Safety
Even so-called isolated binding posts are typically not sufficiently isolated to protect users from coming into contact with their metal parts carrying voltage. As such they are not suitable to be used for carrying dangerous voltages (cf. extra-low voltage). On several types of equipment it has been becoming common to no longer use the traditional binding posts, but safety banana jacks. The universal property of binding posts is lost here, since safety banana jacks can only be used with traditional and safety banana plugs.
In the past, it was common for multiple five-way binding posts to have their drilled holes lined up; this provided convenience in some applications as a bare wire could be strung from post to post to post. But this also impaired safety as two wires or pin connectors could be inserted from opposite sides of two binding posts and the tips of the wires or probes might inadvertently short together. Holes are now normally aligned in such a fashion that such shorts cannot occur.
Read more about this topic: Binding Post
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