Tips for Your Electrical Panels!

[macardoso]

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good crimper with the proper die for the type of crimp used. I use to have all kinds of poor contacts until I upgraded to better crimps and a decent crimper that ran around $70.

Agreed! There are hundreds of different crimp style connectors and you definitely need the right tool for your connectors. We use Panduit crimpers at work that go out for yearly calibration. I think they run $300 new. I've never had a bad crimp with my $20 home set, but I would never use them at work.

 

[Joeman77]

Congrats on some nice looking work! I built panels for several years & agree with about everything you've said, the exception being I've never used (Tip #5) Rivet nuts, not because they're bad, we just tapped the sub-plate & threaded the screws into it.

 

[Joeman77]

Tip #4: Design your enclosure ahead of time

At work we spend months designing our panels in CAD before we ever start to have them built. At home this is unrealistic, however I try my best to make sure I have everything planned out before I buy the enclosure or start wiring. Draw all your circuits out, make sure you know every component you will need, how many terminal blocks, what kind of wire, etc. Make sure you follow the installation instructions for your components to give them adequate room for ventilation. My most recent and most complicated home-built panel was modeled in Autodesk Inventor before I bought anything. This allowed me to drill all the mounting holes directly from the dimensions on the model (and everything fit perfectly!).

CAD design of my panel.

I always tried to add about 25% for a few extras or expansion. A bigger panel is a few bucks more, another one is a lot more.

 

[uncle harry]

Congrats on some nice looking work! I built panels for several years & agree with about everything you've said, the exception being I've never used (Tip #5) Rivet nuts, not because they're bad, we just tapped the sub-plate & threaded the screws into it.

I might add that for producing threaded holes I like to use drill/tap/countersink bits and a clutch adjustable drill motor.

 

[PHPaul]

As far as crimp terminals, I've gone almost exclusively to heat-shrink style vs. the nylon. More expensive, but far fewer problems, especially in automotive/trailer applications.

 

[macardoso]

Congrats on some nice looking work! I built panels for several years & agree with about everything you've said, the exception being I've never used (Tip #5) Rivet nuts, not because they're bad, we just tapped the sub-plate & threaded the screws into it.

I should clarify that I only use rivet nuts at home as I have sometimes used thinner aluminum sheet metal to save cost when I buy an enclosure on ebay and it doesn't come with a subpanel. At work we always drill and tap the subpanel or sometimes weld studs to it for heavier devices. I found the rivet nuts to be really helpful in my current build, however the right way to do it is buy the heavier gauge steel subpanels from your enclosure supplier.

 

[macardoso]

Tip #16:

If you have devices in your control panel that require configuration or have configuration software, copy all the necessary files onto a USB drive and zip tie it to the inside of the cabinet door. That way if you need to change something down the road, you don't need to go hunting for old software or configuration files. This is also great for manuals, purchase orders, or notes to yourself.

-Mike

 

[Bi11Hudson]

Regarding soldering, NFPA79 states that wires shall not be soldered unless the device to be connected requires it. NFPA79 applies to machine tool wiring requirements.

Well, it seems I am a bit behind the times. My copy of the NEC is 1994, by the way. But there are many cases where the NEC (and NFPA) have no say in the way things are done. I have made it my practice to make my installations safe, not necessarily code compliant. Yes, there are places where this can make a difference. And remember, codes are minimum standards for workmanship anyway.

I will concede that I am in (serious) error here. But I will continue to do things the way I have for near 50 years now. Such as tinning a stranded wire where it fits under a screw head. I do use crimped on lugs on a regular basis. I have hundreds on hand. But when I think it will work better and be safer in the long haul, I will continue to use my own methods. And signing this can be taken as my signature on the subject.

Bill Hudson
.​

 

[matthewsx]

I guess I'm old school to. Tinning stranded wire with good quality solder seems like something I'll continue to do unless someone can explain how it might be a hazard or somehow unreliable.

Maybe I should look into these crimped lugs though, I use crimps for most other stuff (ABYC Marine Electrical Certified). But, when I have to solder wires into connectors anyway it seems easier to just tin both ends.

1ohn

 

[Jeff.64]

Regarding soldering, NFPA79 states that wires shall not be soldered unless the device to be connected requires it. NFPA79 applies to machine tool wiring requirements.

The NFPA 79 publication is a great resource. I purchased the 2007 edition back in 2008 for around $40. At the time I thought it was a lot to pay for 88 pages. I just checked and the 2018 edition is $65.50 for 106 pages. Still expensive for a "one of" project. If one could borrow a copy, it would be worth while read for anyone building their own panel.