Where IS this earth that you mentioned? The lack of the earth is also a failure.
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9 years ago
SpliceLine In-Line Wire Connectors
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9 years ago
Quite often in my case;-)
Something that you will no doubt also use on your car and so make good use of the tools. For a one off DIY job then either the splice line or the Wagos are always a good option.
And not all jobs can be done with a crimping tool due to lack of space.
I am still waiting for someone to make a Wago style connector that can do 3 LN&E connections in one single block.
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9 years ago
Oh - sorry.
The comparison intended was purely regarding the method of securing the cables (ie cable clamps are not required de-facto if some other method is provided).
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9 years ago
Ha - well spotted sir!
The mind blanked what was such a gratuitous error that it could not possibly be so - guess I could never be an EICR inspector.
I'd be: "There's a screw missing there" "Where" "On the side with 3" of bare live wire." ... "Oh"
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9 years ago
It looks more like a pair of 6181Y cables made up for a photo "without the outer sheath entering the back box as required" to me:-)
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9 years ago
Wago now do this range of multiple pole connectors
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I have not tried them as yet so cannot say if they are as good as the
222 and 224 connectors.- Vote on answer
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9 years ago
Those look *exactly* like the ones used in Hager-Ashley maint-free JBs.
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9 years ago
I don't use anything which doesn't form a gas-tight connection in wiring installations. I might use a back-stab for up to, perhaps,
0.5 amps (e.g. a lampholder), but no way for 30A ring circuit.- Vote on answer
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9 years ago
Why? - you seemed to think that you rarely have to extend mains cables. They certainly take up more space if you are trying to extend wires in inaccessible places.
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9 years ago
back-stab?
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9 years ago
Correct. If I were, say, extending a ring circuit I'd do it from sockets. I don't like having extra unnecessary connections to save a few pennies of cable.
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9 years ago
Precisely, and I can't see how you will get adequate compression force with a wirenut to make a gas tight joint.
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9 years ago
Using extra sockets etc is a viable way of creating a connection point for other circuit extensions in many cases, but there are times where it is not the solution.
For example, when changing a socket, and you find the original installer has clipped the wires so short that they don't reach the terminal positions of the new socket.
Or, as I was doing the other day, I needed to move a socket from a wall where it was about to be covered with a built in cupboard, and the protrusion of the socket was undesirable - so the whole socket front needed to be removed. The existing wires were plastered into the wall rising up from the floor. Hence the only really viable approach was to cut them off under the floor and then add extensions to reach the repositioned socket. (in the circumstances I used crimps and heatshrink).
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9 years ago
Also available on eBay, if you don't have an SF order planned or a branch handy
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9 years ago
Where you poke a wire into a hole and the sharp edge contact grips it if you pull on it. i.e. you *stab* the wire into the *back* of the wiring accessory.
Commonly used in the US because it can be assembled in a couple of seconds, but the connections can go bad with age and heat cycling; it has nowhere near the contact pressure and surface area product of any of our connection techniques (except possibly a Wago).
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9 years ago
I was going to say "Wago" - because they seem very confident of their connectors forming gastight joints. I was going to use a load of Wagos in lighting JBs here, because they are flexible - and whilst my JBs will be accessible (screwed down floorboards) the lack of screws did appeal.
What's your take on Wagos (lever and push insertion versions)?
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9 years ago
Indeed. But sometimes that would involve ripping up tiled/laminated floors or pulling down ceilings.
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9 years ago
I hadn't heard Wago claim a gas-tight joint.
I've never used them for real. I went to their stand at the Screwfix expo, played with the connectors, and talked with the stand staff.
I expressed my concerns and said I normally use crimps, or solder. The guy gave me a length of pre-stripped cable and a connector, and I assembled them. Then I pulled on it, and it came off, without showing any significant sign of deformation to the conductor surface other than surface scratches. The guy looked at me kind of surprised, and said, "You wouldn't do that to a crimp, would you?" to which I said, "always".
He had already explained to me that the spring in the Wago was designed to exert exactly the right (and different) pressures on the different diameter conductors which can be used in the same terminal. To my mind, if a terminal hasn't applied enough pressure to deform the the conductor (not grossly, but at least visibly), then a) it won't have made the conductor surface match the terminal surface over a large enough area to have a low contact resistance, and b) the pressure won't be high enough to make a gas tight (and hence corrosion-proof) contact which will last without increasing contact resistance over its life.
If they claim a gas-tight joint, it must be over a tiny contact surface.
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9 years ago
It all makes work for the working man to do...
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9 years ago
They do in this PDF (which is a Wago document - TLC was where Google took me):
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Page 6 explicitly lists "gastight" on the 222 (lever) and 224 (push-release) terminals. 773 (push in) is not said to be gastight there
- BUT on page 8 it says "PushWire" (773) are gastight.
Curiously the document refers to the 16th Edition wiring regs - but I cannot find a publication date. Might they have revised their opinion? Even so, the term "gastight" is not really a Wiring Regs term so if they were "gastight" 10 years ago, they must still be?
Hehe. I must say I've fiddled with some and initially I could not work out how to get the conductor out of the PushWire type - seemed to resist pulling - until I found out they needed a twist.
That's my only concern - the contact surface in the PushWire terminals must be quite tiny. I'm not sure about the lever types - cannot see inside.
OTOH I wonder how they compare with a choc-block or screw JB that are never re-tightened over their life?
I agree totally about crimps being better - but you cannot join 3-4 solid conductors with a crimp (or can you?).
Cheers
Tim