Post by Peter AblePost by Tricky DickyPost by GBPost by Peter AbleI doubt it. My cost was 4p per terminated wire.
Would those nuts grip a single strand of wire?
My thought as well.
Well, both of you, it depends upon what you mean by "single strand"...
But, whatever, some of us are bright enough to bend over the "strand" so that it lies alongside the wire's insulation - if necessary more than once - and use the appropriate "wire nut" size.
That's what some of us would do!
PA
Check the *table* for wire nuts, and see :-)
There is a table of allowed combinations. The table
has information like this. You *must* select an entry
from the table, so that the wire nut grabs the ends
properly and stays affixed.
(3) 22 gauge stranded \
(2) 18 gauge stranded \___ Imaginary table entry for a red nut.
(1) 16 gauge stranded plus (1) 20 gauge stranded / Three combinations allowed.
Doing stoopid stuff, like taking a really small wire,
and attempting to fit the largest wire nut available
on the end, that won't even engage and will fall off
in your hand.
As long as your "wire combination" is in the table, it works.
No "one wire" entries in this table... You would then
start with the smallest one (maybe a gray) and see if it
bites properly for your safety. While you can eyeball them,
to get in the approximate colour range, it's really best to
vet them using the table (if you can find a good table).
I've seen better tables than this.
https://www.idealind.com/content/dam/electrical/assets/WireTermination/WireConnectors/TwistOn/WingNut/WireConnector%20WireRange%20Chart.pdf
https://www.tnr.co.uk/how-to-make-live-electrical-wires-safe/
Using Wire Nuts
You can terminate single wires using wire nuts...
But remember, that a wire nut works by compression,
and having two overlapping stranded wires, and compressing
the shit out of them, is more secure than one (more uniform)
stranded jammed into the spring cone. Don't expect it to have
quite the same grip when doing one wire. Test it with a
tug, to satisfy yourself of your excellent workmanship.
If you attempt to screw a gray, onto a really fat wire,
it might not even start to screw down onto the wire end.
Just eyeballing them, should avoid the embarrassment of
attempting that. But once you get close to the right
colour, one of them will definitely grip better than
your other (eye-balled) choices. What I'm saying is,
you cannot eyeball and always get the exact right colour
on the first try. You might find two or three are close,
but one of them fits better than the other two.
And you don't really want the wire nuts to be "wide range".
It's OK for them to have closer limits on what wires they
will carry, because that makes them more secure. If the
cone was wide and shallow, it might only be holding the
wires via one thread, instead of two thread edges.
If you've never used these before, this is why you experiment
with them first, cut off a few hunks of wire from your
wire roll, twist the strands the right way, and *make sure*
you're making a proper job of it. This is not material for
stoopid people. I don't want to open a box and have one
of those fall on my head, because you used the wrong one :-)
Put one together, take it apart, see what damage it did,
improve your technique, and after a bit, you'll get the
hang of it.
That's why some of the bigger product cards, come with a table on the back.
There are assortment packs. Assortment of small ones in one pack.
Assortment of large ones in a second pack. Maybe the purchase
of two packs, gives you samples of everything.
Don't over-form the ends. Each stranded wire should be
twisted to compact form. You don't need to mash the damn
things together with your fingers, before screwing the
wire nut on. Gently form the wires enough, so they will
fit within the cone and the threads will pick them up.
The idea is, you're trying to not snap off the strands
of the stranded wires, by over-handling them. Each stranded
wire is twisted to compact form for its protection.
(One direction of twist, is the same direction of twist
as the cone is using.) And if you're doing three wires,
you might twist the ends of the three compact-stranded,
just enough so they fit into the cone.
After you try a few, you might notice that some of your
attempts are really biting nice.
If you mix solid and stranded wires under a wire nut,
that's a situation where you should experiment again,
and see for yourself what the retention force is like
when you do that. The solid wire does not compress.
The solid wire is a bit slippery. Hmmm. Is this a good idea ?
You decide.
Similarly, don't screw a wire nut onto a *soldered* stranded wire.
That's not going to compress all that well. Solder is
generally a bad idea in mains circuits anyway, carrying any
amount of current. If the thing happens to get hot enough
to melt the solder later, now you're in trouble... with
the fire insurance company. They will use any excuse
to deny a claim. Crimping and compression and screws are better.
Sometimes with crimping, the gadget has two pressure areas,
for redundancy.
Paul