Electrical – How to connect a stranded wire to a bus bar

electricalwirewiring

A typical bus bar has this design:

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and connecting a solid wire to it is more or less easy. But how do I connect a stranded wire? I expect the following to happen: when I drive the screw in, the screw splits the strands and so I end up with the screw driven in and the strands all around the screw instead of being pressed to the bus bar. I'd like to avoid this and get a good connection capable of carrying many amperes of current.

How do I connect a stranded wire to a bus bar?

Best Answer

I sell a lot of stranded wire and I've never heard of anybody tinning a wire that goes on a neutral or ground bar. AFGI & GFCI breakers come with stranded copper and is rated to fit into these bars, along with solid. I would just make sure the hole you are using matches up with the wire you are using. Most of the ground and neutral bars have different size lugs with different size ratings, like 14 to 10 awg, or 14 to 4 awg or 6 to 2/0 awg.