I have looked through several other posts discussing the benefits of going from 6 AWG to 2 AWG; however, those posts seem to be made before the REV PDH came onto the scene. It seems that the PDH from REV will only take up to 4AWG. Has 4AWG became the go-to now, or is there a workaround to be able to use the PDH with 2AWG wire?
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We recently went to 4AWG silicone wire (we like thriftybot’s, its equal too or better flexibility than EPDM or similar jacketed wire from wire vendors)
This high strand wire is slightly larger in OD than 4AWG with fewer than 400 strands, and as such it doesn’t like to go into the PDH’s WAGO input terminals. We were able to get them all jammed in this last season - but think ferrules are the way to go.
I will be keeping an eye on this thread tho - as we found appropriately long wire ferrules for 4AWG wire, but haven’t yet found a SQUARE ferrule crimper.
We did 2awg on the battery side, and stripped the 2awg wire down to 3/4" on the REV PDH side, ZebraPower 2.0 style
We have started using KnuKonceptz Kolossus 4awg wire. It’s a bit oversized (something like 2000 strands) and hard to get into a (6 awg) sb 50 crimp but as long as we get as many strands as possible in the contact (and a quality crimp) we figure it’s as good as we can get without upgrading everything to sb 120. We didn’t have any issues on the PDH side.
We also use the 8 awg version of that same wire to power our swerve drive krakens directly from the PDH.
From the REV Documentation it looks like the PDH can only handle 6AWG if using a ferrule.
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I noticed that - but I don’t fully trust it yet.
I want to do some fitting, testing and verification myself.
If anyone has a technique for pushing 5000strand wire into these wago2616 terminal blocks I would be open to trying it 
We tended to push it in the first half inch fine, but then there was a narrowing of some sort that increases push force and the wire just ends up crinkling/folding over instead of completely inserting in (which results in a loose, unstable connection that pulls out with little to no effort).
I do want to mention that 2awg has marginal gains compared to 4awg
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If you don’t fully trust REV’s documentation about the WAGO 2616 connector, then at least look at the connector’s vendor documentation
REV: Power Distribution Hub Specifications | ION Control System
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Oh I have and agree they match: I just tend to believe it will actually fit. Hence me wanting to try.
Fair, but I don’t see the hassle with 4awg ferruled. It could cause more problems than you want, especially if you are able to force it in, you could damage the connector.
Edit. I think the best way to test this if you order a WAGO 2616 sample from WAGO so you don’t have a chance of damaging a PDH.
A USB plug can fit in an Ethernet socket. You might not even need a hammer.
That doesn’t mean it’ll work at all, let alone properly.
Oh come come now @EricH. That’s a mischaracterization of what I am seeking as a solution to the problem - wire ferrules are designed exactly for the purpose I am seeking to use it for, and its not a far fetched idea that the manufacturer spec may be conservative because they do not control the specs of the generic ferrule you might buy and try to use.
I am not suggesting to use either device grossly improperly like to plug incompatible electrical plugs and sockets together.
I am also not saying everyone should go out and do this. I am genuinely looking to test my hypothesis to find out if the solution is viable, and then characterise the result. Very similar to say…using a wago221 inline splice beyond it’s stated UL ratings!
The hastel today: 5000strand 4awg doesn’t fit well in the PDH power inlet.
The hypothesis: a ferule may tame the many strands and provide rigidity to better insert into the terminal block
The answer to does it fit: currently untested/unknown. I’d like to know - evaluate, use a scientific and engineering approach. To say I’d have to jam it in there is already drawing a conclusion without basis 
The point is, just because something is possible doesn’t mean that it should be done. As noted, it is physically possible to stuff a connnector into the wrong socket… and a bad idea.
Yes, you can stuff a too-large wire/ferrule combination into a connector. That doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea for anybody. (Read: don’t use me as an example.)
The best way I’ve found to do that is to cheat on the ferrule size, BTW. Use a 6 ferrule on a 4 wire, maybe. You might even be able to cheat two sizes up, given a little “creative stripping” of the wire. Doesn’t always work, though.
You could use these
Ya I don’t love that “creative stripping” (cutting away a few or chunk of strands to make it fit) - although you will have caught me doing it in the past on personal projects.
Using a size down ferule is an interesting suggestion - although I suspect it won’t work in my case as the proper size is already a close fit.
Crimping when done well creates a cold weld. I think it’s well “in band” to investigate trying a few combinations of high strand count wire and different 4awg ferrules to see if a combination fits well (I can imagine crimping removing dead space and shrinking the wire OD slightly for an improved fit over trying to “push a rope” and force it today).
The ferrules themselves aren’t the problem, I can find a dozen or so with the right gauge and pin length.
The issue and what I put in my post above is the crimping tool.
For the WAGO terminals, a square profile is what is required, but I’m having trouble finding a square profile ferule crimper for 4awg sizes. Most stop at 8 or 6awg.
Or are multi thousand dollar tools that have replaceable dies and go into the ought wire sizes which is not realistic/justifiable for needing only for 2PDH terminals/year.
Option 1: YEV4CP6X75FX – very solid crimp on 4AWG using a standard (round crimper), transitions to 6AWG solid copper pin (you can put the pin in a vice to put flats on the end where the PH terminal makes contact);
Option 2: If you are careful, you can take the copper stands from 4AWG and use a round crimp tool to start to compress the stands to transition into a stiffer, more solid mass of copper, then you can put this into a WAGO 6AWG crimp sleeve over this and use the WAGO hex crimp tool.
Both of these options work well, but are a little pricey.
I must be too busy with FTC - you are right! Thank you for reminding me.
These Pin adapters/reducers are more promising than the ferules.
I can report trying these and bending the pin 90deg for our particular application - but the length is just shy of grabbing and being secure after being bent with an appropriate radius.
I saved some other options to try but havent gotten around to ordering them to attempt - I will update this group if I find a good 4AWG pin adapter for use in the PDH parameters (ideally with parallel top and bottom flat profiles for maximum internal WAGO contact).
I wouldn’t use ferrules with the PDH. We’ve now tried it twice, most recently using a pretty high end hydraulic crimper with a square profile. Both times the connection looked super solid and passed tug test, but within a short time they’d pop right out, even when strain relived. (this is why we died in our match with 604 at Chezy Champs this year)
I’ve found that if I’m really really careful and I twist the wire as I insert it, I can get the silicone jacket stranded stuff to go into the WAGO just fine. The test is of course to take it back out and see if the strands are all still running nice and straight. That also seems to align with what WAGO specs out, which is what I ultimately prefer to go off.
I don’t think the teams using 2AWG have been able to get it in there without snipping off some of the conductors, but I’d love to hear from @Michael_Corsetto on that if he knows, I think(?) they ran 2AWG into their PDH this year.