domestic elec sockets..any help

[steveo3002]

just struggled for ages to change over what should be a simple wall socket

how on earth are you supposed to see what you are doing when theres 1/2" of wire to play with? then you have to bundle it all up and jam in in a gap thats big enough

extend the wires you say? then theres a handfull of butt conectors to shove in there too

any words of wisdom please

 

[rtcosic]

I have resorted to haemostats before now!
Reading glasses and a strong light help those of us of mature years.
The last ditch is to ask SWMBO as she can see to do embroidery, is more dextrous and has smaller hands. Only resorted to that once.
I have used the telephone camera to see around corners, but that needs a helper to hold and manoeuvre it.

 

[Newlands]

It seems that a lot of installations were done on the cheap - the slimmest possible pattress boxes and the bare minimum of cable. In the past I’ve resorted to going up in the loft (or removing a floor board to see if I can pull a bit more cable through. And when I’ve fitted my own sockets I use the deepest boxes available and enough spare cable that I can fit the socket easily without employing a gynocologist.
I think MK sockets are better, as all the terminal screws are accessible from above rather than having to poke screwdrivers in from all sorts of angles - also MK do sockets with wago-type terminals on them. Here

 

[chunkolini]

Not just me then

 

[steveo3002]

wound me right up , then you fight to jam it all in the backbox and risk pulling out a wire

had to order longer screws as well

 

[brightspark]

wound me right up , then you fight to jam it all in the backbox and risk pulling out a wire

had to order longer screws as well

well that makes it easier to fit the socket if the box is set back and needing longer screws. any short cables i extend with blue bullet crimps and carefully site the wires so there not trapped

 

[Robotstar5]

well that makes it easier to fit the socket if the box is set back and needing longer screws. any short cables i extend with blue bullet crimps and carefully site the wires so there not trapped

It's just years of experience and hard to explain how to dress the wires so they don't get trapped or damaged

 

[Erie Fred]

Found this buried in the vermiculite at the parents house attic......

 

[Seadog]

We did away with acorn connectors about 80 years ago.

 

[Robotstar5]

We did away with acorn connectors about 80 years ago.

You can still buy them though - Amazon link

 

[Seadog]

Really?

 

[Cobbler]

We did away with acorn connectors about 80 years ago.

My parents house was all wired using them & lead sheathed cable.

 

[Seadog]

My parents house was all wired using them & lead sheathed cable.

That's what I was referencing (in my head).

 

[Erie Fred]

We did away with acorn connectors about 80 years ago.

House was built in 1900, I didn't find any Knob & tube, found a note on the fuse panel "oct. 55"
so think it was the first wiring.

 

[Erie Fred]

We did away with acorn connectors about 80 years ago.

They are still the method of choice, Lowes, Home Depot, and the commercial places I use all sell
tons of them.

Wire nuts they are called.

IIRC Klein even make a screwdriver with a socket in the handle to wind them on tighter.
I have seen a socket for them with a 1/4" hex shank, to wind them with a cordless
impact screwdriver.

i don't like them, try to work around using them.

 

[Onoff]

Heat shrink crimps then heat shrink over that. All dead tested OK afterwards:

 

[awemawson]

When I was in the CCF Signal Corps we were taught when crossing roads for field telephone circuits to coil sufficient cable on one of the supporting posts to re-make the crossing if wiped out by an abnormaly high vehicle.

I've always applied a similar technique to domestic wiring. Leave tails curled up in the back box of ample length to beable to replace the socket / light fitting if the need arrises.

 

[Robotstar5]

When I was in the CCF Signal Corps we were taught when crossing roads for field telephone circuits to coil sufficient cable on one of the supporting posts to re-make the crossing if wiped out by an abnormaly high vehicle.

I've always applied a similar technique to domestic wiring. Leave tails curled up in the back box of ample length to beable to replace the socket / light fitting if the need arrises.

My neighbour was having CCTV fitted, the guy doing it left enough cable to connect the cameras at ground level then push the excess into the loft before mounting the cameras on the soffit.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

This isolator put me in Hospital. I switched it off, the metal case alarm was not dead.

 

[Onoff]

Wire nuts they are called.

Dog's cocks I know them as.