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What types of splicing devices do you use?

Red, Blue, Yellow wire nuts?

Do you use a tool to tighten the "wire nut" up, or do you use tape to ensure that it will stay tightly connected?

[This message has been edited by Joe Tedesco (edited 02-04-2003).]
Blue, orange, yellow, red, and grey.

The yellows and reds get tightened with the socket in the end of an ideal screwdriver until there are two to three twists in the wire outside the nut. I rarely use tape on the nuts, most of the time making sure that they are oriented to allow any water to drain out of the connector.

TW
Posted By: Redsy Re: Wire Nuts and splicing device connections - 02/04/03 12:05 PM
No tape here, either. I believe that a properly installed wirenut will stay on.
I am beginning to switch from multi-colored to the Ideal wide-range "Twister". I used to think they were inferior, but you can minimize inventory with them.

BTW,
The cordless drill/driver craze has hit it's peak with the new wire-nut that is designed to be installed with one. I don't think it's worth the trouble.
(File this product in the "Remember these?" category).
Posted By: Thom Re: Wire Nuts and splicing device connections - 02/04/03 05:16 PM
Been using Buchanan Splice Caps 2006S and 2011S. Really like them. Surprised they haven't been brought up much in some recent posts.
Boy, talk about getting down to basics! Yet, this is where I started, as an apprentice, splicing wires together per directions from my journeyman. But done right?
Anyway, I usually hand twist wirenuts on. If there are more than three wires being spiced, I usually resort to using the partially opened jaws of my wire strippers to grip the wings or ridges of the wirenut for further twisting (approaching the wire nut from the outer end, not from the side -- don't want to be cutting or damaging the insulation). Once I see the insulated portion of the wirenut starting to twist, I figure that all is well.
I often wonder about how frequently we recycle old wirenuts, or re-splice wires that are all scratched up from previous splicing. Seems to me that we should cut and re-strip the wires before re-splicing, but I don't know anyone who does this. Anyone hear of any studies on failures or hot spots caused by all the damaged #12 wires spliced and re-spliced?
As far as which brand or style I use, it varies, depending on what's on sale.

[This message has been edited by Elzappr (edited 02-04-2003).]
Is there a standard colour code for wire-nuts or does it depend on the manufacturer?

I know Greenies are used for ground wires (with the hole on top for a pigtail).

The blue ones I've come across with, I use to temporarily splice #18 zip cord while I'm fixing a radio and need to hotwire the left-over stump of power cord.

It seems like that 2 or three #18s is the most the blue ones can handle. Ditto some gray ones that seem even smaller (which is what I'm currently using for that type of work).

I've seen orange ones....and yellow ones - the yellow are bigger than the orange, though.

I used a yellow one to replace a ceramic one in an electric menorah. It's holding 9 #18 wires!! Was the only thing that I could find that would hold all those wires securely. Just in case I also wrapped it in electrician's tape (is it made with real electricians? [Linked Image]).

And then I've run across some huge BLACK ones...made by Eagle Electric. These are old, though....

I've never been able to understand the conductor combination charts on the back of the bags...since sometimes the combinations they state are not quite what I'm doing (for example what about three #14s? What do you use for that? It doesn't mention it...but it does mention two #14s and a #16.

Anyone know of a chart on-line that I can print out or do I write to the manufacturers?

As far as brand goes....I don't really pay attention.

All I look for is that they have the little metal spring inside and that the critters are UL/CSA listed. They're IDEAL or Gardner-Bender.

I've noticed that the ones packaged by General Electric are made by IDEAL.

P.S. I always tape up my wirenuts if they're going to be used in permanent installations after I make sure the nut is firmly hand-tightened. I think you have more control and less chance of stripping the nut or snapping off the wire if you handtighten the nut instead of using a nut-driver. And I always pre-twist solid conductors.
Posted By: Len_B Re: Wire Nuts and splicing device connections - 02/04/03 06:03 PM
Sven,
UL listed application chart for Ideal products: http://www.wirenut.com/wt/TwistOnWireConnectors.nsf

Click on "UL listed..." link at bottom of page, (.pdf document)

Len
My personal specs' for prefered stuff O' terminations / splices (S.E.T. specs [Linked Image]...):

Ideal Yellow (451) and Red (452) for nearly 90% of makeup.
Ideal Orange guys for Ballast kits + similar Fluorescent fixture stuff.
Also, the smaller Blue guys work great for Ballast change-outs, Back-Up Ballast kit installs, and other such redundant class work in Fluorescent fixtures.

The Ideal Tan wirenuts are really cool too!

And, of course, there are always a few situations when the need to pull out the "Big Blues" or "Big Grays" occurs.
Once again, Ideal brand has been very loyal to me for + 20 years.

