Alligator clip covers turned hard, unusable.

[soldar]

I have many alligator clips which have a PVC cover which has hardened over the years to the point of making them unusable.  To use them I have to just cut away the cover but that creates a risk of shorts (a risk of sorts?).

It seems PVC is quite hard in itself but they put plasticisers to make it soft. I guess the effect fades with time and the PVC returns to being hard.

I would like to find a way to use these clips without replacing them, which would be a pain.

I am thinking of trying Saran wrap film or ...

Any ideas?

[jpanhalt]

You could try thin-wall rubber tubing such as neoprene, EPDM, silicone, + many other options.  Or, just get new PVC sleeves.  I have the same problem, but rarely use alligator clips today.   I use "grabers" instead (attachment).

[soldar]

You could try thin-wall rubber tubing such as neoprene, EPDM, silicone, + many other options.  Or, just get new PVC sleeves.  I have the same problem, but rarely use alligator clips today.   I use "grabers" instead (attachment).

I have no idea where to find any of those materials in such small quantity. It would seems simpler to just get new alligator clips. It's no big deal but it can be annoying when I need to be careful because of the proximity and possibility of shorts. Sometimes I just use some PVC insulating tape but it is inconvenient, sticky and messy.

I also have and use those "grabbers" which are good for very thin wires but I use alligator clips for thicker wires or contacts... and even then sometimes i wish I had some bigger alligator clips, like trying to put one holding a barrel connector which is about 6mm.

[jpanhalt]

Grabbers and hooks come in a variety of sizes.  My largest can open 6mm or so.

[wilfred]

In the Arrow Electronics sale recently I bought these.
The Meuller Electric BU-00285 are about US$3 for a pack of 10.  They are not magnetic wire and are soldered. And they are still available. shipping would be steep for a small order but orders over US$100 are free even for me in Australia.
https://www.arrow.com/en/products/bu-00285/mueller-electric-company?q=BU-00285

The Meuller catalog is here https://www.muellerelectric.com/docs/MuellerCatalog.pdf

You could try BU-32 which are also cheap for some less popular colours (not black) Blue and Green are a few cents ea.

There is also Cal Test  Electronics CTM-62-* where 0=black 2=red and so on like the resistor colour code. The catalog is here pp35 https://mm.digikey.com/Volume0/opasdata/d220001/medias/docus/4846/DS_1768_Catalog.pdf

If you had other stuff to order too I'd just get new ones. I'm not sure why you think it is a pain worse than trying to find some substitute.

you might try Adafruit 3447  https://www.digikey.com.au/en/products/detail/adafruit-industries-llc/3447/7652598

[ComfyChair]

Hi soldar,

You have already received plenty of options, I'd like to add my two cents nonetheless.

I really love my grabbers and hooks, perfect for wires and pins, but for the oddball thing alligator clips cannot be easily subsituted

The insulation for alligator clips can be bought separately (just check the size!). First random example that popped up is: https://e-z-hook.com/connectors-adapters/alligator-clips/9272-alligator-clip-insulator

Moreover, there are alligator clips, like those in the attached picture, that have a solid plastic insulator covering the metal parts. They go by the name of "fully insulated alligator clips". Go check them out. https://www.altechcorp.com/test-equipment/PDFs/TestMeasurement22.pdf

[u666sa]

Just login to aliexpress and search for

"for aligator clip"

You get a ton of stuff for buck or two, including aligator clips and whole wires. 

[CaptDon]

I think it also had to do with original price point and country of origin. Most of my gator clip jumpers made with colored wire and matching boots bought in the mid 70's are as nice today as they were when new. Mostly they became open circuit at the crimp and I simply soldered both ends. Jumpers that were bought cheaply in the 90's are just total crap. Most of the 'nearly real rubber' boots from the 60's and 70's have turned to brittle pieces. Replacement boots of various colors can be had but usually another set of 10 jumpers is cheaper. You can generally find different grades also, there is the cheap 24 gauge but also easy to find 18 and 20 gauge. I was lucky to get some pieces of 10 conductor 16 gauge multicolor cabling and re-made some of my store bought jumpers using the heavier gauge wire. Sadly, when I find the boots at hamfests or flea markets they are usually only in black or red.

