Checking the screw torque is not half as important as knowing the wire is properly clamped . Is it possible to see with a dental mirror or to use a soft jawed tool to pull the neutral wires to see if they move or even come out ? with some fatter conductors it may not be possible even then.

For thin wires with plenty of slack to provide strain relief, and enough spare to remake if there is a problem, then moving the live out of the way to get to the screw driver hole should be low risk and OK

Obviously anything that is loose, badly fitting, burnt, or otherwise unwell looking , then both L and N have to come out, I suspect that a mixed and pragmatic approach will be needed.

Mike

Tug test!

Thanks more or less what I have been thinking. I am interested in your mention of using a soft jawed tool, could you suggest a specific tool as I think it would be a good addition to my kit. I can see Knipex have plastic pliers but I don't think that would protect cables much.

Long nosed pliers with insulating tape wrapped around the business ends would do the job, and you probably already have both ;)

tape near the end of the screwdriver might help protect the Line conductor insulation too 

well I have a pair of wire bending pliers (the ones with two shaped cones instead of jaws) for forming tightest possible loops without breaking the official bending radius, and they are designed to be pretty gentle on insulation (*), but I also have some more  normal long nose pliers that have been sleeved with heatshring for handling delicate things. From time to time it needs redoing.
I'm not aware of anything sold specially as wire tugging pliers in any catalogue, but there may be.
Jewelers style tools often include nylon tips, but they tend to be the half circle "chain nose", rather than "round nose" profile, and it is a pretty hard nylon, and for this  something with a bit of 'give' to allow the jaw to deform  rather than the insulation when gripping on the wire giving way might be better.

I suspect to be honest the tape idea is as good as the heatshrink, and reversible.

 * I'll admit to hand forming loops in wires as well, when its not a Mil Std job, it is a lot faster..

Mike.

'Neural connections inaccessible on Lewden RCBO's'

This is indeed a headline ... Fully intelligent RCBO's now available.

I guess you're there with a brain surgeon trying to get into the 'neural connections'?




Sorry ... had to post this, I was looking at the thread title trying to work out what was wrong, until I saw the missing 't'.

Yeh, but the important thing is that Alan B knew what he meant, and we did as well.

Z.

.

Unknown said:

Hi graham, perhaps you were forgetting the over tightened connection that was allegedly the cause of the Clandon Park Fire?

No problem with my neural connections.

Unknown said:

Let’s not beat about the bush, there is no way to to test an existing termination for torque without loosening the termination then retightening it with a calibrated tool. 

And there are arguments I've heard, regarding the fact that even if you do tighten to the correct torque, there's no saying it will stay that way ad infinitum (loosening over time) ...

I wasn't picking at the question, just the fact that I found a minor typo amusing "neural" rather than "neutral" - leading to "intelligent circuit breaker".

Zoomup said:

Yeh, but the important thing is that Alan B knew what he meant, and we did as well.

Me too ... just found the "neural" thing funny, guess my neurons don't always fire in the same way as others