Definitely a Pre-Twist person! With practice, twisting various combinations of conductor types (stranded + solid) can achieve good results (AKA - bored at home??? pull out some scrap wire, strippers and wirenuts - no longer bored!).

No tape on splices with wirenuts.
Also position the wirenut upwards, to keep things from settling inside the splice (dust, water, dog pee, etc.), like a few members mentioned.

When capping off a lead, I'll strip back Insulation to expose about 1/8" conductor, then land a wirenut.

Don't use a twisting tool - except fingers / wrist tool [Linked Image]
(standard issue to all people ... AKA hand twist / Carpal Tunnel Syndrome aggravator).

When doing "Re-Splices" (undoing an existing splice, then reconnecting), the original exposed conductor gets trimmed down to the insulation on all conductors affected. Then they get re-stripped, pre-twisted, and finished off with a new wirenut.
The original wirenut goes in one of three places:
<OL TYPE=A>

[*] Flying away from the jobsite, preferably into a nearby busy street where it's reuse ability is squashed - due to cars smashing it,

[*] Into the jobsite dumpster,

[*] Down a wall which has both sides drywalled - via a Comm outlet P ring or a K.O. punched in the top plate / track.
</OL>
If none of these are available, then default to option Xf1.1: start a small fire, then add wirenut to fire [Linked Image]
(joking on the Pyro - Kee option).

p.s. "Pyro - Kee" is a PYROmaniac sparKEE.

Last item - opt to tape sides of devices - such as recepts and switches.

Let's see, did anything get left out??? Guess not.

Scott35 S.E.T.

p.s. edited tare-i-bull spell-leeng.

[This message has been edited by Scott35 (edited 02-04-2003).]
Pretwist.
Buchanan "B-caps".
No tape.
I use more reds than any other size.

Making a proper joint has got to be one the most important things that we do. I take proper slicing very seriously.

"Come on baby, let's do the twist...",
Doc
Elzappr
I agree with you. I always cut and strip wires i never put a wire nut on an old twist.

as for the color most of the work i do at factory is either yellow or red, some small stuff in machine cabinets may use orange or grey

and i like the ones with the finger tabs, i always tape everything up. I just always have just a habit, they put insulation on the wire for a reason so i like to try to keep it sealed if that means a wire nut and tape so be it.
Joe,

I use to use the Yellow, Red, etc wire nuts when I was in business and I always pre-twisted them myself. I have seen too many times where a splice works loose when I didn't twist them. I know that it wasn't required with the wirenuts but I felt better twisting them.
The first foreman I ever had yelled at me for not twisting my wires in a splice and I agree (at least now). When you're taking apart something hot you don't want a hot wire popping out and doing god knows what. Three or four twists on a pair of Kleins takes care of any loose wire problem.
I prefer the yellow and red 3M rangers but also use the Ideal tan Twisters. I use orange wire nuts for fixtures and dimmers. Grey and blues as needed. The Wago push-in connectors work great for ballast changes. I do not pre-twist but tighten my connectors enough to twist the wires. If you were to remove one of my connectors you would think I pre-twisted the wires. I gave up twisting connectors by hand several years ago. I either use a hand driver that looks like a "speed" screw driver or use an adapter in the cordless drill. The 7.2V Makita drills work great for this and for installing devices. I do not tape my connectors. I will also add that standard practice in my area is to pigtail everything.

Curt
I use red,yellow and tan 90% of the time. Large grey or blues as needed. Small blues oranges or blacks for florescent luminares are used often. I pretwist all my splices. Pigtailing is a local code requirement. Rarely have had a splice fail because I test them before the a tucked into the box. It may not be the fastest way to do this but I have secure splices. I only use tape if the splice will be in a wet or high possibility of condensation area.
Scott:

The carpal tunnel is the reason I use the scewdriver. My wrists can't take a multi twist day.

TW
Somebody asked about how many wires per connector, etc. Buchanan lists the following color code with theirs:


Quote
Code
Buchanan Wire Connectors


     Red
2 or 3 #10 AWG
2 to 5 #12 AWG
2 to 6 #14 AWG
4 to 6 #16 AWG
6      #18 AWG


    Yellow
1      #10 AWG
1 to 3 #12 AWG
1 to 3 #14 AWG
2 to 4 #16 AWG
2 to 4 #18 AWG



