What to do when you can't find terminal strips?

[riceaterslc]

I've been searching all over the place for terminal strips over the past couple of months and have come up with nothing. I see nearly all of the crossovers post use terminal strips. What can I do if I can't find any? I am assuming I can just solder the wires where they usually meet the terminal strip. Are there any significant problems I should be aware about doing it like this? I've had my parts for nearly 4 months now and I am getting impatient! Thanks in advance. :T

[Hdale85]

I'm guessing your talking about those little green screw down thing? Or are you talking about binding posts or something?

[joecarrow]

You absolutely can, that's what I did. Just make sure that the wires are clean (inductors may have enamel on the ends of the wire, and if they do then they need it scraped off, I use sand paper), and firmly twisted together before adding solder. The solder holds it all together, a good metal-to-metal connection is an important first step to a joint.

Terminal strips are especially convenient if you plan on changing out different values of crossover components to measure/hear the results, or completely re-use the components and reconfigure the crossover later. If you're building one of the Mission Accomplished projects, it's definitely OK to zip-tie all of the components to peg-board and wire point to point.

[Hdale85]

I also find it odd that you can't find them over there Isn't most of this stuff made over that way?

[riceaterslc]

I also find it odd that you can't find them over there Isn't most of this stuff made over that way?

you would think so, right? but no, they have nothing, at least in my area.


joe, thanks for the reply. i'm glad i will be able to solder the stuff together without the strips, and thanks for the sandpaper tip!

[joecarrow]

Another tip- be careful when bending the wires! Solid core can really only bend so many times before it breaks. There have been times when I made a mistake (always take a break and double check before solder!), and had to untwist components and re-twist them, and if I'd had to do this more than once the wire leads broke.

Also, capacitors are sensitive to heat, so be careful to leave a bit of length between the solder joint and the cap body, and don't get the caps too hot. I've killed a mylar cap before by going overboard soldering. I say sensitive, but really- that's in comparison to resistors and inductors, which are mostly made of metal and ceramic.

[dlneubec]

You can get them from MCM online. Here is a page of them, including the European ones.

Terminal strips

[riceaterslc]

You can get them from MCM online. Here is a page of them, including the European ones.

Terminal strips

oh nice, but do they ship APO AP?

[dlneubec]

Ah, I get it now. I just looked at the license plate, not your location!

[chasw98]

Chris:
Go to an electrical shop and get some wire nuts in appropriate sizes. That should work until you can talk one of us into sending you a care package of 'good 'ol USA, made in China' Radio Shack terminal strips!

[cjd]

Another option would be for you to use a spade or ring terminal on the end of the wires you wish to connect, then stack them on a bolt that goes through the croswsover board. The bolt may not have ideal electrical properties, but if you put all the terminations together they'll have direct contact and not care about the bolt. If you double-nut the bolt it'll be secured to the board separately from trying to crank down the connection. With really large gauge wire in some of my projects I've pondered using this (see Kingpin's travails with trying to connect a couple 12ga wires and a 10-ga wire!)

C

[riceaterslc]

Chris:
Go to an electrical shop and get some wire nuts in appropriate sizes. That should work until you can talk one of us into sending you a care package of 'good 'ol USA, made in China' Radio Shack terminal strips!

found a place to ship APO AP, just had to wait for them to open so i could call them. google works a lot better with barrier strips than terminal strips, or maybe i'm just dumb. in any case, thanks for the help guys.

[---k---]

Why are the Euro style ones preferred?

[dawaro]

Why are the Euro style ones preferred?

They do not require the mechanical connection of a spade to connect them.

[---k---]

Hummm... I was just wrapping the wire around the screw of the normal style. Didn't know I was supposed to be using a spade.