Are Wire Nuts the wrong choice in the UK?

[A.Steve]

I hope this is a very simple question...

I've installed 8 low-power mains LED strip lights in my garage - and have run cable from them to where I want to put the switch. There's currently a single old florescent set-up which was switched on by a single mains light switch - I'm replacing it. Mains came into the switch from mains cable similar to that which would have been for a socket on a spur... then a single cable connected the old light to switched mains from the socket.

I'd like to be able to switch my LED light strips individually. I bought an 8-switch light switch. I'm happy with how the switches will be wired to the lights - but that leaves 8 light-side wires to be joined to a single mains-feed neutral... and the need to join live to all 8 switches. Obviously, I'd also need to join all 9 earth wires to the earthing point in the metal back-box for the switch.

I'm unsure how best to connect 3 groups of 9 wires each. (8+1 live; 8+1 neutral; 8+1 earth). One idea I had was 'wire nuts' - but as a mechanism to join 9 wires (having never used wire nuts before) I feel apprehensive. I've looked for buzz-bar and connector block approaches - but haven't found anything that looks as if it would work... I'd need the non-earth wires to be insulated - I'd not want live mains separated only by air from a metal switch case.

Any hints - how should I go about doing this? Is it likely feasible to do it in the box for the light switch? Do I need an external junction box? If I need a junction box - why can't I find one that looks suited to this sort of application? I can't be the first person who wants to switch 8 different things using the 8 switches provided by a single light switch unit.

If the right answer is 'wire nuts' - I could try that. I've no problem with 'power'... the 8 LED lights will draw less than the antiquated fluorescent set-up. The wiring I've run to each light is 1.5mm² twin-and-earth. The switch itself is the size of a double mains socket... there's a deep metal box (surface mount) behind the switch with punch-out holes to allow cables in.

 

[EFLImpudence]

Old fashioned connector blocks - one per each 9 wires.

There are various sizes; pick the ones just big enough for the nine wires.

1mm² would have been more than adequate. What is this fashion for 1.5mm².

 

[Sureitsoff?]

what is this 8 way switch you have got? pics will help
and absolutely NO to wire nuts!!

 

[Tigercubrider]

Look at Wago blocks. They do them in 9 way.
if it is elv, you could use some kind of solder bus bar?
or even “choc block” connectors so long as access to check the screws is available

 

[333rocky333]

If the load is low link out numerous wagos to make as many outlets as you need.
Is this cable stranded or solid

 

[A.Steve]

Thanks for the replies. I'm glad I was apprehensive about buying wire nuts. I anticipated buying them... then finding I'm not confident to use them after experimenting.

An apology. Evidently, I can't count. Today, my head said 8-way, but, in reality, it is only 6-way. I only need to join 7, not 9 wires. I can't account for that brain-fart on my part.

This is a picture of the lights switch: "Metal Clad 6 Gang Switch 2 Way Light Switch Metalclad & Back Box - CL105"

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/MboAAOSwc4xiVXy6/s-l1600.jpg

I went with 1.5mm² (after looking for something thinner) because it was the thinnest earthed flat-lay cable that was inexpensively available locally.

I'm familiar with the old-fashioned connector blocks. If I wanted one wire in, one wire out - they'd make perfect sense. Connecting this light switch, however, would require one wire in, 6 (sorry for my earlier exaggeration) wires out. These old-fashioned connector blocks didn't seem a good fit for my problem... I suppose I could use them if I had rows of 7 - then connected them together on one side with short wires. Is this what you had in mind? It seems clunky - given that space is at a premium inside the light switch and the more bits of wire, the less robust the solution feels.

I've heard mixed opinion about Wago connectors. They do look neat... but, so far, the maximum size I've found is for 5 wires... I guess I could use a jumper wire to join two 5-ways (using 2) to get one 8-way. Would this approach be frowned upon - relative to finding a single 7 or 8 way connector?

The cable I have is solid core 1.5mm². The load is low - 36w (so about 0.15A) per light.

[Thanks 333rocky333] Would any Wago connector be OK... I'm looking at kits of 90 Wago 221 connectors for about £12.50 - clear with orange leavers. I've also seen kits of 60 for about £10 - grey with different orange leavers.

