Made myself a pair of leads with the pomona mini grabbies at work the other day. They are very nice for powering up devices from the pin header to test them without risking blowing them up even further by sending power to the wrong pin. I speak from experience. haha
Some of the old test lead wires had a lot of fine Copper strands inter-twined with fine threads of cotton that you would frey-out to then use a Bic-Lighter to burn off the Cotton, then re-twist the remaining wire, Tin each end of the wire to connect to the terminals. The cotton also made them more flexible and light in the thicker gauges.
That's pretty cool wire. I usually use whatever is at hand (or is cheap). Silicone insulation feels really nice, but it's so soft that I sometimes have trouble stripping and crimping it consistently.
I work in a hospital and these ends are thrown away by the bag. I’ve been grabbing them by the 2s for a while now. Only bad thing about them is they are all white in color. I get all different kinds of gold plated test probes. They just get thrown out. I’ve been collecting them to do a big batch of gold recovery sometime in the future. It’s been a few years since I’ve done a batch. Always a good time processing the final product.
Thanks for going over the test leads you use. I found 2 partial spools, 1 red, 1 black of Belden 8899 rubber test lead wire 18AWG that is made of 65 strands, 36AWG love this stuff. Now I'm, on the look for some Belden 8890, that seems a good size for making mini-grabber jumpers. Can't agree more about the quality of Pamona, just know they come with different size holes for the wire openings.
Informative video. The Pomona MDP series dual banana plugs (not jacks) in nickel plated copper beryllium come in ten different colors. I prefer the Model 4892 which has gold plated copper beryllium. However, this model only comes in red or black and costs twice the MDP series. Pomona part number 6733-0 (black) and 6733-2 (red) is the same silicone jacketed test lead wire they use for their test lead cables and a 50' roll is only $33.00 + shipping from Mouser.
The conductivity of beryllium copper is about the same as nickel... and though gold conducts better, the gold plating is probably so thin that at significant currents, most of the current is going through the beryllium copper. At twice the price, nickel platted seems a better choice unless you plan to fashion some bling.
Mueller was my go-to for test lead parts, Pomona was second, but many of these types of companies have suffered from the lowering of the bar by the Chinese knock-off companies and I've noticed that the quality recently seems to be suffering (Switchcraft is a good example). So best to find someones old stash of parts and buy those instead of new stuff, sadly... I still have a couple rolls of Pomona red and black silicone test lead even though it's over 35 years old it's still like new...
I've been using Pomona stuff for 40+ years. It's pricey, but you get what you pay for... For general purpose test leads I only use silicone Pomona test lead wire, never the RC stuff. I do occasionally work on high voltage stuff and the RC wire is only rated for low voltage. Pomona 6733 series wire is 18ga, finely stranded, and rated for 10kV / 20A! The only caveat is the wires are relatively thick @ .144"/3.60mm. I do purchase light, small diameter Chinese silicone wire for low voltage leads for things like curve tracers, transistor testers, etc.
You usually get what you pay for with this stuff. Upfront cost is higher but if you figure it will last 50+ years then it can often be cheaper in the long run if you plan to be in electronics for a long long tiime.
All of my best test probes are DIY, put together from pieces found in wire and cable junk boxes, but like yours, I only use the best parts and materials found in the boxes. I suspect new sets of that quality would cost $35 a set, but I've never found sets that use the right stuff for everything, From the plugs to the flexible, many-strand test-lead cable, to the quality, size, and type of the grabbers, everything needs to be right. All connections MUST be soldered. I built sets with large, medium and small cable and grabbers on the ends for various test-lead sets, so I have a whole rack of high quality test leads of various lengths. I REALLY hate it when I'm troubleshooting and find out that the problem I'm seeing is with my test cables, not with the box with the problem that I'm TRYING to troubleshoot, or when the test probes keep jumping off the connections I've attached them to. I actually spent a couple of days doing all this when I finally got frustrated enough with all the that junk test cables can cause.
I think differently. All connections must be crimped. Soldered connections with stranded wire are the absolute worst. They are too fragile.... Engineers love to solder things instead of crimp them. Cringe
They still sell them but you can't buy like variety packs last I checked unless you want to pay a fortune for more than you need haha you can get their test lead cable on sale and it's enough to last you a lifetime
Don't scrimp on the wire. That is the reason the cheap import test leads become intermittent or fail before long. Actual test lead wire is flexible and safer with high voltages. Saves headaches wasting time when the problem is in the leads instead of what you are working on.
