NCE powercab

[joe323]

I have a minor issue with my powercab.  The bus wire which is 14 gauge doesn’t like to stay put in the little holder on the panel.  Should I be using a higher gauge ?

[rrinker]

 #14 should fit fine in those connectors. Shine a light in and make sure you are puttung the wire UNDER the clamp point so that when you tighten down the screw it secures the wire. It's easy, especially with strnaded wire, to get all or part of the wire int he wrong place so it ends up not getting clamped in. 

                                         --Randy

 

[RR Baron]

 

Also, do not tin stranded wire that will be terminated in screw terminals.

 

RR Baron

 

 

[tstage]

Joe,

Are you tightening to stranded or solid wire?  The green or black 2-connector plug, that connects to the back of the PCB of the PCP panel, can either be left in place or removed to connect the wires - whichever is easier:

The latter may help you see where the threaded screw end is pressing down onto the wire.  You can then push the connector back into the PCB socket that's on the back of the PCP panel.

The wires in the picture above are 22 or 24ga stranded, which is what I used when I originally hooked up the Power Cab to my layout back in 2005.  A year or so later I upgraded my bus wire to 14ga and it worked just fine.

Tom

[richg1998]

I have used #14 stranded and not tinned for some years. No issues.

 

Rich

[shahomy]

you can also strip back a little more and fold the wire in half, to get a little more to grip in the t-strip

[BigDaddy]

14 ga ought to be big enough for the screws to bite, unless the screws got stripped.

 

[joe323]

It is 14 gauge stranded wire. At the moment it is disconected for the SIW move.