Is this a Ford vs. Chevy battle? Israelis vs. Arabs grudge? Coke vs. Pepsi?

I just did some rewiring in my attic where I wanted to add LED wafer lights in the bedrooms, and take the ceiling fan/light combo off of the switch, replace the fan with a lightless fan, and simply hardwire the fan to always have power. It's a sleek, updated look for the bedrooms in my 1966 Garrison Colonial.

I pulled the power-in out from the always-on closet pull-chain light fixture boxes (in the attic) and then branched out from a new steel box to the fan and also back to the closet boxes. It worked really well.

This past Saturday I was at Lowes and found the IDEAL quick connect (like WAGO apparently?) devices. They seemed rated for all the same loads and standards as the typical wire nuts, so I thought I'd give them a try as I wrapped up the last bedroom.

Then on Easter, at my mom's place, my brother and I are talking house projects and he tells me that the quick connect devices are ONLY supposed to be used for low voltage or lighting runs. "Those things will burn your house down." This, of course, scared me so I started reading and looking around a bit. It seems like he's spewing a lot of nonsense, but I am NOT an electrician by trade. I do try to do all of my own work though (within reason of course) and I make every effort to do it to code. I think because it's my own house, I generally do the work as well or more neatly than electrical work I've come across, but simply because it's my own house and I take a long-ass time doing it (because I have to look at it).

Plus I saw this video and it seems to indicate that these things aren't sticks of dynamite tucked into your junction boxes.



So, what do you think? What's your experience? Have any cool or annoying projects where you've used these things?

Wire nuts- $0.14 ea
WAGO-$0.62ea

I know which ones I’d use.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Wire nuts- $0.14 ea
WAGO-$0.62ea

I know which ones I’d use.

Totally! My only issue was where I had 4-wires. Wire nuts suuuuuck for those, in my experience. I don't do it by trade though, so I'm sure I don't know all of the tribal tricks for stuff like that.

A 4-way IDEAL connector is so fast for those situations.

I don't use them to carry any large load, but for a light fixture no problem. They are UL listed and rated for whatever they are, so in theory they are safe.

The Wago connectors are fantastic. Just be sure the lever doesn’t get raised when pushing the wires back in the box. Testing has shown that they can withstand more overload than a wire nut.

People fuss about their price, but each one isn’t more than a squeeze of .223. So much faster and foolproof for the DIYer. If I were doing big jobs all day on a tight bid, I might be more sensitive to their cost, but for my occasional use, the cost isn’t really a big deal.

BTW, pronounce them “Vago.” They’re German.

quote:

BTW, pronounce them “Vago.” They’re German

That's good to know! We got a Viessmann combi unit and I got that same pronunciation treatment the first time I mentioned it to someone that knew of them.

Wago 100%

Tried a couple, no fires, explosions or radioactive issues.

Biggest issue first time is the wires pulling back out, you have to be sure they are in the block securely and locked in. Operator error, sure, however they are designed for novice or pro use, so just a heads up to be sure they are in correctly.

Similar to the push in wire connections on the back of plugs, appears easier, less wires to bunch up, but you need to be sure they are in and secure.

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:
Then on Easter, at my mom's place, my brother and I are talking house projects and he tells me that the quick connect devices are ONLY supposed to be used for low voltage or lighting runs. "Those things will burn your house down." This, of course, scared me so I started reading and looking around a bit. It seems like he's spewing a lot of nonsense, ...

He is. They're UL-rated. The Wago ones are, anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:
So, what do you think? What's your experience?

I found out about the Wago connectors on DIY Chatoom, where some electricians, particularly the European ones, refer to wire nuts as "fire nuts."

If I'm upgrading or retrofitting a box that already has wire nuts in it and I'm not adding wires, I usually stick with the wire nuts. For everything else I use Wago connectors.

quote:

Originally posted by Veeper:
Have any cool or annoying projects where you've used these things?

Like this?



Same box, stuffed:

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
Wire nuts- $0.14 ea
WAGO-$0.62ea

I know which ones I’d use.

Perhaps if I were building homes or doing electrical contracting I might feel the same, but I'm not. Wago connectors are easier, faster, sometimes neater (see photo, above), and, by some accounts, safer.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Biggest issue first time is the wires pulling back out, you have to be sure they are in the block securely and locked in.

I never had that happen, but I also understood the mechanism and knew to do a pull-test on each wire to verify.

What I did have happen, once, was one of the terminals lost it's mechanical integrity. As I as stuffing the box (might have been the one in the photo) I thought I felt something that didn't feel quite right. Pulled it back out and re-checked everything. Sure enough: One of the terminals in one of the blocks was sprung.

