Where do you buy your little electrical fittings?

hot_rod

Harvey Ramer said:

Electrical wholesaler; by the box/case. Opening little plastic bags for every 2-5 fittings is agravating. 

BTW, Ideal has some sweet new wire connectors. They work for solid or stranded and wires can be removed at will. Plus saves a lot of space and has test ports. Once you start using them, you'll throw your non-human wire nuts out the closest window. 
https://www.idealind.com/us/en/coveo-search.html#q=in-sure lever&t=all&sort=relevancy&numberOfResults=12

I think the new Grundfos Alphas have lever lock connections.
Operator error can cause even a simple Scotchloc wire nut to fail

You can find all sorts of unique connectors on Amazon also.

Steamhead

I don't like those. Too easy to dislodge one of those levers inadvertently. I'll stick to the tried-and-true wire nut.

realliveplumber

Those quick connectors come with recessed lights and other fixtures.

The electricians cut them off and use wire nuts.

Harvey Ramer

realliveplumber said:

Those quick connectors come with recessed lights and other fixtures. The electricians cut them off and use wire nuts.

There are some hvac guys who cut off the flare connections from minisplits and braze the lines. And then embarrass themselves in front of the world by making you tube videos about it. 

To each their own I guess. 

I have installed thousands of lighting fixtures that came with the little push connectors. Never had one fail. 

And the Ideal Lever Lock connectors are of far better quality. 

Harvey Ramer

hot_rod said:

Electrical wholesaler; by the box/case. Opening little plastic bags for every 2-5 fittings is agravating. 

BTW, Ideal has some sweet new wire connectors. They work for solid or stranded and wires can be removed at will. Plus saves a lot of space and has test ports. Once you start using them, you'll throw your non-human wire nuts out the closest window. 
https://www.idealind.com/us/en/coveo-search.html#q=in-sure lever&t=all&sort=relevancy&numberOfResults=12

I think the new Grundfos Alphas have lever lock connections. Operator error can cause even a simple Scotchloc wire nut to fail You can find all sorts of unique connectors on Amazon also.

I have worked in quite a number of industrial equipment control cabinets that utilized spring loaded connector blocks, ect. Name brand products, properly used have a low rate of failure. 

ChrisJ

@Harvey Ramer I've had a friend that does industrial generator repair tell me the Wagos are perfectly acceptable.

And I know without a doubt he knows his stuff.   

JUGHNE

The earliest connections I made were as temp help for an old school electrician.
We were working on a lunch room for the school in 1969. His method was to twist the copper and then solder the connection and wrap with black tape. Drag an extension cord for the big iron.

50 years later we rewired that building, of course the solder connections were fine but the tape had given up and some connections bare.

The next version was small brass barrel connectors with a single set screw and then a cap would thread over the barrel. Eventually the set screw would loosen from expansion and contraction.
I crawled a few attics to change these out of wire nuts of some sort.

Correctly installed knob and tube wiring was all soldered and worked well until someone added/hacked another cable into them. Just twisted the wire and taped. Along came the blown in insulation and things would heat up.

ChrisJ

@JUGHNE when we were modifying my boiler wiring I wanted soldered connectors with heat shrink over them because I felt wire nuts were unacceptable.

I was teased quite a bit by a few guys from this forum who were working with me.

After thinking it over I decided they were right and we used crimp butt connectors.  I also used wire nuts on a few things as well.

New or different doesn't mean bad.  

mattmia2

JUGHNE said:

The earliest connections I made were as temp help for an old school electrician.
We were working on a lunch room for the school in 1969. His method was to twist the copper and then solder the connection and wrap with black tape. Drag an extension cord for the big iron.

50 years later we rewired that building, of course the solder connections were fine but the tape had given up and some connections bare.

The next version was small brass barrel connectors with a single set screw and then a cap would thread over the barrel. Eventually the set screw would loosen from expansion and contraction.
I crawled a few attics to change these out of wire nuts of some sort.

The rubber tape and friction tape properly applied is pretty permanent at least until you try to straighten it out.

I have a 1947 or 1948 edition of "Practical Electrical Wiring" that shows wire nuts.

i suspect the set screw ones that failed weren't tightened enough or were used with aluminum wire. copper in brass should expand and contract at about the same rate.

EBEBRATT-Ed

No Bx or Mc stripper for me. Step on the cable and hacksaw at a 45 twist it off put on the red head.

If your good with stripping with linesman's that's good but many are not and the wire gets nicked and brakes. I prefer strippers or a good knife for the big stuff.

Putting on wire nuts strip everything long twist with linesmen's shorten to the right length and screw on the wire nut.

Any kind of wire nut is ok with me but I prefer the tan twisters as @JUGHNE mentioned.

Ideal has a screwdriver with a hollow handle which fits almost all wire nots and is a life saver for my arthritis hands.

As far as soldering goes

I think the code prohibits soldering if it is the only thing holding the wires together. Tape does not count as a holding mechanism

mattmia2

I'll just leave this here:

https://www.leviton.com/en/products/residential/decora-edge

EBEBRATT-Ed

@mattmia2 Wago Receptacles!!

realliveplumber

Well if it won the Home depot award of the year it must be good....

EBEBRATT-Ed

@realliveplumber

If it won the HD award it must be cheap, not necessarily good. LOL