I haven't found any nice wire that is sold by meter that would be nice for measurement use (high voltage rating and flexible). I looked at Mouser, but they only seem to sell full reels. I have some cheap silicon wires that I ordered from China, but their voltage rating is unknown.
You can also buy from Pomono pairs of mini-grabber hooks already soldered to wires of various lengths, so you don't have to waste your time soldering them. That's what I did. I would never buy them from any other source.
The older Pamona parts (made in Pamona) are often much better than than the modern ones which are now mostly made in China. At work we used Pamona triax jacks. When they shifted production to China we suddenly had many failures. We now only use Trompeter triax jacks.
Okay... fair enough... you work for Raytheon... doing JPALS for the F35... and ya the basement bench is a bit pricey... how many 250K plus, lead engineers looking for test lead clip advice from IMASI guy? ... none? Well the rest of us peasants (and I speak for my self) will just have to put up with Chinesium. North of 50.00 USD, single piece, triax BNC, from Trompeter, is more than I pay for a lot of my HP test gear.
The j hook (and the j-hook body/strip ) is gold-plated beryllium copper, and the spring is stainless steel. The 'plastic body' is glass filled nylon. Almost certainly you can get this speced in China... way cheaper than the 3.00USD +... that Mouser charges for a single mini-grabber. Just don't confuse Irina Shayk, with a picture of Irina Shayk.
I think my other comment got bumped for having links in. Try Electro PJP (a French company) Mini Hook PJP 6012-PRO they also have some very nice wire PJP 9026 Extra Flex Silicone Cable 0.40mm² (2.1mm O/D) - 6A (has 96*0.07mm strands). All the best.
I bought of ebay thinking thry are like yours but they look the same but arr china made. I did not use them yet. I got then for exacly reason you mentioned.
Those "mini grabbers" are the standard ground leads for middle and high end oscilloscopes. You can just find a quality brand of oscilloscope in your region and buy that replacement part for it.
Mouser sends them to Europe, VAT is paid when ordering. Usually Mouser's packages arrive in a few days to Finland. It doesn't make a difference if they ship from US or from Sweden.
I don't like the Chinese wire. Their tin coated copper test lead wire seems all tin. I've found some NOS Beldon. 18awg 10kv and 20awg 5kv test lead wire were good finds. Not tin coated.
@@IMSAIGuy not good enough. you have to apply flux before heating or the metal will oxidized. you can get flux at the hardware store for less than $5. I don’t want to see another video of soldering without flux again 😤
OK, you be you. I've been doing it this way for 50 years and rarely need to add additional flux. Watch a NASA instructional video on soldering and guess what, no extra flux. If you really think you need extra flux, I would not use plumbers flux from the hardware store. get some good Kester 186. the flux residue after soldering is non-corrosive and non-conductive.
@@IMSAIGuy I never said to use plumbers flux. they sell soldering flux by the soldering irons. I don’t know why you have to get so defensive. Electronics is a lifelong hobby of learning. you think you’d be a little more open to some constructive criticism 😒
I don't know what solder you are using now, but cheap solder does not work well without additional flux because it doesn't have good flux to begin with. I have been using Kester 44 for a very long time and it wets very quickly, so as you say, cuts through the oxide layers and creates a good joint
![Delco High Performance Radio Receiver! [Repair]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZS3X2Bat8Dw/mqdefault.jpg)
Made myself a pair of leads with the pomona mini grabbies at work the other day. They are very nice for powering up devices from the pin header to test them without risking blowing them up even further by sending power to the wrong pin. I speak from experience. haha
Some of the old test lead wires had a lot of fine Copper strands inter-twined with fine threads of cotton that you would frey-out to then use a Bic-Lighter to burn off the Cotton, then re-twist the remaining wire, Tin each end of the wire to connect to the terminals.
The cotton also made them more flexible and light in the thicker gauges.
That's pretty cool wire. I usually use whatever is at hand (or is cheap). Silicone insulation feels really nice, but it's so soft that I sometimes have trouble stripping and crimping it consistently.
