About ANSI C119.4

The Hotlink automatic splice(HAS Series Products) were designed per ANSI C119.4-2011, which is American national Standards for Electrical Connectors-Connectors for use between Aluminum-to-Aluminum or Aluminum-to Copper Conductors.

This standard describes electrical and mechanical tests used to establish performance characteristics of connectors used to join aluminum-to-aluminum, aluminum-to-copper, or copper-to-copper bare and insulated conductors.

It is the responsibility of the user to determine the proper connector for any particular application. The user may request the manufacturer to perform any additional desired testing beyond that required by the C119.4-2011 standard performance tests.

Substantive changes to the standard have been made in the C119.4-2011 version of the standard. A substantive change is one that directly and materially affects performance of a product and which requires testing or retesting to meet the current edition of a standard. The substantive changes to the standard are as follows:

1. Test requirements for copper connectors.

2. Test requirements for copper system stability, which were not part of earlier editions.

3. Requirement for retesting performance of a product if there have been substantive changes made to the product.

This revision includes the addition of spreadsheet files in Annex A that can be used to collect current cycle test data, calculate connector stability, generate graphs of the data, and print data to provide test results as part of the test report. The spreadsheets are provided to give a standardized format to collect, calculate, and report test data and test results. These spreadsheets were not part of earlier editions.

This revision includes the addition of two optional tests: Optional Fault Current Test (Annex D) and Optional Corrosion Test (Annex E). These optional tests are not a part of the required C119.4-2011 standard performance tests. The subcommittee has provided these optional performance tests as references in response to users who have requested guidance for these types of additional performance tests. The user may request that the manufacturer perform any additional tests that are not a part of the required C119.4-2011 standard performance tests.

This standard includes an additional current cycle test method (CCT) utilizing elevated temperature testing for an extra heavy duty connector category, Class AA. The intent of elevated test temperature in

Class AA testing is to provide a better performing connector. There is also a new class of tensile strength-Class 1A, Normal Tension.

This standard includes an alternate, accelerated current cycle test method, henceforth referred to as the current cycle submersion test (CCST). The CCST method differs from the traditional current cycle test (CCT) in that test conductors are rapidly cooled by immersion in chilled water at the beginning of the current-OFF-cycle, and the test requires fewer total current-ON and current-OFF cycles. Comparative testing has demonstrated that the CCST method will provide essentially the same performance test results as the traditional current cycle test (CCT) in fewer test cycles. The current cycle test remains the preferred test method recommended for qualification of a connector.

This standard was initially developed under the direction of the Transmission and Distribution Committee of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI). Tentative performance-type specifications for electrical characteristics were issued in joint report form in 1958 by a steering committee of EEI and an advisory committee of manufacturers on the aluminum conductor research project (EEI Pub. No. 59-70 Tentative Specifications for Connectors for Aluminum Conductors).

Experience gained from extensive trial use further confirmed the performance criteria and test conditions of the tentative specifications and led to the development of Standard TDJ 162 in October 1962 by a joint committee of EEI and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA). TDJ 162 was subsequently superseded by this document.