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Staggered Splice—The staggered splice is used on multiconductor cables to prevent the joint from
being bulky.
Rattail Joint—A splice that is used in a junction box and for connecting branch circuits; wiring is
placed inside conduits.
Fixture Joint—When conductors of different sizes are to be spliced, such as fixture wires to a
branch circuit, the fixture joint is used.
Knotted Tap Joint—This type of splice is used to splice a conductor to a continuous wire. It is not
considered a "butted" splice as the ones previously discussed.
Splice Insulation—Rubber tape is an insulator for the type of splices we have discussed so far.
Friction Tape—It has very little insulating value but is used as a protective covering for the rubber
tape. Another type of insulating tape is plastic electrical tape, which is quite expensive.
Terminal Lugs—The terminals used in electrical wiring are either of the soldered or crimped type.
The advantage of using a crimped type of connection is that it requires very little operator skill, whereas
the soldered connection is almost completely dependent on the skill of the operator. Some form of
insulation must be used with noninsulated splices and terminal lugs. The types used are clear plastic
tubing (spaghetti) and heat-shrinkable tubing. When a heat gun is used to shrink the heat-shrinkable
tubing, the maximum allowable heat to be used is 300º
F. When using the compressed air/nitrogen
heating tool, the air/nitrogen source cannot be greater than 200 psig.