I work in a hospital and these ends are thrown away by the bag. I’ve been grabbing them by the 2s for a while now. Only bad thing about them is they are all white in color. I get all different kinds of gold plated test probes. They just get thrown out. I’ve been collecting them to do a big batch of gold recovery sometime in the future. It’s been a few years since I’ve done a batch. Always a good time processing the final product.
Thanks for going over the test leads you use. I found 2 partial spools, 1 red, 1 black of Belden 8899 rubber test lead wire 18AWG that is made of 65 strands, 36AWG love this stuff. Now I'm, on the look for some Belden 8890, that seems a good size for making mini-grabber jumpers. Can't agree more about the quality of Pamona, just know they come with different size holes for the wire openings.
Pomona, Mueller and E-Z Hook are my favorite brands for test lead terminations. Daburn is the only test lead wire brand I remember.
Completely agree with the quality assessment on Pomona. Worth the modeat premium over Noname brands.
Informative video. The Pomona MDP series dual banana plugs (not jacks) in nickel plated copper beryllium come in ten different colors. I prefer the Model 4892 which has gold plated copper beryllium. However, this model only comes in red or black and costs twice the MDP series.
Pomona part number 6733-0 (black) and 6733-2 (red) is the same silicone jacketed test lead wire they use for their test lead cables and a 50' roll is only $33.00 + shipping from Mouser.
The conductivity of beryllium copper is about the same as nickel... and though gold conducts better, the gold plating is probably so thin that at significant currents, most of the current is going through the beryllium copper. At twice the price, nickel platted seems a better choice unless you plan to fashion some bling.
Mueller was my go-to for test lead parts, Pomona was second, but many of these types of companies have suffered from the lowering of the bar by the Chinese knock-off companies and I've noticed that the quality recently seems to be suffering (Switchcraft is a good example).
So best to find someones old stash of parts and buy those instead of new stuff, sadly...
I still have a couple rolls of Pomona red and black silicone test lead even though it's over 35 years old it's still like new...
I prefer the off-set stacking banana plugs. Those right angle ones seem to ensure everything is in the way.
I've been using Pomona stuff for 40+ years. It's pricey, but you get what you pay for...
For general purpose test leads I only use silicone Pomona test lead wire, never the RC stuff. I do occasionally work on high voltage stuff and the RC wire is only rated for low voltage. Pomona 6733 series wire is 18ga, finely stranded, and rated for 10kV / 20A! The only caveat is the wires are relatively thick @ .144"/3.60mm. I do purchase light, small diameter Chinese silicone wire for low voltage leads for things like curve tracers, transistor testers, etc.
You usually get what you pay for with this stuff. Upfront cost is higher but if you figure it will last 50+ years then it can often be cheaper in the long run if you plan to be in electronics for a long long tiime.
All of my best test probes are DIY, put together from pieces found in wire and cable junk boxes, but like yours, I only use the best parts and materials found in the boxes. I suspect new sets of that quality would cost $35 a set, but I've never found sets that use the right stuff for everything, From the plugs to the flexible, many-strand test-lead cable, to the quality, size, and type of the grabbers, everything needs to be right. All connections MUST be soldered.
I built sets with large, medium and small cable and grabbers on the ends for various test-lead sets, so I have a whole rack of high quality test leads of various lengths. I REALLY hate it when I'm troubleshooting and find out that the problem I'm seeing is with my test cables, not with the box with the problem that I'm TRYING to troubleshoot, or when the test probes keep jumping off the connections I've attached them to.
I actually spent a couple of days doing all this when I finally got frustrated enough with all the that junk test cables can cause.
I think differently. All connections must be crimped. Soldered connections with stranded wire are the absolute worst. They are too fragile.... Engineers love to solder things instead of crimp them. Cringe
They still sell them but you can't buy like variety packs last I checked unless you want to pay a fortune for more than you need haha you can get their test lead cable on sale and it's enough to last you a lifetime
Don't scrimp on the wire. That is the reason the cheap import test leads become intermittent or fail before long. Actual test lead wire is flexible and safer with high voltages. Saves headaches wasting time when the problem is in the leads instead of what you are working on.
