I'm still bogged down in kitchen destruction/reconstruction. I'm installing recessed lights from Halo, and when I open the box to find the electrical connection I find they're connected to connectors that I find a mystery. The wire to the socket is already installed in them, as is the ground (two stranded wires, one to the socket and one to the housing).

Am I supposed to use these to connect the incoming power (and perhaps outgoing, to the next light in the series, as well)? If so, how does it work? It's just a little plastic thingie, with multiple holes to stick wire into, but no obvious places to poke to release pressure on the conducting clamp that holds the wire in place.

Or does it just grab the wire, and it's a one-way deal?

I can't figure it out from any on-line search. My options are to just hook it up and hope it works, or cut the existing wires and wire nut them together (which was what I'd figured I'd be doing, but if this dealie works, I'm happy to use it--I just want to know how it works).

Pictures, man! Pictures!

You've got to appeal to the visual nature inherent in the male version of the engineering geek. One picture equals a thousand explanations.

From your description, Rand, it sounds like you're looking at one of these:

IDC TERMINAL SPLICE TAP

http://order.waytekwire.com/CGI-BIN/LANSAWEB?WEBEVENT+L0B38E2474E528600D233062+M37+ENG

You can click on the pictures of the items to get a somewhat enlarged view.

They're a one-time-use item-- there's no good way to undo the connection once you've squeezed them shut.

Two grounds (grounding conductors)? No neutral (grounded conductor)? Holy fibrillation, Batman!

No, there's a hot and a neutral wire. The two grounds I'm referring to are one to the box frame and another to the socket itself. They both connect to the ground wire coming into the box.

That link doesn't seem to work, but it doesn't sound like what you're describing. It has four holes in it (in a square pattern), but there's nothing obvious to squeeze or do anything else with, to either clamp or release. It's shaped like a house in Monopoly, with the four holes in the bottom.

It probably looks like the 4-wire power for a motherboard, but a little bigger?

I think that's a proprietary connection system for a track or structured wiring lighting system, but I can't find any literature on the web anywhere for it. I'm surprised that the light didn't come with any documentation for it.

Halo is sold at the Home Despot, I think (which may be where you got it), so your chances of getting help from an employee there are pretty slim, unfortunately. Does Halo have an 800 number for questions? Any friends that are electricians?

I suppose it would also help if we knew what model you were trying to install. Halo has a less-than-small line of products, even in their recessed lighting line.

I'm not sure that would help. The instructions that came with the light don't say anything about it--in fact they say to use wire nuts... ;-)

Given that I'm going to Home Depot at least a couple times a day, I may ask about it in the electrical department on my next trip.