I'm running around looking for some device which will help me splice wires together.
What is happening is I seem to cut into power extension chords on outside jobs. I hamburger my way into cutting them occasionally, and need a way to splice 'em together.
I'd like for it to be a way to not have too big a bulge in the line.
Right now, I use butt connectors and insulate the chords individually, then wrap the whole connection.
Any better ways to do this?
Unless you cut it in half, throw away the smaller length and install a male or female end on what's left
The correct way is to use a wirenut, properly enclosed in a junction box. If you don't want to put in a junction box, then you have to replace the entire wire.
Don't take this the wrong way, but if you are cutting extension cords at such a rate that you are looking for a better way to splice them back together, I suggest you work on being more careful.
I sure don't see that kind of splice to often, or ever
Not complete info to go on!
This looks a bit like a troll or posted by a very nontechnical person?
Presuming it is posting about AC extension cords operating at (North America =3D 115 volts AC) and elsewhere, (perhaps =3D 230 volts AC) and are probably chopping into them with an electric lawn mower or such?
Constantly cutting them suggests poor work planning???????
For example: Noticed new neighbour going length-ways on his lawn, using an electric mower, having to constantly move over and/or cut past (or even over) his extension cord! Why he didn't cut back and forth away from the outlet thereby dragging the cord further away each time is a wonder.
Or he could have extended his cord with another and flaked it out so it it was at mid point of his line of cutting and he was cutting 'away' from that?
General Rule: DO NOT (for permanent use) JOIN such portable cable/ extension cords (or whatever they are called in your neck of the woods)!
Do not ever rely on taping except for 'maybe' a very temporary (couple of hours until stores open) repair! Never use tape in a damp/wet location
As a temporary measure we have used either those crimp connectors (of appropriate wire gauge size) and/or soldering the wires, 'staggering' the joins so they are not alongside each other and to minimize the bulk of the splice.
Each wire connection is covered with at least one layer of heat shrink tubing. Preferably the type that has an internal gel that surrounds the wire join as it shrinks. Also helps waterproof the now suspect connection.
Then the 'group' of connections, usually live black, white neutral and green ground in North America; or brown live, blue neutral and yellow/ green in say Europe, are then sleeved with at least two layers of larger size heat shrink tubing to help protect and strengthen the join/ s. We have also used the larger size heat shrink to protect a chafe or cut of the outside of such an extension cord/wiring to prevent further damage. However you cannot do this if the moulded on ends are till intact, unless you cut of one and install a new 'end' at typical cost (North America) of around $3 to $5.
On 9/13/2008 9:49 AM rb spake thus:
Nope.
Just to sum up the other replies here:
o 25': $19.99 o 50': 34.99 o 100': 64.99
No excuse not to just buy a new one and be careful not to cut it.
I solder them instead of butt connectors. The rest just like you. To minimize bulge I just push the stranded wires together tips to tips so they mesh together like brushes then apply solder. That way I know they won't pull apart and won't heat up due to lack of good connection. If there is only 3 feet to the end of the cord or less I just snip it and move the plug.
ya, quit cutting into them.
s
A bit of overkill for an extension cord.
s
On 9/13/2008 1:43 PM Blattus Slafaly spake thus:
Funny thing: I must be a little obsessive-compulsive about it, because I can't bring myself to make a butt connection any way other than the way I've always done it: by wrapping the ends around the other wire, then soldering. I'm sure your way is just as strong as mine, but I've never done it that way (your way is probably less bulky as well).
A few years back my son was helping a friend of a friend of a friend (some rich lawyer guy) clean out his garage. When I went to pick him up I noticed a 12 gauge extension cord, on a cord reel, on the pile of "junk".
I asked my son what was wrong with it and he said it was cut so the guy was throwing it out. I told my son to put it in the back of my van.
I stopped around the corner to check it out and smiled at what I saw. I stopped at the hardware store, picked up a socket and a plug, and less than an hour later I had a 6' 12 gauge cord and a 19' 12 gauge cord - and a cord reel.
I must have used the 6' cord hundreds of times since then, inside and out, and the 19' has seen more projects than I can count. Pretty much the best three bucks I've ever spent.
OK, I spent too much time in the trusses this morning. I read that as splicing accidentally-cut Romex for outdoor lights.
Everybody else is right. Either replace the extension cord or cut it and put on new ends.
On a positive note, my latest Habitat for Humanity house is almost weathered in. We had a crew of 30 volunteers (30!) today. We went from a slab eight days ago to completed walls and trusses today. (Don't look too closely at that truss we had to shave to compensate for a half-inch bump in the concrete.) What's left of Hurricane Ike sent us home today after half a day, or we would have finished the ladder trusses and been ready for roof decking.
Good job Steve. I had a good laugh picturing this guy carrying his fifty foot extension cord with a 1900 box spliced into the middle
Actually that might not be as strange as it seems. I knew a guy that had a really long extension cord with a receptacle box in the middle. He'd plug his contractor's saw into the receptacle and then further out he set up his miter saw system.
With one cord, he spread his main powers tools out far enough to have all sorts of work room around each tool.
I would probably solder the individual wires together and cover them with heat shrink, then wrap with friction tape then finally electrical tape (or really big heat shrink if I had it)
if this is going to be used in a wet location, before sliding the heat shrink over the splices, smear a little silicone grease on them to make absolutely sure that no water can get in and corrode the wires.
nate
nate
What is your time worth? Do you have all those supplies in stock? Decent quality new cords simply aren't that expensive.
I used to work at an aerospace company in a big bullpen area--a whole floor with rows of desks and filing cabinets. Each row had a power cable that plugged into a floor receptacle at one end, then had a four-outlet junction box every six feet for 30 or 40 feet. The cable was as big as my thumb.
This worked great, until some dumbass in the shop didn't get rid of an extension cord when the fire marshall told him to. On the next inspection, we were ordered not to ever, under any condition, use an extension cord anywhere in the entire facility. This was a plant with
200-odd buildings covering most of a square mile.Yeah, it was overkill, but the fire marshall has the power to shut you down until the case comes up in court, so all the cables were replaced with official power poles. A couple of hundred thousand dollars later, we were all official, but much less flexible.
My IBM office got caught the same way. They ended up having to remove about 40 plug strips. Everyone got several to take home. We exploited a loophole in the NEC and replaced most of them with surge strips.
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