Switched from screw terminals to wire nuts on panel boards

For like 5 years I was using those tiny screw terminals on every alarm panel but kept stripping them out by accident. Last month on a job in Cleveland I tried using wire nuts instead for the zone connections, way faster and no more stripped screws. Anyone else ditch screw terminals for something simpler?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_hart41mo ago

Man, wire nuts on panel boards? That's a game changer I never thought about. I bet it cuts down on time big time since you don't have to mess with those tiny screws with your fat fingers. But watch out for vibration in some setups, wire nuts might come loose if the panel gets bumped around a lot during maintenance. Still, I'm with you on ditching the screw terminals for anything that's not a high-traffic area.

jamie_adams1mo ago

What worked for me was using Wago lever nuts instead, they hold way better than wire nuts in panels that get jostled around and @lewis.mila you'd never lose a screw again with those things.

lewis.mila1mo ago

Is it bad that my fat fingers are exactly why I switched too? The number of times I dropped a tiny screw and spent 10 minutes hunting for it on the floor is embarrassing.