Plug-in connectors - AC wiring

[Carl G]

Has anyone used plug-in connectors instead of wire nuts for AC wire connections? I was looking at them on the Ideal web site today and wondered if they might be better given all of the movement in our little eggs as we travel down the road.

Thanks,
Carl

[Joe MacDonald]

All my connections on the AC side are made at receptacles or terminals on the converter and breakers, But If I needed them I would trust a properly installed Wire nut, we use them on Mobile machinery operating at 600 VAC

Joe

[Matt in SV]

Be sure to check the data sheets. I believe they're intended for solid or coarse-stranded wire. If you have more than 19 strands in a wire you're supposed to tin the end with solder. At that point, IMHO, you might as well be soldering.

http://www.goodmart.com/pdfs/ideal/in-sure.pdf

[peterh]

Our 1995 Scamp came with its 110 outlets wired up using the push-connectors instead of the screw terminals; elsewhere there are nutted connections as well as screw-clamp connections at the breaker box. So far, all of them have held up.

I think the main thing with wiring isn't what kind of connector you use, its making sure the connections are done right and setting things up so the wire doesn't move around as your trailer bumps down the road. Excessive movement will cause metal fatigue in any connection.

On Edit:

Thinking of which, I do have one electrical connection in my trailer that does give me trouble. The clamp connectors that hold the wires to and from my solar charge controller in-place. They're cheap connectors and the wires keep wriggling loose. When I have some free time (In January? I hope?) I plan to "upgrade" the setup by adding a screw-down terminal strip to my setup and soldering the existing terminals to it with some 12g solid wiring.