Negative corona onset characteristics of the stranded conductors based on the ultra-high voltage (UHV) corona cage were studied in the paper. Based on the corona self-sustaining criterion in extreme uneven electric fields and the secondary emission process of the photoelectrons, the corona onset calculation model in the UHV corona cage is established and the corona current tests of the single LGJ900-75, 6 bundle LGJ900-75, 8 bundle LGJ400-35 conductors in dry and rain conditions were done in the UHV corona cage, and the rain rates are 2.4 mm/h, 20 mm/h and 30 mm/h. Corona onset electric field strength is gained by E-I tangent method, and the onset electric field strength in dry condition proves that the calculation model can be used to calculate the corona onset characteristics of the bundle conductors in the UHV corona cage. A further analysis proves that: the negative corona onset voltage of the conductor increases with the bundle number and the diameter of the sub conductor, but decreases with the bundle space in the corona cage. The onset electric field strength is influenced little by bundle space and bundle number, but decreases with the increase of the diameter of the sub-conductor. The surface irregularity coefficient decreases with the rain rate.