I have these hook probe things. How do I connect them to the end of a piece of wire so I can use them? Thanks.

 

Solder.

 

Do I solder it to the bit at the front or the back (I mean the big area or the small area)? Are you sure it will fit back together with the increased thickness?

 

Solder it lengthwise along the narrow section - on the side that is adjacent to the exit point on the top piece. Ideally, you will want to use rubber insulated test lead wire.

 

Do I solder it to the bit at the front or the back (I mean the big area or the small area)? Are you sure it will fit back together with the increased thickness?

It depends on the size of the tab, the wire size you're using, and the amount of space in the hook body.

Sometimes I wrap the wire around the narrow part; sometimes multiple wraps to provide some strain relief. Sometimes I solder the wire to the bottom of the tab. It depends.

 

Remember to put the insulated wire through the plunger FIRST.

Then strip the wire.

Wrap the wire on the smaller section.

You might at this point get a feeling as to how the "system" will behave and temporarily assemble.

Your wire could be too large or the insulation too large. These probes usually don't get "test probe" type wire. Possibly 22 AWG stranded max.

Something you may not know is that there are usually two different strandings for stranded wire. e.g one might be say 6/28 would be 6 strands of 28 AWG wire and the other 10/30 (these are made up numbers). The latter is more flexible than the other.

If it passes the "does it feel right" test, solder. it should pushand spring back easily.

 

Here's one using wire in a USB cable, probably #24. Board with tenth inch hole spacing for scale.:


Here's one using #22 flexible test lead wire:


Here's one using #18 wire on a larger grabber; no room to wrap for strain relief or put on the top of the tab:

 

Strain relief was a concern I had so wrapping the insulated wire around after soldering would help a lot. Thanks for all the input and the photographs.

 

I also used the method of wrapping a turn of insulated wire to provide a strain relief.

If you look on ebay and amazon you will be able to find silicone insulated wire that is finely stranded and available in assorted colors in a whole range of gauges. I quite like this type of wire for test leads since it is soft and flexible, Silicone insulation isn't terribly strong mechanically but it will easily survive contact with a hot soldering iron and it won't be damaged by mineral/petroleum oils like "real" rubber is.

 

I wrap but don't solder. Works fine and does not break at the solder joint because there isn't one.

 

Solder.

No, do not colder the wire. Use fine stranded #22 or #24 wire, run it through the hole and then remove ab out a half inch of insulation, and wrap the bare wire around the skinny section between the two sets of flaps. The slide the top half on over the flaps, which will hold the wire in place very well.And there is no chance of damaging the plastic by melting it with the heat of soldering. The plastic in some of those clip probes melts very easily.

 

No, do not colder the wire.

Soldering is far more typical and gives a more reliable connection.

I have grabbers from many different sources and I've yet to find one that wasn't soldered or crimped. When I was an R&D tech, we all soldered the wires.