I changing out an old junction box in the attic: one of the fixtures running off this box is a recessed can. (BTW the house is from '53 and this wiring looks original.) Probably 99% of the wiring in the house is NM - a cotton sort of braided wrap; the hot and neutral are rubber coated (insulation is in good shape, unlike the old crumbly stuff in the last house) and there is a bare copper ground wire.
Running from the junction box to the can is a piece of BX (armored) cable. The hot and neutral are stranded wire - most of my experience is with BX but I have never seen it with stranded wire. The insulation on the stuff is kind of crappy, too. At the can end, the installer put on crimp connectors. The screws where the wires connect do seem on the small side for 14 wire. So, my questions:
- I'm planning to replace this 2' piece of cable with new BX. Can I use a crimp connector on the one end, or are those only for stranded wire?
- Is there any reason to use stranded wire for this situation?
Thanks in advance. Bill
(Here's my guess for how this arose - the "junction box" I'm replacing is a ceiling box that is lay on top of the attic insulation (without a cover, no less), which leads me to believe the recessed can was a later addition. The previous (and only) owner of the house ran an air conditioning business. My guess is that he might have had BX around for that and used it for this installation. As far as the stranded wire - don't they use that with machinery when there is a lot of vibration? Like air conditioners?)