To strip or not to strip?

We had this debut earlier after watching an alarm installer work. The question was do you strip your wire before using a b connector (BENNIE) or do you rely on the connector to pierce the insulation?

Any Thoughts???

I don't strip and haven't had any trouble.

it depends on how many wires your trying to cram in , there are teeth in there to peirce but if you jam to many wires in they may not all be periced .

Skip555 is correct. If you put like 5 26 gage wires, the one in the middle will probably not get pierced. I usually strip the wires if I am going to put in more than about 4 wires.

I also use the tool that is designed to compress the RB's. I know that most installers use thier pliers to press the connectors.

There is also a differece in the quality of connector. I also have a B presser, another time you should strip is on large gauge, or different gauges. I think Bilco has a pretty good rule of thumb for number of wires 26 or 24 gauge.

We stopped using them a long time ago around the time the telcos did. Reliability issues but that's probably because they never stripped the wires. We use Scotchlok UR and UY's.

Only time we will use B connectors is when we have to connect to stranded wire that some idiot alarm guy or electrician ran for somebodies phones. Yes, then I always strip and twist.

Around here if you see "beanies" you know an alarm guy did the work.

-Hal

Who uses those things anymore for voice? I can understand a simple alarm system, but beanines for voice? Open the wallet and buy Scotchloks. Telcos abandoned beanies decades ago for obvious reasons.

Now, on a more professional note, beanies, as with all IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector) splices are designed to be used WITH the insulation left in place, hence their name. "B wire connectors" were developed in the 1950's by the Bell System to eliminate the need for technicians to strip wires. They were never meant to be used in a stripped-wire environment, the "teeth" in the shell rely upon the insulation as something to grip and secure the wire. Without the insulation, the bare copper wire might "dodge" the tangs that bite the wire and it won't get secured.

Beanies really weren't designed for more than three wires, depending upon gauge. In general, more than two #22 or three #24/26 is all that can be accommodated.

Using the real cripming tool is the only way to ensure the best connection that can be maintained with these connectors. Nowadays, way too many people use pliers to crip them. What ends up happening is that they over-crimp them, flattening out the teeth that bite the wires. The criping tool limits the crimp pressure so that the teeth aren't bent.

On another note, a lot of people don't use the correct crimping tool for Scotchloks either. They just use pliers. Despite their design, Scotchloks can also be over-crimped, causing the wire to literally be cut by the blade inside the connector. Using needle-nose pliers doesn't apply full straight-on pressure to correctly seat the button.

Spend the money on the correct tools and save yourself some headaches.

I am much like Hal and Ed

I use uy's and ur's. if your going to do it do it right, there is no room for 4,5 or 6 wires in a chain like that. It makes it hard to trace wires when someone "BEANNIE's" a bunch of lines in the attic and you dont know were.

scotchloks rock the ur's especially with the silicone in it seals well and you dont have to strip the wire

had a feeling I would get a reaction with this topic..I am a big fan of scotchloks myself, only time I use b-cons is like hal said if I have to connect stranded wire to solid it seems to work well. When I was doing alarm work using stranded wire I would strip first and make a good connection (read wrap wires together) and then crimp a Bean on.

I use an amp picabond still!!

I use both. Depends on what I'm doing. In the old Bell world you stripped the wire when you had 19 gauge, 19 or 22 gauge with 26 or 24, more than 3 wires in a bean (not more than 4). I like the looks of the amp inline connectors, but I've never used them. If I want a small compact splice I use beans, other wise I use scotchloks. I have never had problems with beans using the B presser. I have had high joints in scotchloks that were not properly crimped. Test by the Bell System equated the bean to a solidered connection. According to my old Bell splicing buddies beans were discontinued for two reasons, a good contract with 3M and too many people not using the B presser, not my words theirs.

We use scotchloks also . In our office we refer to B connectors as "rat rubbers" . I have have seen them used to splice two pieces of jumper wire together because the tech was too lazy to go out to his truck for a new of roll cross connect .

Well said, Bill. I normaly carry both UY and B-connectors. Old Bell habit. Still use Amp Picabonds for splicing OSP. Much quicker than URs or UYs. Half-taps are UGs. They do come in handy on the rare occasion.

By the way, I didn't say this, BUT Picabonds splice CAT 5 with no loss shown.

KLD

I always preferred to use mini handcuff connectors myself but carry the the B's as well as UY and UR.

When there are more than 3 wires, out come the B's and I strip them, twist them, nip the top and use a vise grips. Never had a problem. If I want to pull wires out, I use the vise grips to squeeze the sides, slide the wire out and untwist. No one hangs on these, we use the chandeliers for that.

Now that I've gotten more successful I don't reuse the B's, once is enough.

If I use B's most often I strip the wires I like the silicone filled or still solder and tape a lot also.

I use the beanies occasionally, I don't have to splice much. On the subject of alarms, we had one put in our house about 2 years ago. The installer soldered and taped EVERY single connection. The company does not use splices of any kind. I have used the Scotchloks, they work well. I have seen some data runs that were cut too short and spliced in with them too .
The one thing I hate to see is a mess of phone cables taped up with the wrong color codes used. Makes it a pain in the you-know-what to trace anything!
Wirenuts-not for phone either!
Jeff

I have to tell you, one of the most innovative splice connectors I ever used was the AT&T/Lucent/Avaya/Commscope 709SC and SD. I don't know if they are still being sold, but I really liked them. They are in-line and handle a full pair-in and out. Filled (SC) or dry (SD). They can be crimped with fingertip pressure, but it takes a lot. The nice thing is that they were designed to be crimped with needle-nose pliers (the crimp area was arched to allow for the angle of any kind of pliers). They are really hard to mess up.

The only thing that I didn't like was the half-tap feature. You had to break off one of the end caps and replace it with a microscopic replacement cap that allowed a pair to run straight through. Too much work and room for error.

here they are-Thomas and Betts 709 splices.
https://www.tnb.com/ps/pubint/index.cgi?a=cbrands
Am I allowed to say this...you must be getting old since you couldn't remember who makes them now:)

You can strip two pairs and fit them into one side of the 709SD, and a regular pair without stripping into the other side - sort of a poor man's half tap.

Yea, your allowed Jeff.

Got to remember he is in a HOME.

Ok I give up. My new years resolution is to not give Ed a hard way to go, at least until Feburary.

:rofl:

You are correct, Jeff. The AT&T brand name gets changed so frequently that I gave up keeping track. This item is now sold by company A, that item is sold by company B, etc.

I saw some for sale on e-bay a while back with the T&B name, but we have pretty much standardized on Scotchloks for small splicing and it didn't make much sense to start buying them again. The technicians get spoiled and then when we have to pay real prices, they aren't so plentiful.

Mike, get back to working on your resolution.

Anyone have a B presser or a source for one? I can't find any for a reasonable price anywhere.

Welcome to the board.

You used to be able to get them for around 100 bucks. Unless you're going to do a lot of splicing you really can get by without them.

You may want to start a new topic, this ones pretty old.

Here\'s one no price though

Wow - quite an old topic!

Bill is correct - go to GMP for a new one or lurk on eBay for a used one (they show up occasionally there, usually when the widow is cleaning up the house)

For the record, I like B-Connectors. Also UG,UR & UY. Picabonds are OK too. But I started with B-Connectors and I always felt you should go home with the one you took to the dance.

Sam