IDEAL Industries 89-507 Terminal Strip, Shorting Block, 6-Pole, 22-6 AWG

The 89-507 shorting block takes copper conductors from 22 AWG up to 6 AWG on each of its six poles, so you can land a control-circuit hair wire and a 6 AWG feeder tap on the same block. Terminals are #10-32 Philslot nickel-plated brass screws.

20 in.-lb. on the #10-32 terminal screws. That is the figure to set your screwdriver-style torque driver to. Under-torquing a shorting block is how you end up with a hot joint on a high-current tap, and over-torquing strips the brass.

A standard terminal strip isolates each pole, so a wire on one side lands on its partner and nothing else. A shorting block like the 89-507 is built so poles can be bridged, letting you common several conductors to one point, which is what you want for a ground bus, a neutral tie, or paralleling CT leads. If you need each circuit kept separate from its neighbours, a shorting block is the wrong part and you want a plain barrier strip instead.

Six poles, so six separate connection points on the block. If you are commoning conductors rather than pairing them, that is six landings you can bridge together; if you need more than six, step up to a higher pole count rather than doubling wires under one #10-32 screw.

The screws, surface plates and optional hardware on the 89-507 are heavy-duty and corrosion resistant, and the base is a rugged polyester thermoplastic. It is an open block, though, not a sealed device, so it needs to live inside a rated enclosure for the location, same as any barrier strip.