Wire Connectors

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peter d

peter d

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New England
Which are the best? Ideal? 3M? NSi? Generic ones from ebay?

Edited to get to 100 characters for minimum size thread.
 
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If you just need the size of the Ideal "tans" they are my choice. But I like the 3M tan/red, blue/orange, & yellow/red overall because you get more wire size coverage. Both Ideal & 3M are the best at wire grip/twist in my experience.
 
For many yrs I been buying preffered brand I think they r called from what used to b sunstar I think, now Barnett. Before that I tried all the big names, then I tried these and find them a whole lot better.
 
Wagos!

3M and ideal are pretty good... Just avoid those ideal purple wire nuts (Alumiconns ftw) and off / no name brand wire nuts, like commercial electric... Bought a bag of those once, wrung the metal coils out of the plastic caps. I wasn't trying to twist five number 12 under a red, rather stranded fixture wire to a number 14.
 
For solid wire they all work. I usually buy Ideal for the “wings”. I’ll have to try the 3M.

For stranded, which I assume is what everyone else uses outside the residential market, they need to come up with something better. The set screw type, like Ideal #22, is superior. They cost too much though.
 
Russs57 said:
For solid wire they all work. I usually buy Ideal for the “wings”. I’ll have to try the 3M.

For stranded, which I assume is what everyone else uses outside the residential market, they need to come up with something better. The set screw type, like Ideal #22, is superior. They cost too much though.
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I have no problem with stranded wire and wirenuts.
 
JFletcher said:
I wasn't trying to twist five number 12 under a red, rather stranded fixture wire to a number 14.
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I prefer the little orange Ideals for fixture wires to single conductors, and for capping unused #12 and #14 wires. I like the little blue ones for ballast wires.

I've always had a "thing" about using the right size wire nut for the job. It bothers me to see reds instead of yellows for fixture wires or two-wire #14 joints.
 
LarryFine said:
I prefer the little orange Ideals for fixture wires to single conductors, and for capping unused #12 and #14 wires. I like the little blue ones for ballast wires.

I've always had a "thing" about using the right size wire nut for the job. It bothers me to see reds instead of yellows for fixture wires or two-wire #14 joints.
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Apologies, I did not mean I was trying to use a red on a fixture wire and a number 14, rather I used all of the yellows and tans in the bag, all of which failed. My intended implication was that I could see ripping the coil out of a wire nut if I was trying to twist five number 12 together, which I believe is the maximum allowed under a red 3M wire nut... Ripping out the coil twisting in an 18 gauge fixture wire to a piece of number 14... I do not have that kind of hand strength... The wire nuts were garbage.

I agree with you 100% in that I try to match the wire nuts to the application, and not have them at the minimum or maximum recommended ranges of number and sizes of conductor.
 
JFletcher said:
Apologies, I did not mean I was trying to use a red on a fixture wire and a number 14, rather I used all of the yellows and tans in the bag, all of which failed. My intended implication was that I could see ripping the coil out of a wire nut if I was trying to twist five number 12 together, which I believe is the maximum allowed under a red 3M wire nut... Ripping out the coil twisting in an 18 gauge fixture wire to a piece of number 14... I do not have that kind of hand strength... The wire nuts were garbage.

I agree with you 100% in that I try to match the wire nuts to the application, and not have them at the minimum or maximum recommended ranges of number and sizes of conductor.
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I have twisted the coil out of cheap wire nuts plenty.
 
Jumper, I wouldn’t say “I “ have a problem with stranded wire and wire nuts. I would say others do!

Typical case. 3 phase MWBC. First jbox from panel has seven #12 neutrals under one blue wire nut. Electrician insisted on twisting all wires together with Kleins before installing wire nut. Often this ends up with one or two conductors mostly wrapped around the bottom of the rest of the wires with the wire nut not biting into them.

Also see a higher failure rate on motors. Used to be we only used split bolts but new management has changed all that.

What makes this forum so great is the vast range of differing experiences and knowledge. You have the PE’s, the new construction electricians, the repair and troubleshooting guys (from residential to industrial), and so on. For the most part we all share and nobody is made to feel dumb.

Reminds me of that insurance commercial.....Together we know a thing or two because we have seen a thing or two.

Some of these guys I’d gladly pay for the beer just to hear the stories and get an education.
 
Adamjamma said:
after being in UK I have gotten quite used to these or to Wgos but like the Wagos a little bit more...
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The Aussie electricians I used to work with called them Choco-blocks. Apparently, they look like some type of Australian chocolate bar. My shop calls them Eurostrip terminal blocks, and we use hundreds of them each year for LED lighting.

We also use Wago Lever-Locks. We've used them on several cruise ship projects; the ship electricians love 'em. They will throw you off the ship if you try to use wirenuts though :)

I don't understand the hate for wirenuts though. They do need to be properly sized and installed, but that really goes for anything. I've also had no issues with stranded conductors and wirenuts. Just use quality materials, and not the knockoff crap wirenuts.


SceneryDriver
 
LarryFine said:
I prefer the little orange Ideals for fixture wires to single conductors, and for capping unused #12 and #14 wires. I like the little blue ones for ballast wires.

I've always had a "thing" about using the right size wire nut for the job. It bothers me to see reds instead of yellows for fixture wires or two-wire #14 joints.
Click to expand...

I used Ideal for years, but changed to 3M a few years ago. Agree they bite better and I like the extended flexible skirt. However, for capping single #12 and especially single #14, I find the ideal Orange to be better. With the 3M blue/orange, they sometime drill right thru the spring and never bite.

Mark
 
Russs57 said:
Jumper, I wouldn’t say “I “ have a problem with stranded wire and wire nuts. I would say others do!

Typical case. 3 phase MWBC. First jbox from panel has seven #12 neutrals under one blue wire nut. Electrician insisted on twisting all wires together with Kleins before installing wire nut. Often this ends up with one or two conductors mostly wrapped around the bottom of the rest of the wires with the wire nut not biting into them.

Also see a higher failure rate on motors. Used to be we only used split bolts but new management has changed all that.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. Some people simply do not know to terminate properly.

Seven #12 stranded wires under one big blue, dumb IMO.

Motors are a different subject, lots of variables.
 
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