I haven't found any nice wire that is sold by meter that would be nice for measurement use (high voltage rating and flexible). I looked at Mouser, but they only seem to sell full reels. I have some cheap silicon wires that I ordered from China, but their voltage rating is unknown.
I once blew up a cheap cable because the current was too high.
You can also buy from Pomono pairs of mini-grabber hooks already soldered to wires of various lengths, so you don't have to waste your time soldering them. That's what I did. I would never buy them from any other source.
👍👍
In our language IMSAI means irritating 😂
that fits me just fine 😎
The older Pamona parts (made in Pamona) are often much better than than the modern ones which are now mostly made in China.
At work we used Pamona triax jacks. When they shifted production to China we suddenly had many failures. We now only use Trompeter triax jacks.
Okay... fair enough... you work for Raytheon... doing JPALS for the F35... and ya the basement bench is a bit pricey... how many 250K plus, lead engineers looking for test lead clip advice from IMASI guy? ... none? Well the rest of us peasants (and I speak for my self) will just have to put up with Chinesium. North of 50.00 USD, single piece, triax BNC, from Trompeter, is more than I pay for a lot of my HP test gear.
I'd also vote for the E-Z Hook kit
yes, those are OK
The silicone wire that you showed is usually 600V.
The j hook (and the j-hook body/strip ) is gold-plated beryllium copper, and the spring is stainless steel. The 'plastic body' is glass filled nylon. Almost certainly you can get this speced in China... way cheaper than the 3.00USD +... that Mouser charges for a single mini-grabber. Just don't confuse Irina Shayk, with a picture of Irina Shayk.
I had bought some Pomona test leads and the cables are extremely stiff. I plan to change the wire out at some point.
I think my other comment got bumped for having links in. Try Electro PJP (a French company) Mini Hook PJP 6012-PRO they also have some very nice wire PJP 9026 Extra Flex Silicone Cable 0.40mm² (2.1mm O/D) - 6A (has 96*0.07mm strands). All the best.
You remind me of my brother inlaw when he would stop at a Bass Pro shop and walk out with hundeds of dollarrs of new lures. lol
I bought of ebay thinking thry are like yours but they look the same but arr china made. I did not use them yet. I got then for exacly reason you mentioned.
Sir, can you do 1 video on 100 watt led street of flood light mcpcb and driver design/calculation aswell as teardown video.. please?
that is pretty expensive. have someone send me one
$3 each IS cheap in the year 2023.
No distributors in Europe so clones it is.
Those "mini grabbers" are the standard ground leads for middle and high end oscilloscopes. You can just find a quality brand of oscilloscope in your region and buy that replacement part for it.
Did you check mouser/digikey? A least test leads (like 3781-60-7) are available. Not sure about the grabbers.
Mouser sends them to Europe, VAT is paid when ordering. Usually Mouser's packages arrive in a few days to Finland. It doesn't make a difference if they ship from US or from Sweden.
@@sebastian_harnisch I just ordered micro grabbers a month ago from Mouser and last november I ordered a bunch of Mini grabbers.
You can order from Digikey. I've just ordered a few of these minigrabbers and dual banana jacks from them.
I don't like the Chinese wire. Their tin coated copper test lead wire seems all tin. I've found some NOS Beldon. 18awg 10kv and 20awg 5kv test lead wire were good finds. Not tin coated.
Why aren’t you using flux when you solder those wires to the lead? 😠
solder has flux core
@@IMSAIGuy not good enough. you have to apply flux before heating or the metal will oxidized. you can get flux at the hardware store for less than $5. I don’t want to see another video of soldering without flux again 😤
OK, you be you. I've been doing it this way for 50 years and rarely need to add additional flux. Watch a NASA instructional video on soldering and guess what, no extra flux. If you really think you need extra flux, I would not use plumbers flux from the hardware store. get some good Kester 186. the flux residue after soldering is non-corrosive and non-conductive.
@@IMSAIGuy I never said to use plumbers flux. they sell soldering flux by the soldering irons. I don’t know why you have to get so defensive. Electronics is a lifelong hobby of learning. you think you’d be a little more open to some constructive criticism 😒
I don't know what solder you are using now, but cheap solder does not work well without additional flux because it doesn't have good flux to begin with. I have been using Kester 44 for a very long time and it wets very quickly, so as you say, cuts through the oxide layers and creates a good joint