That was a fire hazard, btw.

Maybe it was a defective one. Maybe I over-stressed it. (Fracking 12 ga. is like wiring with coat hanger - grrr.) Dunno.

A knew someone who loved those quick connect things but after doing quite a bit of research on it, I’m sticking with wire nuts.

I’m not so certain those quick connectors are that good or safe a connection compared to a tightly twisted wire nut connection.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Similar to the push in wire connections on the back of plugs

Two different electricians I know and trust told me to NEVER EVER use those push-in connections. The “backwire” are fine as the wire is still held tightly by the screw but the push in connection on receptacles are not good and a fire waiting to happen according to them.

I was just about to post a question about Lever Lock connectors when I saw this thread.

I figured Para might not want another thread with basically the same topic, so here goes, if yall don't mind.

What is the physical strength of a Wago connector?

A little detail: I'm looking at some sort of RV camper for retirement. As a ham radio guy, I'm planning on using a push-up fiberglass type pole as a mast. I won't be using a traditional type antenna, this will be a single wire going up the pole. In this case, it's called an End Fed Half Wave Antenna.

You attach one end of the wire to the top of the push up mast and push it up.

To skip other details, at the bottom near ground level, I will use some sort of connector for connection, one end will attach at one terminal of the lever lock terminal, and a pigtail from the remote tuner will go into the other connection on the lever lock.

I'm looking at the Wago 221-2401 In Line Splice Connectors LINK. I saw these and thought, aha!, it's inline and might be better on a vertical straight up and down wire, although the other kinds of Wagos might work just as well.

The Wago 221-2401 won't be holding up a lot of weight, as it's on the bottom, but wind loading can push wire all around, and that "could" cause a failure. Weight of the line, up to about 25 feet, is probably a pound, and it's held up by a hook at the top of the mast. Hope that makes sense.

Bottom line, I'm just wondering how much physical strength the lever lock can withstand, envision just yanking and pulling on it.

And I might go up to as high as 50 feet or so, maybe, so the line might be 2 pounds, but that isn't really the issue.

I have not been able to get connected with Wago company support for an answer, so I thought I'd ask here.

Really, and I'm repeating, but what I want to know if how much force can be applied without a failure and having wire come loose from the lever lock. Electrical capacity is not an issue, the voltage and current will be low.

Hope that makes sense, thanks in advance.
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^^^ I'd try to use some form of strain relief, so that the connection is independent of any forces of wind or weight of the wire. What kind and guage of wire is used in this application?

Those WAGO 221 connectors are rated for 450v 32A. In other words, way overkill to hook up your LED lights and anything you would plug into a normal 15A 115V wall plug.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
^^^ I'd try to use some form of strain relief, so that the connection is independent of any forces of wind or weight of the wire. What kind and guage of wire is used in this application?

It's 18 AWG Toughcoat, here is a link, you'll have to scroll down about halfway to find it. It's an excellent wire for wire antennas and has a low visibility for those in a HOA or such. It's also quite flexible. LINK to Product

quote:

how much force can be applied without a failure and having wire come loose from the lever lock

See the movie above at 4:08; 35 lbs

quote:

Originally posted by OldChimney:

quote:

how much force can be applied without a failure and having wire come loose from the lever lock

See the movie above at 4:08; 35 lbs

Awesome! Thanks, that answers my question perfectly. I think that will be just fine and will work well for my desired purpose.

Just a thought, however: The wire IS the Antenna. And the Wago will be outside, not hidden in walls, so it will be subject to sunshine and ultraviolet etc, and whatever else the weather throws at it. (Of course during storms I would lower the pole, etc.) The entire idea is to be able to get the pole and wire up, things connected, and operating the radio in 5 minutes or less, also taking the pole and wire down and stored up in 5 minutes so I can get gone.

That's what attracted me to the idea of a Lever Lock Connector, the quick and simple and quite reliable connection.

I figure the sun and ultraviolet (Arizona winter sun) will wreak havoc on the lever lock, and it will mechanically deteriorate and break, and that's fine, they're cheap and I can keep extra spares on hand.

I do think I'll keep researching if there is an alternative, just in case.

Thank you all for your replies, and thanks for letting me jump in on this thread.
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Given your last two replies sounds like just using them replacing them regularly would be best. If it was left in place always I'd say solder and heat shrink plus some strain relief.

^^^^ Thanks Jesse.

Wire nuts, because that's what I've always used and have a metric ton of in my shop.

When I built my house 22 years ago, I used wire nuts and there has not been a problem yet. When inspected I was told I would not make an electrician because I wouldn't make any money as I was too much of a perfectionist.