[This message has been edited by ThinkGood (edited 02-05-2003).]
Irecently ran across a type of splice in a switchbox that I had never seen before. The house was about 40 or so years old. The splices were made with crimp sleeves and rubber splice caps. The crimp sleeve was crimped twice along it's length and it appeared to have had pressure from 4 sides at once on each crimp. Hope this is not straying from the subject but I'm curious,can anyone shed any light on this? Btw the switch had failed not the splice.
Gasparky, check this link for the connectors and scroll down for the tool. http://www.idealindustries.com/IDEA...p+Connectors+and+Insulators?OpenDocument
Thanks for the link stamcon. This was exactly the type of crimp I saw.These seem to make a very very solid connection.
Posted By: Thom Re: Wire Nuts and splicing device connections - 02/07/03 02:06 PM
Yup, that's the one I refered to earlier in this thread. I really like them. Especially good for ceiling fans where I have seen wire nuts come loose from vibration!
These crimps were used a lot during the '50s and '60s in residential applications.
The bummer is that the conductors were often cut off very short, so they're an absolute nightmare to work on (cut crimp connector).
They're also a PT70 or PT70M Sta-kon by T&B.

Wire nuts? I use Oranges, the Ideal tan "Twister" (end fits in nut driver) instead of the yellows now, Reds, lg.Greys, and lg.Blues. Anything larger gets an insulated multi-tap connector (Ilsco, NSI, etc)

[This message has been edited by electure (edited 02-07-2003).]
Has anyone try or used those new style of wirenuts? The ones where you can install 3 or 4 wires and there is no twisting. You just strip your wires, insert the wires into a square orange colored connector and it works like the pin back on a receptacle. I don't remember the name of them. I do know that they would send out free samples. I have seen them but not used them. I can go look into one of my magazines to get the name of it.
Harold,
Is it these made by Wago?
[Linked Image from pages.sbcglobal.net]

Has anyone seen these or found a use for them?They are made by Ideal.I prefer a crimper myself.
[Linked Image from pages.sbcglobal.net]

[Linked Image from pages.sbcglobal.net]

[This message has been edited by txsparky (edited 02-08-2003).]
txsparky, I have seen similar ones made by ideal, but have not had the nerve to try them.
I have no faith in the Wagos for anything beyond a fluorescent ballast replacement or similar very low load.
I just tore one apart that was sitting on my desk.
There is only about 3/16" of contact surface on just one side of the conductor, and the other side is held in by spring pressure in the same manner as a "back-stab-in" receptacle.
The contact surface is apparently aluminum, and the spring seems to be stainless steel.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't feel this is a sufficient connection.
Yeah, That is them.

I have seen some union workers here in NJ use the Wago's because it was quicker and it was easier on their hands. I have only seen them on one job as of yet. I myseld have recieved the freee samples, but I am out of the business and was just wondering about them.
the wires nuts i use are orange yellow red green (or bare crimp) grey and ex. large bleu wirenuts all expect orange are wing type and i do pre twist it then put it on by hand or use nut driver on the top of them (5/16 or 3/8 depend on which nuts to use ) and put the nuts upright way prevent get wet inside or any other damage stuff get in i use the tape ???? not too often very few places i use that mainaly outdoor light fixures where it subject alot of viberation then i go with crimp type. it is very simauar with europen practices too ( i use french wireing techines with nec codes but allready converted to americanie wireing standards it is more easier than france but i am not sure about uk or other places )

merci marc
I was kind of skeptical of the Wago wirenuts until I found wire nuts sitting in the bottom of one of my machine cabinets. The wirenut had vibrated loose and fell off. I use Wago terminal blocks all the time in machine controllers because they are very vibration resistant. I have been using the Wago wirenuts for a few years now and no problems at all.
The electrical contact bar is tin plated copper and the steel pressure plate is made of high tension spring steel. It cleans oxidation off the wire and places a considerable amount more pressure than any backstab with a brass pressure plate. They are also UL listed for use with al/al or al/cu with Wago Noalox.
I have also been using them in my own home for a couple of years with no callbacks from the wife and the inspectors have no problem with them.
I feel like a salesman but they are easier than wirenuts with solid wire and stranded (with a little practice) and my wrist doesnt hurt at the end of the day. I tested them for insulation and contact resistance and they scored better than the Ideal wirenuts on their insulation resistance and had comperable values for contact resistance.
Posted By: ccdave Re: Wire Nuts and splicing device connections - 02/15/03 12:32 AM
When I got started in this trade the rule of thumb taught to me was yellow "wingnuts" was for 3 #12s and reds were for 5 #12s. Any combo that was close to that size.Mini's were for fl. lites ballast change out or in some fix it shop repairing old lamps.......
As for stab in splices it is about the same as backstabbing a recept. Its no good to get in that big of a hurry, never time to do it rite but time to come back and do it over.
Twisting wires that are the same guage is good but not twisting smaller guages to larger ones, the wirenut will do that for you---better.
Anyway I'm not doing that any more so no advice.
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