Are these acceptable today?

Sep 06, 2024 Last reply: 1 year ago 37 Replies

Check the *table* for wire nuts, and see :-)

There is a table of allowed combinations. The table has information like this. You *must* select an entry from the table, so that the wire nut grabs the ends properly and stays affixed.

(3) 22 gauge stranded \ (2) 18 gauge stranded \___ Imaginary table entry for a red nut. (1) 16 gauge stranded plus (1) 20 gauge stranded / Three combinations allowed.

Doing stoopid stuff, like taking a really small wire, and attempting to fit the largest wire nut available on the end, that won't even engage and will fall off in your hand.

As long as your "wire combination" is in the table, it works.

No "one wire" entries in this table... You would then start with the smallest one (maybe a gray) and see if it bites properly for your safety. While you can eyeball them, to get in the approximate colour range, it's really best to vet them using the table (if you can find a good table). I've seen better tables than this.

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Using Wire Nuts

You can terminate single wires using wire nuts...

But remember, that a wire nut works by compression, and having two overlapping stranded wires, and compressing the s*it out of them, is more secure than one (more uniform) stranded jammed into the spring cone. Don't expect it to have quite the same grip when doing one wire. Test it with a tug, to satisfy yourself of your excellent workmanship.

If you attempt to screw a gray, onto a really fat wire, it might not even start to screw down onto the wire end. Just eyeballing them, should avoid the embarrassment of attempting that. But once you get close to the right colour, one of them will definitely grip better than your other (eye-balled) choices. What I'm saying is, you cannot eyeball and always get the exact right colour on the first try. You might find two or three are close, but one of them fits better than the other two.

And you don't really want the wire nuts to be "wide range". It's OK for them to have closer limits on what wires they will carry, because that makes them more secure. If the cone was wide and shallow, it might only be holding the wires via one thread, instead of two thread edges.

If you've never used these before, this is why you experiment with them first, cut off a few hunks of wire from your wire roll, twist the strands the right way, and *make sure* you're making a proper job of it. This is not material for stoopid people. I don't want to open a box and have one of those fall on my head, because you used the wrong one :-)

Put one together, take it apart, see what damage it did, improve your technique, and after a bit, you'll get the hang of it.

That's why some of the bigger product cards, come with a table on the back. There are assortment packs. Assortment of small ones in one pack. Assortment of large ones in a second pack. Maybe the purchase of two packs, gives you samples of everything.

Don't over-form the ends. Each stranded wire should be twisted to compact form. You don't need to mash the damn things together with your fingers, before screwing the wire nut on. Gently form the wires enough, so they will fit within the cone and the threads will pick them up. The idea is, you're trying to not snap off the strands of the stranded wires, by over-handling them. Each stranded wire is twisted to compact form for its protection. (One direction of twist, is the same direction of twist as the cone is using.) And if you're doing three wires, you might twist the ends of the three compact-stranded, just enough so they fit into the cone.

After you try a few, you might notice that some of your attempts are really biting nice.

If you mix solid and stranded wires under a wire nut, that's a situation where you should experiment again, and see for yourself what the retention force is like when you do that. The solid wire does not compress. The solid wire is a bit slippery. Hmmm. Is this a good idea ? You decide.

Similarly, don't screw a wire nut onto a *soldered* stranded wire. That's not going to compress all that well. Solder is generally a bad idea in mains circuits anyway, carrying any amount of current. If the thing happens to get hot enough to melt the solder later, now you're in trouble... with the fire insurance company. They will use any excuse to deny a claim. Crimping and compression and screws are better. Sometimes with crimping, the gadget has two pressure areas, for redundancy.

Paul

In which case it should just be terminated, so that it can't come into contact with anything else.

Yup not good.

(Contrary to popular belief, you can oversleeve a CPC/Earth wire in a cable and use it for another purpose (note, it must be a earth in a cable, you can't oversleeve an earth wire where it is wired in singles)

Big snip.

So, what you are saying is that they can be unreliable. Probably why we don't see them in the UK.

