wire nuts

Before 1975 I preferred to splice with solder. Then I came to love wire nuts: easier to use, less to go wrong, reliable, usable where I couldn't get both hands, and undoable without tools.

About 1982 I discovered the B-cap. Apparently the only advantage was that the spring would expand more than some designs. It meant one size would work for most connections I needed, it seemed to grip more securely, and it was easier to get it to encompass all the ends of my conductors.

As I clipped some shrubs, I snipped the cord of my expensive headphones. Those silky copper strands looked impossible to splice. I used masking tape to splice each of the three conductors, then screwed a B-cap over the whole thing. It has been trouble-free for years. I'd call the B-cap a versatile wire nut.

I think they came in B1, B2, and B4. They were on Ideal's website a month ago. Now I don't see them. Has the B-cap been made obsolete?

A neighbor prefers Scotchloks and crimped butt splices for his big rig. Most of his electrical problems seem to come from old Scotchlok connections, and they can be tricky to use even with two hands.

Over the years, I've often had wires pull loose after I crimped a butt splice. On my neighbor's truck, mechanically strong butt splices may feel warm in use.

Are Scotchlocks or butt splices or other methods somehow superior to a good wire nut properly applied?

Reply to
E Z Peaces
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I think that you may merely be nuts over wires. Nice title. :-)

Anyway, good luck finding what you are after.

Reply to
Son of a Sea Cook

? "E Z Peaces" ?????? ??? ?????? news:h8ecc9$cr7$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

The title should have been wire soup to nuts:-) Anyway, in EU (Greece) we ue exclusively wire nuts, never heard of the other things you use. I doubt whether they ever used solder, though.

Reply to
Tzortzakakis Dimitrios

They were never popular or common in the UK, and were completely displaced by more reliable mains connectors by the late 1930's. They were called "Screwits" here, not wirenuts. They were in effect made illegal in 1960's, as they'd never got British Standards approval, which became mandatory for wiring accessories at that point. However, they were long gone before then anyway.

They continued to be used for very low voltages (e.g. door bells, radio receiving aerials) through to the 1950's.

Just for confusion, there are a couple of connectors here which look similar and can be confused with wirenuts. The first is a crimp in which the metal insert is crushed onto the conductors through the plastic casing. The second (no longer used in exactly the same form) was a bit like a wirenut, but had a couple of grub screws in the side to clamp the conductors in the internal brass insert, and was very commonly used in 1920's through to 1950's. These were the forerunner of the current chocolate block connectors, which have the same brass inserts and are very commonly used today.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Well, they might be used in Greece but certainly not in the UK.

Reply to
Stuart

I've had some quite extensive discussions on this topic with an EE friend in the UK, and after sending him a few of our wire nuts, he says they're much better than those available in the UK. As for which forms a better connection, the UK style terminals or US style wire nuts, it's pretty much a toss up, both are very reliable. Installed correctly, the wire will usually break under tension before the wire nut will come off. It's extremely rare for them to cause any trouble at all.

Reply to
James Sweet

In which case your friend was clueless about requirements for cable conductor termination in the UK and how they came about.

That's not what the stats say about them.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

I guess in most countries the experience of the trades person counts for a lot, unfortunately this seems to be a 'fast track area' these days.

Cheers .......... Rheilly P

Reply to
Rheilly Phoull

What stats? What sort of wire nuts? Cite source.

I have here a nice assortment of UK terminal strips and other hardware, it works well and I like the terminal strips for wiring stuff up in equipment I build and various temporary setups.

I also have US style wire nuts as they're the standard method for joining wires here. There are millions and millions of them in daily use throughout the country, and I stand by my assertion that properly installed, they form a very strong, dependable connection. The tapered spring insert cuts slightly into the solid copper conductors and twists them together as the nut is applied. Again, these are good quality name brand parts I use.

I cannot speak for the wire nuts available in the UK as I've never had any, but according to my only source on this, they are not particularly good, and have never been popular.

Reply to
James Sweet

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