Insulation piercing connectors

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electro7

Senior Member
Location
Northern CA, US
Occupation
Electrician, Solar and Electrical Contractor
A plan checker in a jurisdiction I am working in gave a correction notice that said insulation piercing connectors need to be field verified by a UL listed engineer. I was wondering if anybody else has encounteted this? Is that normal? Its the first time I have been called on this. It is for a feeder tap installation for solar downstream from the main breaker.

Would the field engineer witness the torque test on the connectors?

I made a correction to hopefully appease him, using polaris taps instead. But I wanted to get some opinions.

Thanks ahead of time.

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electro7 said:
A plan checker in a jurisdiction I am working in gave a correction notice that said insulation piercing connectors need to be field verified by a UL listed engineer. I was wondering if anybody else has encounteted this? Is that normal? Its the first time I have been called on this. It is for a feeder tap installation for solar downstream from the main breaker.

Would the field engineer witness the torque test on the connectors?

I made a correction to hopefully appease him, using polaris taps instead. But I wanted to get some opinions.

Thanks ahead of time.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
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Sounds like the plan checker isn’t experienced enough to know how these work.
The ones we use for metering can’t be over/under torqued if you follow directions and do not install them in a bend. You simply torque the head until it snaps off.
 
Not sure yet. We'll see. He would be opening a can of worms if he required Polaris taps to be field evaluated by an engineer. Polaris is a lot more common in our area than IPCs.

I've always wondered, and I know other electricians have as well, about the IPCs in that they only make connection to the conductor with maybe 3 or 4 teeth per side. How are they able to withstand the current? Can anybody speak to that?

I guess they have been tested and verified by UL. I really like their application technique and love using them.

Sent from my SM-T878U using Tapatalk
 
electro7 said:
I've always wondered, and I know other electricians have as well, about the IPCs in that they only make connection to the conductor with maybe 3 or 4 teeth per side. How are they able to withstand the current? Can anybody speak to that?
Click to expand...
Two things come to mind:
1: The teeth indent into the conductor providing more surface contact than you might expect and are usually part of a fairly heavy bus that provides good heat sinking,
2: The amp rating of the typical IPC tap is usually a lot smaller than the ampacity of the main conductor.
 
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