 

[333rocky333]

If its solid core cables use 8 way wagos

 

[EFLImpudence]

I'm familiar with the old-fashioned connector blocks. If I wanted one wire in, one wire out - they'd make perfect sense. Connecting this light switch, however, would require one wire in, 6 (sorry for my earlier exaggeration) wires out.

Don't be silly. You could put all nine or seven wires in one side.

1mm² is cheaper than 1.5mm².

Toolstation

www.toolstation.com

 

[Sureitsoff?]

you can get 8 way wagos

Wago 2273 8 Way Compact PushWire Connectors

Simple, reusable 8 way push wire connectors for solid conductors. Transparent housing to ensure the connection remains visible.• 8 way push-in solid core conductors• Easy to use• Compact, reusable design• Transparent housing• 1 x test port for easy testing• Can be used in maintenance free...

www.toolstation.com

 

[ericmark]

I noted when I got smart switches they came with wire nuts in the box, I used them in early 80's in Algeria, mainly as the push in connectors we had could not be reused, and all came from Holland, (Dutch company I was working for) but they were not really that good, too easy for a stray wire to cause a short or wires to come out, the choc block seemed far better, however any connector using a spring I suppose is considered as maintenance free, but when they use a screw one should test every so often to ensure vibration has not caused a screw to become loose.

Working on metal framed batching plants yes part of the service was to check terminals for tightness, I have never serviced a domestic installation. Yes done a PIR now called an EICR but never gone around with a torque screwdriver checking all the terminals. Basically domestic installations are not serviced.

So as to loose terminals in domestic, i.e. need for maintenance free, I have seem terminals which seem to have come loose, but seems more likely the screws were binding so not gripping the wires tight, they have over heated, which has released the binding so made them appear to be loose, we don't tend to use ferals for stranded cables, as much as we should, in industry yes, they also keep the cable numbers in place, but not domestic.

With cable nuts we tend to twist wires together first, so when using more than three wires, they are likely better than screw terminals, over three wires it is easy for one not to be gripped secure, but as an industrial electricians I was taught one hole has one wire, the idea of having three wires into one terminal as often done with 13 amp sockets would have resulted is sore hands where hit by masters ruler.

The idea of an apprentice and master now seems old hat.

So I have never used the wire nuts provided with those switches, but as to if OK to use, not easy to answer as I have simply not used them for 4 decades.

 

[SUNRAY]

Don't be silly. You could put all nine or seven wires in one side.

1mm² is cheaper than 1.5mm².

Toolstation

www.toolstation.com

OFTEN not the case

 

[EFLImpudence]

Don't pay extra just for fashion then.

 

[A.Steve]

If its solid core cables use 8 way wagos

It is. I've not yet found 8-way Wago for sale... but I have found 8-way Aiqeer PCT-218 - which are 8 way and look suspiciously similar to Wago.

Don't be silly. You could put all nine or seven wires in one side.

1mm² is cheaper than 1.5mm².

Toolstation

www.toolstation.com

Yes - the 1.0mm² is marginally cheaper than the 1.5mm² - but, when I bought the cable, only the 1.5mm² was available from my local Toolstation.

I'm sure we're talking cross purposes about the traditional connectors. I'm very happy with one wire per screw hole; I think I could get away with 2 wires per screw hole... but beyond 3, they wouldn't fit and I'd not be confident that the screw connection would hold all the wires securely with 3. The Wago style connector seems a much better fit for my problem - not because it uses a lever instead of a screw (I'd be at least as happy with a screw or crimped connection) but because they have more than two separate terminals for each common connection - and they require less space inside my light switch box.

 

[ericmark]

I used DIN rail and connectors which could take link bars when designing and building panels, and there are wiring centres like used for central heating, but end of the day each electrician has his own ideas, and it is not really a case of right and wrong.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I'm sure we're talking cross purposes about the traditional connectors. I'm very happy with one wire per screw hole; I think I could get away with 2 wires per screw hole... but beyond 3, they wouldn't fit

You are mistaken

and you would only

not be confident that the screw connection would hold all the wires securely with 3

If it were far larger than the wires you had put in it - thus having room for several more.