How to Terminate Electrical Wire With Wire Caps

1. Prepare the Bare Ends of the Wires

   With the electrical wire stripper, cut off any bare ends of wire down to the wire coating to tidy them up. Strip the plastic coating off the ends of the wires. Make sure that you have about 1/2-inch of clean, straight wire at the end.

2. Place Wire Nuts on the Wires

   Turn the plastic wire nuts (also called wire caps) onto the ends of the wires. Turn the wire nut clockwise.

   Tip

   Use the appropriate size of wire nut for the wire. Wire nuts that are too big will not sufficiently grip the wire and will fall off. Wire nuts that are too small may initially feel like they are on the wire, but they, too, may fall off.

   Bare copper ground wires do not need to be capped. Similarly, BX cable's metal armor sheathing, which conducts to ground without the need for an additional ground wire, may be left alone.

3. Add Electrical Tape to Individual Wires

   Tape each wire nut onto its respective wire with electrical tape.

4. Push the Wires Into the Box

   Push the wires back into the box. Check to make sure that your assembly has not come apart before proceeding to the next step. Any exposed copper wire may cause an electrical short or fire.

5. Add the Blank Wall Plate to the Box

   Attach a blank wall plate to the electrical box, using the provided screws. Some blank wall plates can be painted over.

   If the terminated wires are part of a working circuit, it is now safe to restore power to the circuit. If the terminated wires comprise an entire circuit alone, there is no need to turn on the circuit.

When to Terminate Electrical Wire With Wire Caps

It is always easiest to work with electrical wire before the drywall has been installed on the studs. If enough walls are open, you may be able to pull back the electrical wire all the way to an intermediate point or to its starting point.

The intermediate point can be another electrical box located in the direction of the service panel. If possible, it makes more sense to strip back the wire toward the upline electrical box and use that as your termination point than to install an additional box with capped wires and a blank wall plate.

An even better option would be to strip back the wire to its original starting point: the circuit breaker at the service panel. Unless this is a whole-house remodel with drywall removed, this is rarely possible.