Additional Lighting

Redwing

I'm adding additional lighting to my family room. It will require the addition of 3 more switches making a total of 4. I plan to use a 4 switch box which will also have a feed line out for recepticales. The question I have is, am I better off tying 6 wires together or splitting them into smaller groups?
Thanks

jwhite

Redwing, your question is very hard to understand. Are you asking about strapping the cables as they come down inside the wall?

They make a product like the one here http://www.gardnerbender.com/ for multi cable strapping.

However, if you are adding more lighting to an existing circuit which already has recs and lighting on it, your concerns should also consider the total amperage on the circuit.

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Master Electrician

AllanJ

I prefer to split wires up into smaller groups, not more than four wire ends under a wire nut. In your case, one pigtail connecting two groups of three wires works out nicely. To me, the success of a wire nutted connection depends on the spring inside the wire nut biting into each conductor. If there are too many conductors, some will be "in the middle" and held only by friction and able to work loose.

If the wire ends are twisted together securely first, then more can be securely held by one wire nut. But this means you must use tape also, to cover the longer exposed copper wire that the wire nut itself does not cover. Twisting usually needs 1-1/2 inches of stripped end if there are six wires versus 5/8 inch for wire nuts that don't require pre-twisting the wires.

InPhase277

You can easily fit 6 #14s under a red wirenut. You may even squeeze 6 #12s in there, but that's pushing it. The problem with splitting them up is that it is one more joint in the circuit. Each joint is a potential weak spot, and one more wirenut in the box. You can also get the big blue wirenuts for this purpose.

When you have alot of wires to twist strip them long, twist, trim, then cap. Like so:

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Redwing

Nicely done fella's. I appreciate all of your replies. InPhase277, the pics are great - it's exactly what I've been doing over time. AllanJ, Splitting them up was the way I was leaning. Thanks for the confirmation. jwhite, Thanks for the suggestion to recheck the total amperage. I did and I'm good.
Thanks again.