Joining wires

[Hoggy57]

Fitting a new consumer unit and some of the wires are short (1mm, 2.5mm and 16mm). Going to joint them inside the consumer unit and would appreciated your views on using a soldered connection with shrink sleeving over the joint followed by appropriately coloured sleeving over the that.
Tried crimping the 1mm wires first but wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the final connection (could pull them out)

[Besoeker]

Fitting a new consumer unit and some of the wires are short (1mm, 2.5mm and 16mm). Going to joint them inside the consumer unit and would appreciated your views on using a soldered connection with shrink sleeving over the joint followed by appropriately coloured sleeving over the that.
Tried crimping the 1mm wires first but wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the final connection (could pull them out)

That the crimped joints were so bad suggests that your crimping tool is defective.
In any case making joints inside the consumer unit doesn't seem like a good idea regardless of method.
Perhaps a better idea would be to terminate the existing cables in a junction box or boxes and run new cables to the consumer unit.

[Hoggy57]

I believe making joints inside a consumer unit is acceptable given reg 526-03-02 (ii) assuming it meets relevant British standards and I'd expect it would given its used for making connections anyway. Take your point about the ratchet crimp tool though. I was interested to know if anyone had made soldered connections and if they were currently regarded as appropriate or are crimps preferred? Can’t find any info anywhere that makes a definitive statement. :(

[Besoeker]

I believe making joints inside a consumer unit is acceptable given reg 526-03-02 (ii) assuming it meets relevant British standards and I'd expect it would given its used for making connections anyway. Take your point about the ratchet crimp tool though. I was interested to know if anyone had made soldered connections and if they were currently regarded as appropriate or are crimps preferred? Can’t find any info anywhere that makes a definitive statement. :(

Yes, I agree that 526-03-02 covers it. It's just something we, as a company, wouldn't do.
We mostly make equipment for industrial use and we often have to comply with customer specifications in addition to BS7671. Many don't allow crimped butt joints and all connections have to be in labelled fixed terminals. The logic is that when it comes to faultfinding, you know where every connection is made and you can easily identify all terminals.
On the subject of crimping tools, we have to have ours calibrated on a regular basis.

[Hoggy57]

Cheers Mr Besoeker young man for your help and advice. By the way which would you generaly come down on the side of, soldered or crimp and what are your general thoughts on soldered connections. Do you feel that crimps are more reliable or do you think soldered are adequate to meet the regs?
I served my time forty odd years ago then went into Industrial electronics so have lost the plot a bit on general electrical practice.
Im having the new consumer unit tested by an approved tester guy and would like it to pass first time.

[Besoeker]

Cheers Mr Besoeker young man for your help and advice. By the way which would you generaly come down on the side of, soldered or crimp and what are your general thoughts on soldered connections. Do you feel that crimps are more reliable or do you think soldered are adequate to meet the regs?
I served my time forty odd years ago then went into Industrial electronics so have lost the plot a bit on general electrical practice.
Im having the new consumer unit tested by an approved tester guy and would like it to pass first time.

Interesting parallel career path, Hoggy.
I also did an apprenticeship 40 some years ago and went into industrial electronics - power electronics in my case.
Anyway, back on topic.....
As the lesser of two evils, I would have gone for the crimped option for two reasons.
First is that soldered joints can age. I don't understand the mechanism but I'm sure that you too, would have come across "dry" joints on old printed circuit boards.
The second is that it isn't easy to determine how the joint would behave under fault conditions. Would the jointed area be sufficient to avoid it getting hot should a fault occur?
See 526-02.