Crimp tool for Staubli MC4 connectors.

[jimseng]

Hello.

Solfit recommend Staubli MC4 connectors for their in roof system. I'm going to need to only a small amount of connectors just to install the system and then hopefully not touch it for a long time. Midummer Wholesale have an MC4 crimp tool for £83.00 + vat This is what they say on the web site:

"This tool is the official Staubli tool so is designed to make reliable, long-lasting connections. This crimping tool can be used to crimp wires of size 2.5, 4 & 6mm."

£83.00 seems reasonable for something that will hopefully end up in a draw after a few days, the £350.00+ price tag I have seen elsewhere seems a lot. Does anybody have an opinion as to whether the Midsummer ones could make 10 or so good connections for a DIY install or should I definitely go for a pricier set and perhaps sell on ebay afterwards? Any recommendations? I don't think pre made cables will work because of glands etc.

[Bramco]

I bought a generic one from eBay. 30 connectors and worked fine. Would almost certainly work for many many more.

 

MC4 connectors are all standard. A £350 tool has to be something a professional would buy to install fields full of panels. Imho all you need is a cheap one from eBay, or Amazon.

[Dillsue]

1 hour ago, Bramco said:

I bought a generic one from eBay. 30 connectors and worked fine. Would almost certainly work for many many more.

 

MC4 connectors are all standard. A £350 tool has to be something a professional would buy to install fields full of panels. Imho all you need is a cheap one from eBay, or Amazon.

Agreed.

 

The one I got off ebay works fine. You can see the crimp before you insert the pin into the plastic housing so easy to check it's all secure

[jimseng]

Great. Thanks. I really wasn't expecting that. 

[-rick-]

8 hours ago, Bramco said:

MC4 connectors are all standard.

 

Saw an eFixx thing on this recently. The person they were talking to was talking about how important it is to match the connector manufacturer and crimp tool as while it should be a standard there are tolerance errors that have caused fires. I don't know how much to trust this as eFixx can be a bit of a sales thing for manufacturers pushing their product but definitely worth paying close attention to. MC4 connectors are a common cause of issues.

[Dillsue]

10 hours ago, -rick- said:

 MC4 connectors are a common cause of issues.

Is that the connectors or the way they've been installed? In my very limited experience of site crimped MC4s out of the couple of dozen I've handled, 1 has had the cable pull out and on removing the pin it was obvious that whoever had crimped it had used a pair of pliers rather than the correct crimp tool.

[Bramco]

10 hours ago, -rick- said:

The person they were talking to was talking about how important it is to match the connector manufacturer and crimp tool as while it should be a standard there are tolerance errors that have caused fires.

 

They probably would wouldn't they - as the actress said to the bishop.

The main thing I found was that it was important to make sure the pins/sockets were properly clicked into the plastic housing. It's surprisingly easy to not quite get one home and then when you join the two halves of the joint, one bit pushes the other side back out which means there isn't  proper connection.  But that may not be the case with expensive 'branded' connectors.

I wonder how many fires there have been?  And how were they attributed to the connectors and who checked that if the fires were caused by the connectors, which brand of crimp tool was used.  Or could they have been caused by not clicking the crimped part into the housing properly?

[Bramco]

8 minutes ago, Dillsue said:

Is that the connectors or the way they've been installed? In my very limited experience of site crimped MC4s out of the couple of dozen I've handled, 1 has had the cable pull out and on removing the pin it was obvious that whoever had crimped it had used a pair of pliers rather than the correct crimp tool.

 

Majority of fires ...  often due to improper installation or faulty components.  What they haven't analyzed is what the cause of the fires were that were attributed to faulty connectors.

 

So, as with anything - make sure you do things properly and double check that the connections are good.

[Bramco]

 

[Dillsue]

I think the 0.005% of systems that experience a fire is the statistic to be mindful of.

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Dillsue

[Kelvin]

The risk of fire is tiny but I still didn’t want the panels on the house and fire risk was one of the reasons. Our friend’s self-build house had a fire in the roof caused by a cabling fault in the panels. They’d only been in the house a few months. Rebuilt it and then sold. Fortunately I had the option of putting them on the garage or the ground. 

[JohnMo]

Aren't there are only 4 MC4 connectors per string that aren't factory made. The panels just daisy chain together using factory connections. Then you have the +/- leads to inverter. So you need to make up 4 connectors in total. More strings equal more connections.

[Bramco]

15 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

I had the option of putting them on the garage or the ground.

 

Our reason for ground mounting was aesthetics and the angle of the roof, not fire risk - and we have plenty of room  🙂