What's wrong with wirenuts? They are about the easiest things to use
of anything. I would NOT use crimp conns. on household wiring. They
are made for automotive and other low voltage use, and in all honesty,
they are crappy for that use. When I wire something in my car, I use
small wirenuts. They are easier to install, cheaper, and less prone
to corrosion. I like to fill the open ends of wirenuts used on a car
with clear silicone to keep water out. I really do not understand why
you want to use cromps on home wiring, and additionally, I doubt they
are legal according to the code. Use what the code says. If you use
crimps and have a fire, your insurance might be rejected fro having
non-standard non-approved wiring.

I suggest you forget this whole idea and just continue to use
wirenuts.

Mark

On 11 Jan 2006 11:07:12 -0800, "Mr_bill" wrote:

I need some wiring advice. I have managed to survive
until now just using wire nuts for my home projects, but
I am at the point where it would be nice to use crimp connections
in a switch or outlet box, connecting 14 or 12 ga copper
wire.

Here's my question. When I go to Home Depot, all they
carry for crimp sleeves appear to be made out of copper
or some copper alloy. Anyway, these sleeves are pretty
soft. They deform pretty easily (too easily, I imagine),
and they fail my pull test. To top it off, the crimping tools
at HD are pretty cheesy.

My only experience crimping wire is non-electrical, but there
you use a "swaging tool" and a steel crimp sleeve. Once it's
set properly, it's almost as strong as the wire.

So far, I've just been staying away from electrical crimping,
as I don't want to burn the house down, but it would be very useful
to be able to do some safe crimp connections.

Any advice gratefully accepted.