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Safe to use silicone instead of electrical tape?

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quarterback:
I'm putting together a "smart strip" for myself and with all the wires and relay shoved into a small power strip, there are places where the connections are pretty close to one another.

In a lot of circumstances, I'd use electrical tape as a 'safety' to wrap any potentially bare wire, but it's pretty tight in the power strip.  I know I've seen people use hot glue to 'seal' and protect connections from coming loose but I don't have any hot glue.  My question is, can I use silicone caulking to do the same thing?  It would not only hold some of these wires in place, but also protect any potential 'opens'?   

Is that safe?  Do people do that?  I'd presume that silicone doesn't conduct electricity, but I'd rather have some more info just to be safe.
Thanks
qb

Fozzy The Bear:
Not ideal, but if it's the best you can manage in the space then Silicone will not conduct electricity.

The best way to do this would be to use heat shrink tubing. Make your solder connections and have a length of heat shrink on the wire ready to put over them then slide it up to cover the joint and heat it up. It'll do what it says and shrink over the joint insulating it.

Much better to get the right materials for the job and do it right, when playing with mains voltages.

Best Reagrds,
Julian (Fozzy The Bear)

quarterback:
Thanks Fozzy,

I had two places that I just wanted a little more protection.   One is at the relay itself.  The QDs I have aren't insulated over the 'head'.  I'm using this relay here:

And even though there's clearance between pins 3,4,5 and 6, I just wanted a little barrier between each of the QDs.  In the end, I actually was able to wrap two of the 4 in electrical tape.

In other places in the powerstrip, the wires are tucked in plastic "channels".  They're separated from one another by plastic barriers, but the whole thing is pretty tight and if one of the wires was to somehow pop up out of the channel, it could potentially get close to another wire.  In this situation, the silicone would be helping keep the wires in place in addition to creating a little rubber shell around the bare wire.

A dab of silicone here and there will make me feel better :)
Thanks
qb

ark_ader:

--- Quote from: quarterback on March 30, 2008, 10:39:50 pm ---Thanks Fozzy,

I had two places that I just wanted a little more protection.   One is at the relay itself.  The QDs I have aren't insulated over the 'head'.  I'm using this relay here:

And even though there's clearance between pins 3,4,5 and 6, I just wanted a little barrier between each of the QDs.  In the end, I actually was able to wrap two of the 4 in electrical tape.

In other places in the powerstrip, the wires are tucked in plastic "channels".  They're separated from one another by plastic barriers, but the whole thing is pretty tight and if one of the wires was to somehow pop up out of the channel, it could potentially get close to another wire.  In this situation, the silicone would be helping keep the wires in place in addition to creating a little rubber shell around the bare wire.

A dab of silicone here and there will make me feel better :)
Thanks
qb

--- End quote ---

I would consider Fozzy's advice if I was you regarding using silicone.  Heat shrink tubing is much better and safer.

shardian:
In Ben Heck's book, he liberally uses a hot glue gun on electrical stuff.

Also, I was at Harbor freight the other day and I saw a spray can of some interesting stuff. It said on the can that it was basically spray on electrical tape. Looked like really neat stuff. I'll try some search-fu today and see if I can find something similar online.

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