Banana Plug Tips

[Visitor]

On my microcurrent board, I'm using double banana plugs to allow easy swapping of shunt resistors, for load resistors for testing, and for making power connections to the board and to the decide being tested. It's kind of an old-school approach, but it makes things simple to change.

Double banana plugs have holes in the side for connecting cables or components, which are secured by setscrews in the barrels that can accept another banana plug. Turns out all banana plugs are not created equal, and some of the cheaper ones, instead of a setscrew with a relatively smooth surface, use a setscrew that looks like it was cut with a hacksaw. When you tighten them down on a component lead or wire, these screws will slice the leads off!

The easy solution is to purchase 4mm × 6mm long setscrews to replace the trash. They will have an Allen head, so get a wrench too.

I'm doing my dev in a hotel. I had another idea to make quick connections. To make a quick "test plug", I got a couple 4mm × 20mm hex head screws. Put the leads through the holes and tighten the screws by finger. Yes, Pomona has double banana plugs to binding posts, but this was simple and cheap to do.

 

[unclejed613]

Pomona is the king of banana plug manufacturers...

 

[gophert]

Visitor , you can't just be posting this for the education/information of others - you must have a problem that you want us to solve... right? I'm just not seeing the question that needs an answer or misunderstood observation that needs an explanation. . Please clarify

 

[Visitor]

I'm really looking for somebody to tell me everything I'm doing wrong, the one right way it must be done, and questioning my integrity for wanting to measure small currents.

But honestly, sharing tips and ideas here is not a very rewarding activity. I hope people may benefit from them even if they don't comment.

 

[Visitor]

Pomona is the king of banana plug manufacturers...

Agree totally. And they are awesome, especially when somebody else is paying the price for them.

 

[Pommie]

I really appreciate your tips here. Due to another thread I'm now using EasyEDA and think it's wonderful.

Thanks,

Mike.

 

[JimB]

I find your banana plug tip interesting.

But what I really want to know is...
How can anyone make screw as badly as this?

These on the other hand...
Mechanical pornography!

JimB

 

[gophert]

But what I really want to know is...
How can anyone make screw as badly as this?

I was going to ask where he shops for hardware. Maybe it's from, "Dave's Small-Batch, Handmade, Fastener Foundry". Either that or maybe Audioguru might have an idea of where this type of craftsmanship may be practiced.

 

[Visitor]

The short ones are the screws supplied with the banana plugs. It's very frustrating when you dress a cable nicely and as soon as the screw is tightened the least bit, that nasty edge severs the conductor.

 

[ChrisP58]

Another way of protecting fine wire strands when using screw clamp terminals is wire ferrules.
https://www.altechcorp.com/ferrules/index.html
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/terminal-blocks-accessories-wire-ferrules/364

Officially they use a special crimp tool. OEM tools are pricey, but ebay has ones much cheaper. Some with kits of assorted ferrules.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1311&_nkw=ferrule+crimping+tool+kit&_sacat=0&LH_TitleDesc=0&_odkw=ferrule+crimping+tool

 

[tomizett]

maybe Audioguru might have an idea of where this type of craftsmanship may be practiced.

That comment alone has made my lunchtime!

 

[shortbus=]

Either that or maybe Audioguru might have an idea of where this type of craftsmanship may be practiced.

Canada of course.

 

[unclejed613]

I'm really looking for somebody to tell me everything I'm doing wrong, the one right way it must be done, and questioning my integrity for wanting to measure small currents.

when i was a calibrator in the Army, banana plugs were used on most of our DC and low frequency AC lab equipment. for measuring low currents, the voltage drops of banana plug connections with current should be negligible. it's when you get to multiple tens of amps that you begin to see errors, and by then you are using kelvin connections or connectors made for larger currents. in the calibration lab, we probably had 4 or more of every Pomona product, along with a nice neat rack to hold them all...

 

[Reloadron]

When it comes to Banana Plugs and Jacks my first choice has always been the Pomona brand. If any contact resistance is a concern I use their gold plated plugs and jacks. While the Pomona stuff is far from inexpensive you get what you pay for. I don't want to buy a plug, jack or anything else and then have to "fix" it in order to have it work well.

Ron