Wiring Questions

Bushi

Is there anyway to adapt a 12 gauge wire to a 14 gauge receptacle?

Sarcastro

Assuming your not going to be retarded and put too much juice through your 14 gauge wire, the best way is to trim off the recepticle completly and use electricians beans on the excess slack to join the two together.

This advice changes dramatically depending on the situation though - what are you trying to do, and is the wire for a transmission medium or a power medium?

Bushi

It's just a switch, so transmission, I guess? I'll admit that I'm pretty ignorant on the subject, but it was pretty cut and dry until I saw that the wires were different sizes.

wmelon

Unless this is like a light switch, i don't think you'll run into a problem with running too much juice through your switch. 14 gauge is capable of handling 15A, which i seriously doubt is actually going to be running through it. If you're using stranded wire, and the 12 gauge won't fit in it's current size, just trim off some of the strands at the end. it'll still be connected to the rest of the wire once it goes back into the insulation. if you're not using stranded wire, just get a butt connector and connect some 14 gauge to the switch. Butt connectors are usually good for several gauge wire, so connecting 12 to 14 gauge shouldn't be a problem.

Sarcastro

Ooo, good one wmelon, I forgot to ask if it was stranded - we use solid core all the time, but that's application specific. Great advice.