New led

[campernurse2012]

I ordered LED fixtures from Amazon today to replace the fluorescents in the living area ,kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom .
My question is: should i totally replace the blue connector that is on there now and use wire nuts to connect the wires or should i leave the blue connector on and apply another one above or below its location now ? I would cut the current fixture wire very short and tape with electrical tape . I’m leaning toward the wire nut connection but would appreciate any advice on this. My original wires are in a loop at the fixture . I’m including the pics of fixture now and the one i ordered if that helps.
Sorry the pics are sideways , they were correct when i posted them, don’t know what happened1

[Shane826]

Neither. Scotch-locks (blue connectors) are junk, and wire nuts aren’t really the best either. For 12V connections use heat shrink butt-connectors.

https://www.harborfreight.com/30-pac...ors-66729.html

[campernurse2012]

Ok thanks for the info. Would the butt connectors work if i cut the wire at the scotch lock and put 2 wires on one side and one wire on the other ? Ive never used these before and want to make sure i do it right , i think the main thing is getting the wire in far enough on both sides, correct?

[Bill]

I would offer a slightly different answer. For this usage (low voltage, low current), in this location (no moisture exposure, no strain on the wires), neither the length of the wire nor the kind of connector is really critical as long as you do it right. The most important thing is to leave yourself enough wire length to work with. Trying to connect short stubs of wires is difficult.

The crimped butt connectors Shane suggests are great, but you must have a crimp tool. Don't try to do it with pliers. And up close to the ceiling, it can be difficult to do the heat-shrinking properly, while avoiding overheating anything in the area (wire insulation beyond the connector, ceiling paint), unless you have a heat gun. I agree with Shane's recommendation if you can do them carefully. I use these connectors exclusively if there is to be any tugging strain on the wires, or any water exposure.

Although it is nominally possible to open and re-use a Scotch-Lok connector, it is hard to do it right, so I'm glad you didn't suggest it. You can leave the connector in place, or you can cut it out. Either way is fine.

Wire nuts are fine, and code-compliant, if you apply them correctly. "Correctly" means choosing the correct size. Stripping off the correct amount of insulation. And pre-twisting the wires in the same direction that the nut will be screwed on.
Size? I think you will have 2 or 3 #16 wires, so blue will be the best size.
Stripping enough insulation, but not too much? Strip identical amounts of insulation off each wire. Strip off enough that you can overlay the stripped portion of the wire, and twist the bundle at least a couple turns with your fingers. Then screw on the nut over the twist. When you are done, no copper should be visible outside the skirt of the nut. By the way, if you plan to use a knife to cut and strip the insulation, be careful not to cut and remove some of the copper strands.

Just my experience through thousands (literally) of various connections.

Bill

[Shane826]

Fair enough about the wire nuts. But I had several that were coming apart for the ceiling lights. If you’re gonna use wire nuts, also use tape.

Yes you can twist two wires together and put them on one side and then one wire on the other side of a butt connector. I put the live wire on one side and the two load wires on the other.

You can get a cheap crimp tool at any hardware store WalMart. They also make nice ratcheting ones. Harbor Freight used to make a great one for ~$15 but I haven’t had much luck with them in recent years.

Cheap manual crimp tool-

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-In-F...ool-63307.html

Ratcheting crimp tool (recommend those style but haven’t had luck with HF mode lately)-

https://www.harborfreight.com/Ratche...ool-63708.html

Amazon ratcheting crimp tool-

https://www.amazon.com/Crimping-Conn...a-633893673772

Apparently AutoZone carries one as well-

https://m.autozone.com/wrenches-plie...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

[campernurse2012]

Thanks Bill, I was leaning toward wire nuts because I’m more familiar/ comfortable using them , I just finished helping my grandson wire his house and shop , (he works for an electric company). I have wire nuts here at home and will see what awg the wire is on the new fixtures and go from there. The wires coming out of the ceiling are 12 awg.
Thanks soo much for all the input from everyone.
Yes, my grandson taught me to tape everything too! Thanks

[campernurse2012]

Well, i got the 4 LED’s installed and we love how bright they are . Thanks to all who responded . I ended up using wire nuts and tape . Not a hard install at all.
This forum is wonderful !

[campernurse2012]

Well I got my LED fixtures installed last week and we love them ! We got them from Amazon , they are 4000k and give plenty of bright light. They were a little smaller than the originals so I just caulked the remaining holes and they are barely visible. Very easy install.

[Larryjb]

Looks nice!

I got this for the bathroom:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We can chose 3 brightness settings which is nice. Sometimes we use the low setting overnight as a nightlight.

[campernurse2012]

Thanks! We love them.