[RoGeorge]

Ordered such things twice from Aliexpress:
- in one set (5x2 wires, with slightly smaller alligator jaws), the cover is still soft, yet they became greasy-slippery only on the inside.  They are hard to open without the alligator inside flipping sideways.
- in the second set of 10 wires, the cover hardened, so they can't fully-open, nor fully-close

Aside of the plastic cover BEWARE that:
- the wire looks like copper, but it is not copper (easy to test with a magnet).  That piece of wire, as short as it is, has about 1 ohm resistance , and heats a lot under high current, can start a fire if used above 3-5A or so
- even worst, the 1 ohm wire are not properly crimped, they make a very bad contact between alligator and wire

Replace the original wires with copper ones, and solder the wire to the alligator, because the metal sheet from which the alligator was made is too thin and brittle to crimp a wire.

Even when in good shape, the contact resistance of such alligators is rather large and not constant.  If you clean them with IPA might do much better for a while (this is true to any chrome finish surface, in time they tend to cover themselves with an invisible layer of grease molecules captured from air).

The metal sheet of the alligator is flimsy, which makes their bite not uniform.

As for the plastic isolation
- try cutting the cover between the opened jaws, similar in the back of the jaws, such that the cover stays uncut in the middle, where the jaws axis is, or
- replace the isolation with some other tube, I've tried once some silicon tube (food-grade transparent tube), but you have to have just the right diameter, and it was not working very well.  At least that has high melting temperature and doesn't burn like PVC
- or maybe paint the metal on the outside with some insulator lacquer, like nail-polish?  (I didn't try this last one)

[soldar]

Thanks for all the ideas.

I mentioned saran wrap film sort of not seriously thinking it would work but as I was unwrapping some groceries I thought I'd try it and it works much better than I imagined. Looks shoddy, works great!

I like the plastic, insulated clips where only the inside jaws are metal and, in fact, I have some and should get more. The only drawback is they are more bulky and sometimes will not fit where i need to go.

I also use grabbers but, for some reason, they do not last as long. I tend to not be careful enough when unhooking them. But they are perfect for some situations where alligator clips are too big.

I am thinking I should also get more alligator clips which have a socket for a banana plug. That way I can use cables I already have.

Another thing I miss is test leads where only the very tip is uncovered because I am always afraid of making a short if the point slips.  Now that I think about this maybe I could just use heat shrink because I do not think I ever need more than just the tip. ... Well, I do when testing a component with my fingers. I remember some plastic covers for test tips. I'll have to think of something.

[squadchannel]

found in arrow sales!

$0.03

https://www.arrow.com/en/products/search?cat=&q=CTM-62-&r=true

[amyk]

You could use thick plastic from scrap packaging (bags, film) and weld it in place using a soldering iron set to a low temperature. Those are usually LDPE or HDPE and will stay soft without plasticiser, but are not quite as tolerant of accidental contact with high temperature as PVC is.

[floobydust]

The chinese plastics are low grade, I've had some alligator boots go rock hard.

One manufacturer said the less pliable plastics are due to changes RoHS required. This is many years ago. They are not as soft as they were decades ago.

[inse]

They are not magnetic wire and are soldered.

relevant quality criteria, lately…

[golden_labels]

If they’re one of the ultra-cheap clips from $globally_shipping_marketplace, treat them as disposable goods.

Even if they are sold elsewhere⁽¹⁾ as some no-name, as long as they look the same. I’m not just parroting the “Chinese quality” story.⁽²⁾ No, that particular product is uniformly bad. No matter where and how you obtained them, and how much you paid.

Extra: I once checked how much current they can handle. Here’s the result:

I didn’t push them further, because the last datapoints already included fumes and charring.

⁽¹⁾ Otherwise reputable suppliers also have cheap imports in their offer.
⁽²⁾ I find it mostly wrong, so I try to avoid that narrative.