Not so much of Low Volt techs fighting Electricians but things both trades fight about. However sometimes we cross paths.
I myself am a professional Low Volt tech and play as a amateur Electrician.
Low Volt and Ethernet
There is a battle of the RJ45 termination. On the market there are two types of RJ45s. One is the tried and true and then there is the pass-through RJ45. For the tried and true you need to make the end of the cable short and push the connector on and use the crimp tool to fasten it on. Then there is the pass-through where you can made the cable end long then push the connector on with the leftovers of the cable end dangle out then use a crimp tool that has a built in razor that cuts the left over bits off when it crimps the connector.
I am the old school type and prefer the older method. Almost all of my service calls that deals with RJ45s are pass-through and you can clearly see the tips were not cut very flush and either causing a short or doesn’t like the cable seat into the female connector all the way.
Low Volt and snips
Now this is very stupid in my opinion. The snips are very sharp scissors. It’s a ill-faded tool from the telephone days. I’ve seen people go on and on about what is better. I use the cheapest pair I can find in the Low Volt isle in Home Depot. I mostly use them to cut off tape from cabling.
Tool Brands
This happens on both trades and probably with all trades. People fight over Milwaukee VS Dewalt and Klein VS Knipex. In all I use what I can afford. I have turned to the Milwaukee side of the force for power tools but for hands tools I buy what I can afford. Funny thing is most of my hand tools are Milwaukee, mostly because they’re ten bucks cheaper then Klein.
Electricians and back stabbers
On a lot of receptacles and switches you have two options for termination. Either with screws or back stab. Half claim there is no difference and the other half claim it’s not secured. All of the stuff in my home were back stabbed and haven’t had any issues. Although some of the receptacles I have swapped out I use the screws. Mostly because they didn’t have a back stab option.
Electricians and wire termination
You have a battle with Wire Nuts VS Wagos lever nuts. Some say a strong mechanical connection with wire nuts is better and other say Wagos are better because they are faster and uses less space. With my amateur level I go with the biggest box I can use for proper cable infill and I use a mixture of both. If the wires were done with wire nuts then I’ll use wire nuts. If I am adding stuff that has a strained wire like all of the smart light switches I installed then Wagos. I’ve worked with a few electricians and they use both as well. Just depends on what they have to do.
In all it’s the silliness that trades fight over.
The IT Garage 