On May 10, 12:52 am, Levitation29 wrote:
thanks for the responses, Don and sym.
I managed to find some more info on the web.

Yeah it does sound like this was more common back in early
70's.

Evidently they're commonly known as Buchanan crimps, I guess
name of first manufacturer.

Ideal still makes them, and they are UL listed for 600v,
so since they are UL listed, NEC 110.14b would seem to
allow them even on hot/neutral even today. (with appropriate
insulation...i.e. better than the wires)

But the key is using the right crimp tool (the Ideal c-24
crimper, for instance, although it's a $50-$75 tool)

The crimps I have are only 2-points ..looks like done
with a pliers crimp tool. Evidently 4-point crimps
is what you need nowadays for a UL listed connection.

The plated steel sleeves are evidently
okay, and they have copper sleeves available also.

Ideal also makes insulating caps that fit over them so
you don't have to tape. That would make meeting the insulation rule
easy/consistent.

I think the tape issue is the one thing with the old stuff:
mechanical and electrical soundness.

So it seems like I could leave them as is, if I replace the
tape maybe. I already got rid of some, switching to using
feedthru connections on the outlets instead of pigtails.

But the original crimps there are pretty poor. Two-point crimps,
with no wire to wire contact on some. Although the connection
seems pretty solid (steel sleeve).

I'm not sure they really save space compared to compact wire
nuts...once you have appropriate insulation on them. I was thinking
I could replace them. because if I cut them off, I'm left with pretty
sure wires...they might be compact for creating new pigtails that
have better crimps.

-lev

the crimp barrel itself is important buchanon crimps are soft i dont
and wont use them i will use a wirenut before a buchanon. ideal crimps
are a better way to go.