<VV> Terminal block, Not a: HRPT

[JVHRoberts at aol.com]

It's OK, you can call me John! :)
 
So, what sort of maintenance is required on a terminal block? Generally,  
NONE! What sort of abuse? Driving the car? 
 
Note this design was abandoned LOOOONG ago because it was.... (drum roll  
please!!) failure prone! Again, steel screws into plastic threads is considered  
to be a poor design for any electrical connection, especially a high current  
one, where these threads are required to keep things tight. 
 
In a message dated 3/6/2008 12:01:28 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
airvair at earthlink.net writes:

All,  

I never indicated that there wasn't a better design out there. After  all,
everything that has ever been designed by humans is not perfect and  can
thus certainly be improved by redesigning. That is the nature of  human
engineeering. But on the other hand, NOTHING ever designed by humans  is
ever beyond needing maintainence on occasion either.

My  contention is that just because there may be a better way of doing  a
terminal block doesn't mean that the original design is defective. If  you
believe it does, then you are of the Ralph Nader school of design  thought.
That was his contention with the early model Corvairs. Think about  that
point for a while, Roberts.

With the existing GM design  terminal block that is on the LM Corvairs, it
served its purpose. And given  the "cheap, economy, 10-year life span,
throwaway car" mentality of its  designers, it's served admirably, I think.
Can it be improved? Yes. Is it  prone to failure? Occasionally, but usually
because it's been abused or is  past its intended life cycle. As I contend,
LACK OF MAINTAINENCE, many  times brought on by abuse, is its biggest
failure point. But does that make  it a faulty design? Absolutely not. And
THAT is my  point.

-Mark


 



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