Screw Wire Connector

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

Does anybody use solid wire on a robot? , By the time I get to #6 wire I am generally using lugs & not twist connectors. The Ideal twist connectors (wire nuts) are UL listed for solid and/or stranded wire. In building wiring it is probably the easiest way to make the transition.

I agree with Al that you want as few as splices as possible. Every one is a failure point. Whatever ever method you choose make sure it is done properly.

Oh yes.... we do. In fact, this was the first year we didn't.

It's the result of having a sponsor (Ford) who donates some wire to us every year.... but it's primarily electrical panel wiring for Industrial panels. It's a pain to work with, but when you're living on a budget you learn not to complain

[MagiChau]

We have used wire nuts definitely for temporary connections to sensors for testing and prototypes.

[kstl99]

I have used these Wago compact connectors on machinary when a splice was needed for components with flying leads. Turns out I do not know how ti insert a picture but here is a link to the picture:

http://www.wagocatalog.com/okv3/inde...tml=&iPicPos=1

And here is the catalog page:

http://www.wagocatalog.com/okv3/inde...rom_home=first

[Jon Stratis]

After the 2011 North Star regional, we threw some into our standard kit of parts, although they're only used in emergency situations. At North Star that year, we started burning out FP motors during elims, after only one or two matches. We didn't have the time to figure out or fix the mechanical reasons for this at the competition, so we just started swapping in new motors to keep the beast running. Needless to say, at that point having some wire nuts handy would have made swapping new motors in a lot quicker and easier! We managed to get the connections soldered each time, but it was always a serious time crunch to get the swap done in time. As Al said, you want as few splices as possible... but situations like this are ideal for making a quick splice instead of running the wire through the entire robot.

[Akash Rastogi]

We used them on parts of the robot that were swapped out with our main and competition bots or for testing purposes.

[DonRotolo]

Used properly (and every container of these - bag or box - MUST contain proper usage instructions) wire nuts are as good as just about anything. And they're available in sizes for almost anything you'd use on a robot. For big (>10 ga) or small (<20 ga) they are not optimal.

That being said, we don't use them, since we try to avoid splices and wire nuts are not better than a proper solder connection. For connections that need to come apart, we use connectors.