Monday, November 07, 2022

Great big, chocolate block

 

Electrical chocolate block
Two lengths for a quid. Bargain. You probably think this is just normal electrical "chocolate block" connectors, but these are the largest examples I've ever seen. Each one is 155mm in length. 

What I don't understand, is why it exists.

These massive metal connectors will happily accept some serious bits of wire, almost 5mm in diameter by the look of it. The thing is, if you are using wires that fat, they much be carrying some serious current. So, surely there has to be a better, and more secure, way to join such wires up? 

2 comments:

Steve said...

I'm glad to see someone else calls them chocolate blocks. I learnt that term from my Dad and still use it. Now most of these are made from white / transparent plastic and it's not obvious why we call them chocolate blocks :-)

Christopher Payne said...

I too have always called these connectors "chocolate blocks". But that was not because they were at one time brown. Rather because they break into sections (yes, one needs to cut them) along the grooves like those in chocolate bars.

One thing I have noticed recently is that some bought at an exhibition (I cannot recall the supplier) have been poorly made so that not all the terminal screws will function. Perhaps a case of - "You get what you pay for".

Christopher Payne