onto oxygen atoms. Which we installed. One of the audio engineers at that job then showed me the much cheaper alternative. Use 2 core mains cable. Nice and chunky and a fraction of the cost.

[@boots7859]

LOL, but its not O2-free!!! Besides, what do the golden ears think happens when they solder their O2-free wires in atmosphere...

[@phonotical]

maybe the plastic rubber is actually an elastonomer, a plastic with rubber like properties?