# wire nuts



## 460 Delta (May 9, 2018)

Whenever I have came across connections like that, it is made up with friction tape so that sort of dates it for me right there.


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## VELOCI3 (Aug 15, 2019)

Wirenuts, bugs, and Polaris connectors but mostly bugs with rubber and 33 or rubber and friction


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## CoolWill (Jan 5, 2019)

gpop said:


> I got asked to change the bearings on a small motor today. (first small motor ive worked on in this plant)
> 
> I opened the pecker head and 1,2,3 were wire nutted to the phases wires but the 6,9-5,8-7-4 were simply twisted with 3 licks of tape (480v 3p). So i removed the tape and added wire nuts. I simply couldn't believe someone had done it this way and it kinda interested me so i opened another motor to find that was the same way.
> 
> ...



Uh oh... You've done it now. Wirenuts in a motor. To some people, this is a sign that you apprenticed under Satan.


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

CoolWill said:


> Uh oh... You've done it now. Wirenuts in a motor. To some people, this is a sign that you apprenticed under Satan.


Just so gpop doesn't feel alone, I also use wirenuts in small motors, and apparently have apprenticed under Satan too.


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## bill39 (Sep 4, 2009)

Good grief, Charlie Brown! How many electrons are going to die while having another â€œproper way to make up motor jointsâ€� discussion? í ¾í´ª


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## Galt (Sep 11, 2013)

No solder?


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## Wirenuting (Sep 12, 2010)

Solder and friction tape. 
If it worked and lasted for 50 years you can't laugh at it.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

I run across barrel crimps and tape connections all the time. But not in motors. Actually it's kind of seldom for me to open a pekerhead anyway. I like barrel crimps and tape, they tend to hold up pretty long term. Especially if the wires got twisted together before the crimp went on. That is a good idea for wires in a teeny pekerhead. 





Every time I write pekerhead my spell checker changes it to Peterhead.........

Are they one in the same?


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## dronai (Apr 11, 2011)

I see all kinds of weird crap the maintenance people do.

As instructed: Ring terminals, and nuts, and bolts for the smaller stuff, and insulated taps for the bigger gauges.


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

I've used wirenuts on motors for many years, never had a failure....well, at least not one that I know of anyway.......


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

And conversely, some of the worst motor connection failures I’ve seen were where they used wire nuts. Those were all medium size motors though, 25-50HP. 

I’ve seen older training materials that showed just twisting the wires together with Kleins and then taping with rubber splicing tape, then electrician’s tape over that. But at the steel mill I apprenticed at, that would be grounds for disciplinary action. Our only approved method was split bolts, 2510 no-adhesive varnished cambric, 88 rubber splicing tape and finally 33 electrician’s tape in that order. That was before Polaris connectors though, I like those now.


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## Easy (Oct 18, 2017)

dronai said:


> I see all kinds of weird crap the maintenance people do.
> 
> As instructed: Ring terminals, and nuts, and bolts for the smaller stuff, and insulated taps for the bigger gauges.


Hey don't beat up the maintenance man. Just give him an extra roll of tape.


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## Easy (Oct 18, 2017)

IMHO Larger motors need to be connected with much more care than small ones do.....
Small motors get ring lugs or flags usually. Wire nuts work on small motors like the ones that raise your curtain or maybe a single phase pool pump but I wonder is it code legal? Even if you tape over the "Wire Nut's"

Large motors are lugged and bolted or split bolts.. Polaris connectors are perhaps a luxury item , but hey if it saves time good for labor cost.

Just like you said JRaef cambric, rubber tape and 33+ 
Several wraps if it a large motor on an oven or autoclave.


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## gpop (May 14, 2018)

JRaef said:


> And conversely, some of the worst motor connection failures I’ve seen were where they used wire nuts. Those were all medium size motors though, 25-50HP.
> 
> I’ve seen older training materials that showed just twisting the wires together with Kleins and then taping with rubber splicing tape, then electrician’s tape over that. But at the steel mill I apprenticed at, that would be grounds for disciplinary action. Our only approved method was split bolts, 2510 no-adhesive varnished cambric, 88 rubber splicing tape and finally 33 electrician’s tape in that order. That was before Polaris connectors though, I like those now.


Every place i have been is different. The last one was wirenuts up to 10hp then crimped, polaris taps or split bolt. (all 480v)

Mechanics constantly had to get us to unwire motors so they could remove gearboxes, pumps and change bearings so taped up connections were a time consuming pain in the butt. 

The only connections that we had fail were the 480v 500hp split bolt connections (4 motor leads and 2 T leads per joint in limited space). We changed the way it was spliced and wrote instructions so every splice was the same then started to check, tighten and re-tape the spice once a year and never had another failure.


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

gpop said:


> Every place i have been is different. The last one was wirenuts up to 10hp then crimped, polaris taps or split bolt. (all 480v)
> 
> Mechanics constantly had to get us to unwire motors so they could remove gearboxes, pumps and change bearings so taped up connections were a time consuming pain in the butt.
> 
> The only connections that we had fail were the 480v 500hp split bolt connections (4 motor leads and 2 T leads per joint in limited space). We changed the way it was spliced and wrote instructions so every splice was the same then started to check, tighten and re-tape the spice once a year and never had another failure.


Wow, annual PM on motor connections, impressive! 

Impressive because of how (unfortunately) rare it is that a company would be so proactive about maintaining up-time...


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