I would like to hear people's impressions on the subject of "Spring Clamp" style terminal blocks vs "Screw / Box Clamp" style, as well as "Insulation Displacement" style for mounting on to DIN rail. Here on the West Coast (USA), I know of nobody who likes or uses the spring-clamp style, nor the insulation displacement style. Everyone wants and uses the screw clamp style terminals.
The general verdict around here on spring clamps is that they are difficult to use if you do not have the exact screwdriver it takes to open them. They fear that sooner or later someone will attempt to make a change with the wrong tool and damage the block. There is also a general distrust of the long term reliability, even though the data from IEC users is that they are MORE reliable than screw clamp types. I tried some Wago spring clamp blocks a while ago and I had the entire project rejected by Boeing as being unsuitable for their environment until I changed out all 2000 terminal blocks to screw clamp style.
As to insulation displacement styles, these are relatively new around here and the mistrust runs deeper. People tend to associate them with the cheap lamp plugs that you stab on through the insulation of Zip cord, so they don't want to trust anything industrial to that kind of technology.
Comments or opinions?
The general verdict around here on spring clamps is that they are difficult to use if you do not have the exact screwdriver it takes to open them. They fear that sooner or later someone will attempt to make a change with the wrong tool and damage the block. There is also a general distrust of the long term reliability, even though the data from IEC users is that they are MORE reliable than screw clamp types. I tried some Wago spring clamp blocks a while ago and I had the entire project rejected by Boeing as being unsuitable for their environment until I changed out all 2000 terminal blocks to screw clamp style.
As to insulation displacement styles, these are relatively new around here and the mistrust runs deeper. People tend to associate them with the cheap lamp plugs that you stab on through the insulation of Zip cord, so they don't want to trust anything industrial to that kind of technology.
Comments or opinions?