ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Non-US Electrical Systems & Trades Wirenut techniques

The boxes for Ideal wingnuts still say "no pretwisting necessary". I have always pretwisted solid conductors but not stranded.
Don(resqcapt19)

One man's "snug" is another man's "tight"...
A pack of B-2's comes with a tool. I used the tool once to do an entire job, setting the clutch on high, blew a lot out.

Kind of a sentimental old tool too I guess....
...Klien makes grips, you need to dip them in hot water, then they slip on.

I generally buy one pair a month
Some come apart, can be sharpened, and sides exchanged...

I'm so anal about this...
well your in good company

Steve (sparky),

I meant my Klein strippers I replace about monthly (about $9 at Blue Grass Elec.)... the stripping holes wear out too, which can lead to ringed conductors when they get hard to strip and the tool gets sloppy...

I just need to retire the ol' lineman's and get a pair of "Klein's"... They're rather dull and stiff and only good for an "electrician's hammer" now... The cheap strippers will cut infinitely better! But since I don't pretwist and I use cable cutters for heavy stuff, I rarely use the ol' lineman's anyway! Its main purpose is hammering staples and boxes in tight spots!

Notice that the ol' lineman's have never been burnt! (How many of you can say you got the same lineman's for the last 18-scratch that- 17 years that ain't got a copper-plated hole in 'em?) The spot on the strippers' cutter is from cutting down 6-32 screws to fit without bottoming out...



[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 08-28-2001).]

Notice that the ol' lineman's have never been burnt! (How many of you can say you got the same lineman's for the last 18-scratch that- 17 years that ain't got a copper-plated hole in 'em?)

LOL!
I've worked with those that will purposely do this so they can strip with them too!

The tan Ideal wire nuts have a hexagonal end on them.(I never knew this). I watched in awe as one of the guys whipped out his 5/16" nut driver and cranked one down to "megatorque". This method uses the entire hand's power (on a cushion grip, yet) rather than the 2 "power fingers" most of us have developed over the years.

OK... The top one was pre-twisted. You were all correct... Guess it was my sloppy pre-twisting technique (from not doing it) that gave it away... I'm sure you guys that pretwist daily could match the neatness of the shorter one... (I was trying to be "honest" about it...)

Have I proven that the "Ideal" way is, at least, acceptable (if not superior)?

[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 08-29-2001).]

Ironically, I do "pretwist" stranded wire...

But I twist them with my fingers to insure a good start on the wirenut...

If more than two wires are being joined, and all are solid, I use the no-twist method, if stranded is involved, it will get wrapped around a solid, but such as in the case of light fixtures, I usually pigtail so that the #16 stranded only has to mate up with 1 #14 or #12 solid.

The stranded wires need to be stripped a little longer and the stranded end needs to catch the WireNut spring first to insure a quality connection.

That's sort of the technique I developed and it could be completely wrong...

Hi again from an informed DIY'er...I am happy to see that I follow the practices of a lot of you out there, where my experience permits, but, man, those little #16's on light fixtures irritate the #@%&$ out of me-I have changed out old fixtures for many people, and found the stranded 'zip' cord to be brittle and discoloured-no apparent problems with the wiring methods, it appears to be simply age. Why do they use this stuff? Appearances?

since i have had to fix too many joints that were not pretwisted i insist on twisting the wire then installing the wirenut. does not matter who m,ade the wire nut if too tight it breaks-if too loose it will fall off.
did have one batgh of B-caps melt under 15 amp load. replaced with new wirenuts no problem since.

Paul,
I have quite a bit of experience in using wirenuts, we use them all the time for performing "tap-offs", from Overhead Lines to Transformers and DropOut fuses.
Most of the wires we use for these purposes,
come pre-twisted, if you get my drift,ie: they are twisted up more than a standard stranded wire.
Wirenuts in this respect are the only thing, we can use to effect a decent connection,
especially, where High Voltage is concerned,
as with any loss at these voltages, can have very damaging effects.