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If you are stuck with a ring main...

john.luckins

pfm Member
Is it safe to do this to improve it...

Every year (after taking the necessary safety precautions) I go round and tighten up the connections on the outlets on the ring main that feeds my music system. This year I realised that the ring is larger than I had thought and includes sockets upstairs as well as downstairs, a total of 11 double sockets on one ring. To make matters worse two of the upstairs sockets are behind fitted furniture and some of their connections were so loose that they created breaks in the ring.

It occurred to me while doing this that soldering the two/three 2.5 mm solid core bare ends that go into each feed connection on the rear of the sockets would guarantee the integrity of the ring even if the a connection were to work loose. Both a safety and a sonic improvement methinks as well as renderding the whole tighening routine unecessary except for the sockets feeding the music system.

Has anyone else tried this or am I treading on dangerous ground?

John
 
It`s always been my experience that when a terminal screw is tightened properley it stays tight. It was my practice when wiring sockets on a ring main (not allowed to do new work now of course....) not to cut the cable, simply to strip a double length back to the copper and double it before screwing it into the terminal which achieves what you are aiming to achieve. Soldering on a ring main can be a bit of a pain since the socket you want to plug the iron into tends not to work...
 
I don't know if the lifespan of the PVC is affected when it is scorched. I have soldered twin and earth, but only when used for non-everlasting-mains purposes.
 
Be very careful when using solder in such situations.
The solder is very plastic and will 'give' in time. You have to make sure you keep tightening until the solder is fully deformed and the screw is fully gripping the copper itself.
Henry
 
Well I've gone ahead and soldered the 11 live, 11 neutral and 11 earth connections to each of the sockets on my systems ring main. I did this in stages being careful to ensure that while the two cores on each were well soldered the screw of the connector still bears down on bare copper. I used insulating sleeving to cover any excess bare solder/copper.

I really wish I'd done this long ago as it has given me many of the benefits of a mains spur (I fitted one in my last house). The improvement is akin to a re-cap of a hi-cap in a naim system but more pronounced. Worth the effort IMHO.

John
 


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