B-Line Eaton series Flextray wire basket tray, Steel, Pre-galvanized finish, Expansion splice kit

The FTS12ESK is an expansion splice kit for Eaton B-Line Flextray wire basket tray. It joins two tray sections at a point where the run has to move, so the tray can take up thermal expansion and contraction instead of buckling or stressing the welds. It is a splice component, not a straight rigid connector, so use it where the run crosses a building expansion joint or on long runs where temperature swing is a factor.

The kit measures 12 in by 1.75 in by 1 in and weighs .45 lb. The 1 in height is the thing to check: it sits within the tray depth, so on a 1 in deep Flextray it occupies the full side wire height. The 12 in length is what gives the joint its travel, so allow that much straight, unobstructed tray on either side of the expansion point and do not land a support bracket in the middle of it.

Pre-galvanized steel is a mill-galvanized indoor finish. It suits dry interior runs, plenums, data rooms and similar conditioned spaces. For exterior, washdown or corrosive environments, specify a hot dip galvanized or stainless Flextray splice instead, and match the splice finish to the tray finish so you are not mixing coatings at the joint.

The FTS12ESK carries a UL Classified marking and meets CSA compliance, which is what an inspector or a spec-driven institutional buyer will look for on cable tray splice hardware. Both the US and Canadian references are on the product, so it can go into either market without a separate part number.

Use a standard splice for ordinary section-to-section joints, where the two pieces stay fixed relative to each other. Reach for the FTS12ESK expansion splice only at points where the run has to move: across a building expansion joint, or on long runs subject to temperature change. Putting expansion splices everywhere is not a benefit, since a fixed splice is the simpler and more rigid joint on the rest of the run.

It ships as a kit, so the splice components come together under the single part number FTS12ESK rather than as loose pieces you assemble from separate line items. What it does not include is tray bonding for the run as a whole: an expansion joint interrupts the mechanical continuity of the tray, so plan a bonding jumper across the joint per your grounding detail, and order that separately.

It is built for Eaton B-Line Flextray wire basket tray and is sized to that product's wire spacing and side wire geometry. Wire basket tray from other makers uses different wire gauges and pitches, so treat this as a Flextray part. If you are splicing a competitor's basket tray, source the splice from that tray's own line.

One kit makes one expansion joint on one tray run. Count the expansion points in the run, not the number of tray sections, since the rest of the joints take standard fixed splices. At .45 lb each they add negligible load to the tray, so supports are sized off the cable fill, not the splice hardware.