How to fit multiple wires in a tiny junction box
Tiny built-in junction boxes lack the physical space needed to securely group several solid and stranded wires into a single wire nut. Additionally, the terminal holes on devices like thermostat wiring plates are often too small to fit the multiple wires required to make a jumper. This severe lack of space prevents people from successfully completing their wiring connections.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Using lever connectors instead of traditional wire nuts
- 2Creating pigtails to separate solid and stranded wire connections
- 3Using a thinner gauge wire to make the jumper fit into the terminal.
- 4Combining wires behind the wall using a wire nut and running a single wire to the thermostat terminal.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“The instructions said to use a piece of 18g to make the jumper, but I found I could not fit two 18g’s in the R hole of the Amazon thermostat wiring plate.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 3Not enough electrical outlets in the room
- 3Is it safe to cap and abandon a neutral wire for a standard switch?
- 2How to run electrical wire through an exterior wall safely