Terminals, Clamps and Lugs
There are a wide variety of conductor terminals. Typical types are as shown in Figure 9.
1. The screw terminal will be found in various accessories such as, lampholders, battenholders and plugtops used in domestic premises. A shrouded version of this terminal is probably the most commonly used type. It will be found in switches, sockets, ceiling roses and consumer units.
2. The split terminal will be used in joint boxes to enable joints to be made without having to cut conductors.
3. The post terminal will be used mainly to make connections to earth and also in such places as the mains connection to an electric cooker or an electric motor.
4. The screwhead terminal will also be mainly used to make connections to earth, and is also very popular in older fuseboards.
5. The clamp terminal is now in common use in main switches, MCB’s, RCD’s and RCBO’s.
6. The lug terminal comes in an extremely wide variety of shapes and sizes. They may be bare or insulated. Methods of connecting to the cable vary as follows:
· Ferrules, which are used on flexible cables to prevent the strands from spreading out and are then connected using a screw or clamp terminal.
· Large power cables where the lug is compressed onto the cable using a hydraulic type crimptool. The lug is then connected to a post or screwhead terminal.