Anyone still use round JBs ?

[Dustydazzler]

Going through some old boxes I must have found 30-40 old round 20a and 30a JBs

does anyone still actually use them or is it vago boxes all the way these days

 

[SparkySy]

Holy bartender, I found a couple of boxes of the Ashley J201 round Jb's the other day in my lockup and thought fondly of them from a distant past memory! They will be collector's items in a few years or museum pieces. I put mine back in the faint hope that they will become worth more than I paid for them within my lifetime. Or they will become a family heirloom!
To answer wago or ideal all the way these days!

 

[Vortigern]

Nope not a chance! Since wagos, never looked back. I view with horror the idea of up in a loft half dark losing one of the brass screws and making it neat (properly) Thank God I will never have to do that again. When I started learning the guy in charge of me (nice guy) got me to do my first junction box. He looked and said "no good, do it again" three times later I was almost crying, and in the end I got it the way he wanted which was nice straight lines with curves, all wires the same length, no ends poking out. Okay I got it! But what a pain they were.

 

[DefyG]

Yes, Using up 'Old Stock' (still finding the odd one or two in the shed) but less and less in favour of wago's

 

[Dave OCD]

I remember that well up in lofts, then you short neutral/earth and the bit of light you had is replaced by pitch black as the RCD trips. ?
The only time I ever use round JBs these days are for under kitchen cupboard lights and I'll use the small white ones as they're discreet and tidy. Still fiddly connecting upside down though. ?

 

[Lucien Nunes]

oops

 

[Pete999]

Nope not a chance! Since wagos, never looked back. I view with horror the idea of up in a loft half dark losing one of the brass screws and making it neat (properly) Thank God I will never have to do that again. When I started learning the guy in charge of me (nice guy) got me to do my first junction box. He looked and said "no good, do it again" three times later I was almost crying, and in the end I got it the way he wanted which was nice straight lines with curves, all wires the same length, no ends poking out. Okay I got it! But what a pain they were.

Making off JBs used to be an art, now just bang the cables in a WAGO box and throw it about the loft space,

 

[Lucien Nunes]

I hardly ever use T+E so they don't feature very much in my work, but I have no particular issues with them, they are not hard to use and if of good quality and correctly wired can be neat, reliable and safe. My main objection is that there is no room to leave much slack or service loops internally, which makes it harder to modify later or repair damaged terminations. Where space permits, I take each conductor round to the furthest side of the terminal pillar from where the cable enters, which gives an extra inch or so if needed in the future. For ring circuits, the traditional 3-terminal round box has the specific advantage that a spur can be made without breaking the ring conductor. If one is minded to do it, the same is true for a lighting point with a JB inserted into the unbroken run, breaking out the cables to switch and light.

On the occasions I do work with sheathed cables e.g. Flexishield / FP, I favour the continental junction box style, like a square plastic adaptable box with glands fitted into round entry holes. I marshall the cores that are going to be connected in each Wago together at the back, then bring them up and over to create a line of Wagos along the front. It doesn't meet the MF requirements but I much prefer it to the rather inflexible arrangement of a Wagobox, where there is no efficient way to relieve tension on each conductor by taking it through a couple of bends, nor allow access for inspection and testing of each terminal without flexing and possibly stressing others. IIRC the Wagobox was not designed by Wago, but by a UK company. In Wago's native Germany, the up and over style I use is standard.

I'm totally with Pete999 about the relative importance of skill vs. materials in making connections and not greatly sold on the whole BS5733 MF idea. I think it's good that we have come to a point where a quick and easy connection method can be so reliable that failures can be ignored for design purposes, but as I always say (and I keep saying it because it's important) that a good electrician can make a reliable connection with more or less anything. Making a holy grail of getting a particular kind of approval on a particular kind of box can only go so far to make up for a lack of skill once it leaves the shelf in the wholesaler.

 

[pirate]

The old round JBs make good ashtrays...handy having a lid for them

 

[telectrix]

The old round JBs make good ashtrays...handy having a lid for them

i use 1 of these on the bench.

as you can see, it's compliant with current regs.......... non-combustible enclosure. with a lid on and a blanking bush. it's even IP44+.

 

[westward10]

I remember many years ago as a lad being given a box of circular junction boxes, a junior hacksaw and a magneto file to cut and file the entries. My gaffer kept coming back to check them, my hands and jeans were black. This was followed by a drum of two core flex and boxes of ceiling roses and pendant holders again my gaffer regularly came back with a tape to measure them. Fond days?

 

[Dartlec]

Would never install them fresh now, but when one is in place it can be a real sod to replace them with a Wago - if all the cables are clipped and trimmed to exactly the right length it almost always requires multiple wago boxes and links to replace. So in those cases I might reuse an existing one to add one small circuit....

Fortunately, the places I work have normally not been done by people who were taught the right way back in the day, so they are usually floating under the insulation with loads of slack - one of the few times it's easier when the previous job was bodged but functional...

 

[Dustydazzler]

I wonder why they were made round shaped in the first place ...?

surely a more square / box shape with the terminals in a nice row of 3 or 4 would have been a better original design ... ?

 

[Dartlec]

I wonder why they were made round shaped in the first place ...?

surely a more square / box shape with the terminals in a nice row of 3 or 4 would have been a better original design ... ?

I think they used to be square going right back? I have seen one original of those - where the entire lighting feed for upstairs was run to and from one large square box in the loft... Though I think we are talking well pre 60s wiring.

No idea why circular ones became the standard - but it was probably related to cost of manufacturing somehow - that's the driver behind a lot of engineering decisions after all.

 

[Flanders]

I wonder why they were made round shaped in the first place ...?

surely a more square / box shape with the terminals in a nice row of 3 or 4 would have been a better original design ... ?

I think they where round to help with design. You would turn the lid to select how many entry holes you required. I did have to use one the other day as the wholesaler did not have any hager Ashley MF in stock but plenty of the 30 amp ones