I reckon that I'm compliant, Paul, but I would reject the final paragraph. The "grip" can be of the conductor and/or of the wire's insulation. If anything it is better to grip the insulation My "fold-back" technique belt-and-braces the job. The exposed conductor is well inside the nut and the whole resists a firm tug.

Which really summarises replies to my original question "are [wire nuts] acceptable today?" - as -

For connections: "No - go WAGO".

For capping off: "OK - but use the fold-back technique and make sure you are using tight-fit nuts with an internal spiral, preferably metal, grip. Once completed, test the finished capping with a good tug".

Thanks, all,

PA

Seems to me, it's only you convincing yourself of that, everyone else would probably say "also use Wagos"

Not in answer to my original and well-defined question, Andy ;-}

Only time I did see them was *because* they were unreliable..!!!

Horrid things.

Far rather use a soldering iron. Any joint that isnt subject to flexing can be soldered, and even if it is, shoving some think heat shrink on top to stiffen it, or adding hot snot or a zip tie to tie it down, is massively OK.

Never used a Wago yet. Probably not room inside a motorised valve...

solder plus heatshrink, though there are modern tubes that you shove both ends of a stripped cable into then heat to both solder and heatshrink in one go.

Indeed.

Good for car mechanics who dont know any better

Good post, Andrew. Guess what the other item in the order for the wire nuts was ;<}

500+ 5cm lengths of various sizes of heatshrink. Delivered for less than the price of a litre of petrol! Plus instructions - in French only

I thought that the wire nuts looked more professional - but wanted to check with experts in current regulations as to whether wire nuts are barred. Suppose I should also have asked the same question of heatshrink. (Any Expert opinions?)

Cheers, PA

Heatshrink and solder is a bit weird because 'electricians' aren't supposed to know how to solder etc.

You will not that all house wiring is screw, crimp or punchdown of one sort or another, as are all car connectors.

The fact is that solder/heatshrink done properly is as good as it gets for solid wires, and if well supported, for stranded wires too.

The only downside is that it makes stranded wires brittle

So you need extra support in a high vibration environment. And I think that is is not allowed in aircraft harnesses for that reason (but I could be wrong)

My apprenticeship was in avionics, and there were very strict rules about unsupported soldered wires. E.g. None allowed

I was used to seeing heat-shrink at work and the quality there permitted very high shrink ratios to be achieved. To be fair the stuff I received only claimed (in French) to be 2:1. Which, with a match, was easily achieved. The test object was a press-button with pins, soldered to a multistranded twisted pair. 2cm of shrink over each soldered wire then

5cm extending from the switch, over the individual joints and well down the twisted pair. Only time will tell!

I wonder if this 1987 house is typical of its time - and are things better or worse today?

When we moved into it, in 1992, I found:

Bare copper being used for live wiring. Not all sleeved - and when sleeved, using green/yellow sleeving. Jeez.

The master RCD with its sensor leads snipped. What?

A double lighting wall switch bodged to make it perform as a 2-way switch. Works fine as long as you remember to flip both switch levers in sync. Right.

An Oil Boiler which fired up like it was Concorde. "Professionally" maintained, I reckon that the service engineer saw oil leaking from a loose screw - which he fixed by fully tightening the screw. Of course this screw was the oil regulator needle with a perished O-ring - hence the Concorde effect! Hence the sooting up of the boiler exhaust and all of the baffle plates! Fixed by slipping a short piece of Neoprene wire sleeving onto the needle valve shaft - so right back on-topic. ;-)

A bizarrely over-complicated plumbing circuit. Radically improved using impedance theory. Heating energy consumption down by ~40% over 20 years. Reliability up - no three-way valve any more.

And a bizarre Labgear TV distribution system. 24v AC, bridge rectifier, then a 25v smoothing capacitor - well and truly cooked. It didn't matter - until terrestrial TV went digital. Iesu mawr!

PA

Nothing so organised! I had to look that up.

More like a "Rat's Nest".

PA

Doesn't sound typical at all, houses which I've known the wiring of very well, 20 years older are better than that.

Presumably *not* knob & tube?

Ended up with heat-shrink, Andy.

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