Old timer told me to stop using loops on panel tamper wires, he was dead right

Had a guy I used to work with back in 2019, been doing alarms since the 80s. Kept telling me I was making extra work for myself by looping tamper wires through the panel terminals. Said just strip and land them straight. I ignored him for like two years. Finally tried it last month on a DSC panel install and I saved almost 10 minutes per panel. No more messing with loose loops or shorts from bad bends. Anyone else ever get shit advice from a veteran that ended up being gold?

3 comments

3 Comments

robin6281mo ago

And yeah stripping and landing straight is way cleaner especially when you're wrestling the panel door shut later. Those loops always seemed to find a way to catch on something just as you were about to screw the cover on.

max_torres441mo ago

Old timers know their stuff when it comes to keeping connections clean. Looping through those terminals adds resistance and creates a mess, especially with stranded wire that likes to fray. I started stripping and landing straight a few years ago, and it cut down on a bunch of intermittent tamper faults I used to chase. Plus, you're not fighting a bundle of loops when you're trying to close the panel cover.

jakejones1mo ago

Honestly, the part nobody talks about is how those loops can actually trap moisture and dirt over time. I've pulled panels open where the wire was looped around the screw three times and you could see corrosion starting right where it wrapped. Straight landings air out way better.