Reporting back in after doing my install.
All my connections that terminated in a screwed down terminal got a ferrule. 10 awg, 8 awg and 6 awg wires. Even the wires going into the ground bus bar got a ferrule.
Using the recommended link from @KG6S I bought a 14 - 4 awg ferrule kit and crimper tool from FerrulesDirect.com. Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand what I was ordering and bought a circular crimper (aka hexagonal) when I should have bought a square crimper. Fortunately, I found a square ferrule crimper tool from Pro'sKit that Amazon shipped to me in two days. (I subsequently purchased an MC4 crimping die from Pro'sKit for the same ratcheting tool and it worked great.)
All my crimped ferrules came out tight. Not knowing any better, they, of course, were all perfect. I found out later than the wires should stick out of the ferrule a small amount. Depending on who you ask, the extension should be .5mm or the thickness of one strand. Mine went to the end of the ferrule, just barely sticking out sometimes.
10 AWG PV wire on the left, 6 AWG welding wire on the right.
I bought some 1 gauge ferrules to use on my inverter wires, but haven't come up with a crimper for that size yet. I'm going to play with my hydraulic crimper from TEMCo to see if one of the dies in that kit will work on the 1 gauge ferrule.
A couple of resources for your reading pleasure have been attached.
Weidmuller_Ferrules_White_Paper.PDF - This has a couple of interesting graphs that show a ferrule termination to have lower resistance over time than a plain stranded termination.
PhoenixContact_Are_Ferrules_Necessary.pdf - This article starts out sounding like it's against ferrules, but quickly switches to singing their praise. From the article, "It became clear that even one conductor pre-assembled with a ferrule offered some advantages. This is because the contact resistance values of an untreated flexible conductor are slightly higher than those of a conductor pre-assembled with a ferrule."
While ferrules aren't common in the U.S. they are are required in the EU.
All my connections that terminated in a screwed down terminal got a ferrule. 10 awg, 8 awg and 6 awg wires. Even the wires going into the ground bus bar got a ferrule.
Using the recommended link from @KG6S I bought a 14 - 4 awg ferrule kit and crimper tool from FerrulesDirect.com. Unfortunately, I didn't quite understand what I was ordering and bought a circular crimper (aka hexagonal) when I should have bought a square crimper. Fortunately, I found a square ferrule crimper tool from Pro'sKit that Amazon shipped to me in two days. (I subsequently purchased an MC4 crimping die from Pro'sKit for the same ratcheting tool and it worked great.)
All my crimped ferrules came out tight. Not knowing any better, they, of course, were all perfect. I found out later than the wires should stick out of the ferrule a small amount. Depending on who you ask, the extension should be .5mm or the thickness of one strand. Mine went to the end of the ferrule, just barely sticking out sometimes.
10 AWG PV wire on the left, 6 AWG welding wire on the right.
I bought some 1 gauge ferrules to use on my inverter wires, but haven't come up with a crimper for that size yet. I'm going to play with my hydraulic crimper from TEMCo to see if one of the dies in that kit will work on the 1 gauge ferrule.
A couple of resources for your reading pleasure have been attached.
Weidmuller_Ferrules_White_Paper.PDF - This has a couple of interesting graphs that show a ferrule termination to have lower resistance over time than a plain stranded termination.
PhoenixContact_Are_Ferrules_Necessary.pdf - This article starts out sounding like it's against ferrules, but quickly switches to singing their praise. From the article, "It became clear that even one conductor pre-assembled with a ferrule offered some advantages. This is because the contact resistance values of an untreated flexible conductor are slightly higher than those of a conductor pre-assembled with a ferrule."
While ferrules aren't common in the U.S. they are are required in the EU.
