Absolutely nothing wrong with wire nuts.

I've never used the Wagos so can't much comment on them.

I just put in a couple of dozen Lithonia wafer led lights/

https://www.build.com/lithonia...s1529467?uid=3747986

They come with push-in connectors.

They look like Ideal push-in but I have no idea who actually makes them.

They look like these

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL...e9404f4dee&gclsrc=ds

Real easy to connect to the ceiling.

quote:

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

From what I have seen, virtually all European electricians use Wagos and think wire nuts will burn your house down, and virtually all American electricians use wire nuts and are split between never having heard of Wagos, thinking Wagos will burn your house down, or thinking they're stupidly expensive.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

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.

The reusable lever Wagos (221 series) are expensive compared to wire nuts.

It seems like new construction in Europe generally uses single-use push-in Wagos (773 series) that are much less expensive. The first place I looked had the 4-wire 12-18 AWG ones for $0.12/ea.

It also seems like virtually all American electricians think any kind of push-in connector will burn your house down.

Been using Wago brand connectors on Industrial/Commercial jobs and in-home for years. They are NOT a fire hazard when used properly. Having said that I do not use Chineseium knock-offs.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:


some electricians, particularly the European ones, refer to wire nuts as "fire nuts."

I don’t even think they’re allowed in Europe. IIRC, only North America actually uses wire nuts.

The way the Brits do wiring in general, there’s not much splicing of wiring going on in the first place, they seem to frown on that.

I just picked up some Wago 221's this weekend in prep for doing some work retrofitting old two-prong receptacles around my house to GFCI's.



We just don't have the coin to do a re-wire right now especially with the insane prices I'm seeing for NM cable, no way Jose!

We have a lot of early Romex wiring with either no ground wire or a thinner gauge ground wire going to the majority of the 2-prong receptacles around the house and I'm going to use the Wago connectors to connect pigtails to the new GFCI in each wall box.

I used to knock these new connectors as unsafe but I was basing that on the ones I had seen before which are a push-in design which I still would not trust. These lever ones are really good and seem to lock securely and I only read good things about them online. The wall boxes are old, metal and I think some are grounded because in my basement I can see exposed metal boxes with the ground wire wrapped around the cable clamp, it's like these old school sparkies didn't know what to do with it. If I can test that a box is grounded, I will use a grounding clip with a pigtail to the ground screw on a regular new 3 prong receptacle wherever possible. Otherwise it's going to get a GFCI.

I ran into these years ago while installing machines in Europe. As wire nuts are not allowed in Europe these Wago connectors were widely used and available at the home depot big box equivalents stores in Europe. Myself and my crew would buy up boxes of them and bring them back to use in the States. Ya they were not rated for use in the US but we mostly used them for low voltage controls stuff in machines. Now they are available here. Love them.

I was taught when connecting solid conductors, twisting the wire nut on can't be counted on to make a secure mechanical connection. You use your dykes to twist the conductors together clockwise like a braid and trim the connection down so when you screw on the wire nut there is no bare copper showing. I still occasionally use splice crimps and rubber caps on connections that are permanent but leave long enough leads in case they ever have to be cut off and undone.

A lot of the recessed frames have a push-in style connectors on the leads in their junction boxes. I am still wary of those since the frames are Chinesium in most cases and will still use wire nuts after removing the connectors.