Fried Combinor Box [RE-wrenches]

[Drake Chamberlin - Electrical Energy]

<x-flowed>Hi Jerry and Todd,

I've heard this, and so avoid using wire nuts, but I am not convinced it is 
really true.  The better part of 2 decades past, I wired a small house in 
Athens County, Ohio with #10 copper for 12 VDC, and it is still working 
fine.  The batteries are almost always full.  All the connections are made 
with wire nuts.

If we twist the wires together, and cinch up the wire nut tightly, it makes 
a good connection.   By comparison, look at the way automotive connections 
are made for 12VDC.  They use crummy spade connectors that crimp on to the 
wire in incredibly loose ways.

I've never been able to measure resistance across a solid connection made 
with a wire nut.  I will probably tend to rely on butt end connectors and 
other means for the most part until this is settled.

I've also heard it claimed that some sort of coating builds up on wires 
where wire nuts are used with DC.  I've never seen that either.

I don't know if this is folk "wisdom" or a real problem.  I plan to examine 
the wiring that I did at the cabin way down  in Athens County so many years 
back and see if any problems have manifested.  Maybe some answers will surface.

Drake

At 12:59 PM 04/01/2001 -0700, you wrote:
>People are using wire nuts for low voltage DC??? Wire nuts should only
>be used for higher voltage low current applications where minimal
>amounts of additional resistance don't matter.
>
>In any low voltage high current applications wire nuts are a BIG
>no-no... too much resistance. Solder or use split bolts.
>
>Todd
>
>Jerry Caldwell wrote:
>
> > I've never heard the bit about wire nuts not being
> > appropriate for DC.  What are the reasons for this?
>
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