I want to buy a smart thermostat, but according to the manufacturer, I can't install the model I want if I have "stranded wires". Would pic related be an example of stranded wires? When I pulled the plate off the yellow, green, and blue wires were just sitting there.
A stranded cable has smaller wires running through it. A solid cable is one thick wire.
Ok thank you.
Yeah those look solid
Also frick em, just tin the tips or something, you could easily get stranded wires in whatever thermostat.
> the yellow, green, and blue wires were just sitting there
A battery operated heating thermostat only needs 2 wires, it just turns the heating on and off. Yellow is normally cooling and green is fan.
> stranded wires
You’re getting a nest right? They put this in the manual because you’re not supposed to put them into the screw type terminals they use, but it works for me.
Note that the actual thermostat is connected where your boiler is, not on the wall plate (the control thing is wireless). So you may have to cut the cable on boiler side and connect it there
>but it works for me.
inb4 some moron suggests tinning stranded for wire terminal
bad practice. you can get a bootlace crimper with all the ferrule sizes you need for domestic for a few bucks.
Can you explain why? Not OP and not wiring a thermostat but curious.
Metal screw terminals are designed to push down on a single solid wire, flattening it a bit to make a good flat contact surface. If you use a stranded wire it could make contact with only one or two of the strands on each side. If it’s a signal cable that could lead to bad signal but if it’s current carrying wire it could lead to sparks at the connection point, those strands getting too hot, and eventually fire.
If you put tin on stranded wire you get this stuff/inflexible piece of tin with pieces of strand sticking out which can make the contact even worse, and the blob can get stuck in the terminal or break off while fastening.
>fire from thermostat wires
i hate you people
He asked for ‘in general’ didn’t he
Yep. Just curious in a general sense. I’ve only played around with 12 volt or less (hobby type stuff). Anything higher scares the crap out of me but I find it interesting.
Silver doped low temp solder will avoid that. It's softer and lower-temp. And - decent soldering technique.
Ferrules are fancy. Any recommended kits?
this is some severe autism.
if you're assembling mass production parts or doing professional work on other people's shit then you should follow those practices.
for some basic b***h DIY shit, low current low voltage it literally doesnt matter. it will work just fine. the screw terminal will crush down on the solder and form a very good connection that will last for years and years.
Yeah.
Do a good job of tinning it (no strands sticking out) and it will befine for low power circuits. Not so good for higher power because the solder will cold flow under the screw pressure and make a high resistance connection.
Thanks for the explanation all. Very interesting.
Ender printer fires are notoriously caused by tinning the wires. The connection comes loose from thermal expansion of dissimilar metals.
How much current is going through those? Can’t imagine the signal on a low voltage thermostat wire is going to get warm,
prolly 8 amps
I know I’m paranoid but any bad wiring in a furnace sets me on edge.
>inb4 some moron suggests tinning stranded for wire terminal
you are too late moron, someone said it earlier
thread is small and yet you failed to read previous posts other than OP. frickin dumbass
i cant see tripgay posts due to filter
solder is soft, distorts under pressure and can come loose.
softer is not a benefit. you want a specific solder for wiring and recommend having to take an iron etc to wire in a wall? i just dont understand the desire.
yes it might be fine in some circumstances, some people might get away with it, but its generally regarded as bad practice so makes sense to just always avoid it since its easy to do so.
the ratcheting circular style crimp tools e.g. on amazon for 10-20$ seem pretty fool proof and reliable.
in reality, if you have stranded wire, there is absolutely nothing wrong with just twisting the strands together to form a single cohesive bunch.
secondly, also goes for solid core, if you can fold the conductor over and still fit it in the terminal easily then it will make getting a good connection easier, less chance of a very small conductor slipping out the side of the tongue.
finally, ops conductors are stripped far too far back, no copper conductor should be outside of the terminal housing.
>i cant see tripgay posts due to filter
well, thats your problem, isnt it?
no, quite the opposite
Kek. How sad do you have to be to brag about filtering people on PrepHole?
Can’t be any sadder than somebody upset about somebody filtering tripgays on PrepHole.
Those aren't stranded and should work. My system is just 2 wires heat only so I can't use any smart thermostat without running c-wires or using a power adapter but the thermostats are in hallways not near an outlet so I'm kinda stuck with some basic ones that use battery power.
when the battery in mine dies it pegs to 50 fricking degrees for some reason
i woke shivering like a mother fricker the other night. I think it cold shocked my mushies into fruiting tho kek
YMMV but I ripped out my nest after realizing they were throttling my a/c at peak hours despite disabling all those eco settings. Personally I like using my a/c when it’s hot mostly.
To all those saying "don't tin the stranded wire," just solder small sections of solid to the stranded wire and cover with heat shrink tubing. Wala.
Also it probably doesn't matter at all for the low voltage/low current thermostat application.
>Wala
lol, its VOILA you fricking moron
w'allah akbar
No my friend, that’s a string instrument, a slightly larger cousin to the violin.
>No my friend, that’s a string instrument, a slightly larger cousin to the violin.
thats a VIOLA, you moron who cant read. VOILA is a different word and has a different meaning.
voy-lah? Are you stupid?
>voy-lah? Are you stupid?
Yes... you are stupid
At that point you may as well just put a bootlace on it dick head.
The wires in the picture are solid.