If you want to use screw terminal blocks I suggest using ones with ceramic insulation as they will withstand the heat. A quick search found these:
I'm sure there are plenty others in different sizes and number of contacts per block.
Anything intended for actual use shouldn’t rely on temporary solutions. Clips are fine for testing, but for a permanent setup you want something that’s mechanically and electrically stable over time.
Contacts like that tend to age, oxidize, or loosen, which increases contact resistance and can lead to unreliable results sooner or later.
So the question is simply: why choose a solution that is likely to degrade over time? Just a thought.
What for, are you building a heater?
A straight piece of AWG28 wire in open air at 12V will heat up to about 400ºC. That’s HOT!
Also check out the moulded ceramic lamp bases used for low voltage MR12 and MR16 lamps usually found in downlighters. They can come with high temperature leads attached.
They can be used with halogen lamps, so good at very high temperature.
The ceramic lamp holder is called GU4 or GU5.3
Just used one to convert an old Anglepoise desk lamp to MR12. Changed the M3 slotted screws to M3 stainless grub screws for extra security.
General thought: I can see that quite a few people have genuinely tried to help you, but without knowing what the whole setup is for, it seems to me – no offense intended – like just poking around in the dark. There’s already a huge difference between trying to make wires glow, where you have to monitor the current to prevent them from melting, and just having them get mildly warm. So please, we urgently need more information!
Sorry about not getting back to all of you, but the temp my wires have to get to are 90 degrees Fahrenheit, I was going to use the arduino to lessen the amount of power each wire gets. Additionally, I’m trying to heat the wire to make a thermochromic paint react to heat and change color, which at does at 82 degrees but I’m bumping it to 90 degreee to be on the safe side. I don’t need it to be exactly that temp and do not require temperature sensors/regulators.
What would you recommend instead?
If you don’t use temperature sensors, how will you know when you’re at 90°?
That will be very difficult to do with Nichrome wire
You should consider these flexible heaters like this
You can use a MOSFET module and PWM to control the heat.
Temperature can be easily measured with a LM35 sensor.
Indeed! The OP obviously has not built a test device. If you measure the temperature of an energized Nichcrome wire you will discover that when the center of the wire is at 90 degrees, both ends will be cooler because any mounting/connecting becomes a heat sink.
I don’t need to be exactly at ±90 degrees. I can test what temp range is good with the color changing paint. Then I can exceed that amount by a small amount for safety.
Stainless steel wire tends to be ~40x as resistant to current as copper wire .. and .. very thin copper wire glows and burns with a couple amps of 12 volt, 90F should take a lot less and if it’s stainless steel then even less and last longer.
Not with Nichrome wire.
Explain why you need wires instead of something like a heat pad.
Temperature control is only going to be as good as the the point or points where you measure it.
What's the physical arrangement of paint and heater?
You say you don't need temperature sensors or regulators. What's the point of the exercise?
Your controller doesn't know what color the paint is.
i found that nichrome actually works well with the paint in terms of heating it up and I don’t have the budget or time to get more wire and set it up again. I put the nichrome on heat resistant tape and put the tape on a piece of wood. Then, I covered the wire with another layer of heat conductive tape to spread the heat. It works well and the paint can react well to it. The only problem I have left is making it arduino controlled. I bought IRLZ44N mosfets to control it but the tutorials I’ve seen are all for motors not nichrome wires.
I realized it just has to be past the threshold so just putting it on max can do the trick
Does anyone know any good wiring diagrams that could help with this
Or is it just like any other transistor
MOSFET is a different type of transistor than BJT. Even the names of the leads are different.
BJT has Base (the valve), Collector (In) and Emitter (out)
FET has Gate (0% or 100% open else gets hot), Drain and Source. Source ususally connects to GND.
IRLZ44N is a low-side FET, it’s like a drain plug switch to ground a circuit through. I bought 60 for about $10 10 years ago, they’re great!
BJT is bi-polar junction transistor where current must flow through the gate for current to flow from collector to emitter. They are limited in power, they get hot. Practical, 500mA but you can go 1A.
FET is field effect transistor. No current needed at Gate but to fill a tiny capacitor and highly efficient flow moves from Drain to Source where 10A isn’t too much. But don’t half-open a FET for long even with a heatsink.
Motors have coils inside that make inductive backsurge you have to wire for. Straight wire don’t.