I finally figured out why my zone expanders kept failing on me

For two years I was wiring all my alarm panels with 22/4 solid core and wondered why some zones would drop out. Then a guy from Honeywell told me at a supply house that I needed to use stranded wire for the expander connections because the screw terminals eventually crack solid core. Do you stick with solid for everything or do you swap to stranded on the bigger panels?

2 comments

2 Comments

simon_wood727d ago

Keep using solid core and just be more careful with your screw terminals instead. I've had solid core in expanders for years without issues, and the problem is usually people overtightening or using cheap wire that work-hardens too fast. Stranded is a pain to strip and doesn't hold as tight in the terminal blocks if you don't tin the ends anyway.

ninaross7d ago

Be more careful with screw terminals" reminds me, stripped a terminal on a old PLC once trying to get stranded wire in it.