Wire And Screws

[RGRAT1618]

2 questions. I am making a couple of switch panels for a friend. I am using a 30 amp relay inside the panel. does anyone know how much the coil side of the relay draws(amps). I know it can't be much. i would meter it myself but my Fluke is out getting its yearly cal. done. I want to use the smallest wire possible for the coil since Where he wants this mounted it very tight. The second question is does anyone know where I can buy tamperproof screws. You know those machine screws that take a speical driver to insert and remove. Thanks as always for the help.







Rob

 

[LSMITH]

If you use the MTW rated wire even 16ga is super flexible, makes it a ton easier in tight spots. 18ga MTW is even better. The coil on your relay should pull less than 250 milliamps, so if you build like I do and prepare for 500 ma then 22ga is sufficient. The other major advantages to the MTW is that it stays flexible in the cold, the jacket is pretty tough to prevent rub through, and it is easier to work with in tight spaces than anything out there.



Tamperproof torx screws are available at your local Napa, they might have to order them if it is a smaller store. They are the torx bits with a pin in the center. Normal torx are secure enough for most applications though and the bits are far more common. A pair of pliers are all that is needed to defeat either of them, at least that is what I have heard . Hope this helps.

 

[dan_gilson]

I went to google.com and tried tamper proof screws

and found this (among a lot of others) http://www.tamperproof.com/



This site has some other unique solutions: http://www.brycefastener.thomasregister.com/olc/brycefastener/products.htm



These are the ones that I used when I was installing alarm system back about 20+years ago. They were case hardened and could not be removed with a set of vise grips no matter how hard you tried: http://www.belproducts.com/bel2/anglais/catalog/descriptions/tamper_proof.html



You may have to call or write to these places to see where they have distributors locally for you.