Weird Spade Connectors

[Dockhead]

I am having lots of fun (! are we having fun yet?) wiring up my new Victron charger/inverter.

One of the trickiest bits is modifying the wiring so that all of the boat's AC power goes through the Victron. It has to do that so that the power boost feature will work.

I've just about got it, but I'm quite afraid of these connections which could potentially carry, theoretically, 13kW of power momentarily (6.5kW from the genset and 6kW boost power from the inverter). That's a lot of power, so I can't afford to make the tiniest mistake.

I've about decided to connect the AC output from the Victron to the AC power input to the boat's RCD -- residual current device, a ground fault interrupter in yankspeak. All the boat's AC power currently goes through the RCD to the main AC power bus.

The only problem is I do not want to cut into and crimp onto existing wires, if possible. I want to connect the cable from the Victron AC output directly to the RCD. The problem is that the RCD has some weird looking spade connectors which look permanent. I can't slide them off.

Anybody know what these are? Are they single-use only? So I need to buy a new RCD? Can you buy these connectors?

[David M]

Can you provide a few photos?

[Dockhead]

[Dockhead]

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

...The problem is that the RCD has some weird looking spade connectors which look permanent. I can't slide them off.

Anybody know what these are? Are they single-use only? So I need to buy a new RCD? Can you buy these connectors?

The RCD has male spade terminals, and the wire has crimped-on female spade connectors. The wire can be removed from the terminal. Be glad it's tight.

The crimp-on female spade (push on) wire connectors should be readily available.
➥ http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d45.html

[LeaseOnLife]

Originally Posted by GordMay

The RCD has male spade terminals

Don't pull too hard. I think, this European Din-Rail mounted device has screw terminals, see pic.

The end of the wire could just have an end sleeve with a 90 degree turn and a blade to fit the screw terminal. Made to avoid a larger bending radius if you would just stick the wire in the screw terminals.