Contributor
I never did but I sure will in the future. You guys that are twisting 5 #12’s into one nut are scaring me. Wouldn’t you use some sort of terminal strip for that many?
interesting comment about the Wago connectors. I love the look of them but wondered if code allows them.
Friend of the Creek
Yes, they’re UL listed for up to 5 #12’s.Originally Posted by Roger Feeley
There’s also a version that works with 10ga wire.
Moderator
I keep some wire nuts that are HUGE. No problem with 5 wires, but it is easier with fewer. The wire nuts are compact compared to the multi-tap connectors and have excellent insulation. I've used wire nuts for up to #6 (but not with five wires!)
Member
No one mentioned stranded wire. While I always twist solid wire, I have never managed to twist stranded. For that I shove the wire in the wire nut and trust the wire nut to twist it. I never took one off to see how successful it was.
For more than 2 wires I use wagos. I never mastered twisting 3 or 4 wires together and was thrilled not to muddle through it.
Contributor
As an electrician, that is no problem. 2 tricks are to cut the ends longer than needed and to lay them straight against each other with all insulation ends equal. Then with lineman's grab all wires and twist. Now cut off ends just long enough to be cover with wirenut. Use a blue scotchlock wirenut and good to go. Easy.
John T.
Contributor
Easy until you need to pack a twisted group of 5 number 12s into a box with any other wiring. Nothing will give you arthritis faster.
Contributor
Wish I'd known about these Wago connectors a year ago when I was changing out the old bathroom fan for the newfangled one with lights too..
blts.jpg
...squoze into this 2-gang box is a combo light switch/GFI plug (which is pretty fat) and the even fatter switch for the new fan/light...
swplt.jpg
Not much room left in the box for all the h/n/g wires & wirenuts needed that feed the GFI outlet, the outlet on the other side of the wall, the main room light, the fan and the fan light. Got all the wires connected okay but as the pic shows, there was no way to push the new fan/light switch flush to the wall. Ended up making a spacer to fit between plate and the wall, and even then the new switch is cockeyed...
Four of these things should tidy up everything and leave plenty of room for the switches to screw down flush...
wago.jpg
Oh-- as to the poll- I'm in the 'depends' group--but usually I DO twist the wires first--
========================================
ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
FOUR - CO2 lasers
THREE - fiber lasers
ONE - vinyl cutter
CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle
Member
As someone who does some repair-type electrical work in a commercial setting, I hate twisted wires for a number of reasons. The biggest is that it is difficult to get one wire out of a bundle. Then, when the nut has to go back on, the curly-qued ends have to be trimmed off because the wire is 30 years old and brittle—it can’t be straightened and re-twisted. That leads to the problem of there already may not be a long enough lead of wire in the box to re-strip the wire and join it back up with the bundle.
I’ve certainly seen a wire or two come loose out of a bundle that’s not twisted, but I check each wire after I put the nut on. Stranded wire I’ll usually twist together, solid I won’t in most situations, since I’m usually using #12 or #10 wire.
Contributor
What's the direction for twisting on the wire nut after the wires are twisted? Is the nut twisted so it it tends to tighten the twist of the wires? (which I assume would also be described as "counterclockwise" if the twist of the wire is described that way) - or is the wire nut twisted in the opposite direction?
Friend of the Creek
The wire nut is twisted in the same direction as the twist of the wire, which is clockwise as you’re looking down at the pointy end of the wire (I can’t do yoga either.)
Last edited by Doug Dawson; 03-05-2021 at 11:15 AM.
Contributor
Yes, twist the nut the same direction as you twisted the wire otherwise you would loosen the wires. Holding the wire in your left hand and the wire nut in your right you turn the wire nut clockwise. I just assumed the counterclockwise post was a typo that no one noticed.
Friend of the Creek
I just assumed he was in the Southern Hemisphere.
Which half of the bottle do you want, the top half or the bottom half? :^D
Moderator
Inside the wire nuts is a conical coiled spring. Twisting clockwise (viewed from the end), the same as tightening a screw or bolt, is necessary to tighten the grip of the spring on the wires. Righty tighty. This actually leaves grooves in the solid copper wire ends. Turning counterclockwise will loosen the connection, just like unscrewing a bolt. Very small wire nuts once widely used for stranded-stranded or stranded-solid connections in lighting fixtures don't have a spring but conical plastic threads which grip the wires. There are better connectors available now but they are more expensive.
It is important to use a wire nut sized properly for the number and size of conductors. Larger wire nuts these days often have finger tabs making it easier to apply more force. After tightening some advocate for taping the wire nut to the wires, perhaps out of habit, but from what I read this is not necessary.
Contributor
In 40 plus years of being an electrician, I have installed thousands of wire nuts. There has been very few times I've twisted the wires prior to installing the wire nut. It is not necessary, and a royal pain in the back side to try to pull a wire from the bundle of wires if needed.
IF you use the proper size wire nut, and IF you install it properly twisting the wires together is not needed.
Instructions may not forbid twisting wires together, but I have not seen any that say to do it prior to installation.
Contributor
I twist, except stranded to solid. Note that if one does not twist, and torques down the wire nut, the wires will twist inside the wire nut.
Regards,
Tom
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