Be honest, how many of these did you catch yourself doing or have done in the past? I think at some point just about everyone has committed at least a few of these at some point.
I remember that I overloaded a couple wirenuts wiring up some outlets in my parent's house. But I was pretty good at checking them before closing it up and in 40 years since the house never burned down. After that I learned the proper way to do things and while not a professional, I do all my own work and help friends as well. I have an assortment of wirenuts of different sizes and just started to use the Wago style connectors.
@Tim Rock-It Saunders wire nuts aren't junk. Actually quite an intelligent design, if you take the time to understand them. Use the right size for the application, follow the strip length and pre-twist, then cut the ends flush with each other before installing the nut. A solid, compact, durable connection never intended to be used in anything that moves. Bus bar in a switch box? How are you going to do that? crimp nut? want to add a pigtail? How are you going to do that? think about it.
Trying to join stranded to solid, mostly for light fixtures. Especially, as is typical, when the stranded from the fixture is so very much smaller than the 14 or 12 gauge solid. Now I exclusively use Wagos for that.
Hi professional European electrician here. Wire nuts are pretty uncommon here, indeed I´ve never seen one in use here. The WAGOs are really hard to open, I can´t imagine that this could happen by accident. (theoretically when you pull in backwards direction only.) And all the information you need to know is printed on them: Voltage, current, wire style, AWG, cross section, even the strip length (as picture for the true length and also as number). Additionally the same information huge on the paper box. So if you are able to read...they are pretty safe. They even have a hole to check voltage without the need to open the connection. Tests show that they are more safe than screwd junctions and as soldered junctions.
I don't think we'll ever se wirenuts used in Europe or the Nordic countries. I use Wago's too or the normal single or double screw block thingies. I prefer the 2773 in most cases where no stranded wires are used - but they are a bit of a bitch to take of sometimes. The 221 are multipurpose, but i feel they can easely open and they are very brittle if a painter has been there, and you can't really reuse them as the levers brake easely..
@@gregs8678 I thought the video was pretty good and informative. I'm not training to be a commercial installer/contractor but just want better solutions to what I'm doing out in the garage.
Been in the electrical industry for 25 years, last 20 being heavy industrial. We started using the WAGO connectors a couple of years ago and they are a much better option than wire nuts. We still have a use for the wire nuts in certain applications but we always tape them up as well.
Yep agree. I've been slowly but surly replacing all nuts with push in or wago clips. I LOVE these things since a lot of my machines have enclosers that becomes impossible to actually spin a nut without doing some gymnastics. These save me so much time and frustration
I agree with taping up the wire nuts in theory but from my experiences opening up old Jboxes, the adhesive on the tape doesn't hold up very well over the years and comes unraveled.
I enjoy doing minor electrical projects around the house, but I want to do them properly. Folks like yourself who share your knowledge really helps! Thank you!
I love the WAGOs. Your starter frame just shows, "Bad" and points to the Wago which would lead people to think they are a bad option when they are really a great option and probably the safest option for beginner \ DIYers who would make some of the other mistakes you pointed out with the twist caps. Thanks for the videos.
DIY guy here.... Never had any of the shown issues with the WAGOs. If you have concerns with the levers or little space in a box, there are lever-less connectors as well (which work with solid wires only). 👍🏼
@@RolandsDad I don't know much about these connectors, but you seem to have a strong opinion about it. What is wrong with using stranded wire with these?
According to Wago they work with wires that has few strands (and solid ones as well). There might be two types. The Wago 2773 can use wires with few strands but the Wago 2273 seems to be for only solid wires.
@@danielwurmer2266 They rely on pushing force to load the retaining springs. With stranded wire, you cannot deliver sufficient pushing force without getting the strands messed up. It's like trying to penetrate without erection. Surely, by luck you may get a few of the strands into the spring-loaded contacts, working until the few connected strands get overloaded by the current meant to be distributed between all strands of the wire... Exceptions may be the wires with just a few, solid strands, sturdy enough to deliver the pushing force.
I love Wagos, they are fantastic especially when you are on a ladder trying to terminate a fixture with one hand. If you are not convinced, they are German engineered and I have been using them for decades and never had one fail.
I agree. The older Wago 222's were quite bad, but obviously still better than wire nuts, however the Wago 221's are just amazing. Been using them for around seven years.
I had a Volkswagen and it was German “engineered” to cost me a fortune. Had to basically take the engine out to change a light bulb. Whatever a repair cost on a decent car cost 4X that for a VW. Thing was always in the shop. German engineered is trash. I’ll stick with 3M. Best products in the world.
35 year elevator mechanic here. I’ve used wirenuts for every wire 14 gauge and larger, both stranded and solid wire. Used to be the only approved connectors for >14 ga. were Kearny’s and wirenuts. You have to properly tighten them, and if you’re dealing with vibration, I was taught to wrap the finished connection tightly with electrical tape. Never had one come loose, including ones I had done decades ago that I needed to cut off because they were too tight to undo manually.
Same here. Started as industrial electrician around 1992. Still scared of wagos. Prob because I was always dealing with vibration. And wagos make me think of back stabbing. I ALWAYS twisted the wires with lineman pliers first because I've seen so many solid wire tips pierce through end of connector before the wires twisted to what I felt was proper. 1-2 turns below wire nut. And super 33 or 88 always got stretched over. Today they say no stretching of tape at all? Never had a failure...I'll stick with experience.
When in an industrial environment and specifically motor applications we always recommended bolt, lock and nut then three layers of tape starting with flex rubber, then standard scotch and finally friction over the connection. Worked great and accomodated all our concerns specific to shock, start-up currents, high heat and vibration. Good comment on elevators as safety is a huge factor. Cheers.
@@davidyansky6605 First one I did (dating myself here) was full wrap of cambric tape, full, tight wrap of rubber tape, then full wrap of plastic 33 electrical tape. They showed me the sticky asphalt-soaked cotton electrical tape they used to use before that had 33. Fun times!
Professional electrician here. I've worked in many houses and commercial buildings. My company does everything with WAGO. It grips the wire really well, it's really easy to make a proper connection and tests show it can handle electric issues much better than any other connectors. We use wire strippers to get perfect amount of wire isolation removed. I never faced the issues pointed in this video.
I started my apprenticeship 5/91. The journeyman i tooled with taught me to pre twist the wires and to put the stranded wire just past the solid one. Over 3 decades later I'm still doing it with success. I've just come across the Wago and plan to use them for connecting control valve wiring on a job this summer. Great video my late tool buddy would give it a thumbs up.
@@gnaskinyAnWinyan Ummm, NO. Tape just ends up a gooey mess. The only time you MUST tape a wire nut is if there is some odd requirement from the AHJ. Wire nuts installed correctly are what the NEC calls for.
@@uisignorant Imagine being the electrician getting the approved electrical designs that say "All wire nuts must be taped in place where they cannot be removed without first removing the tape."
At least you believe he would. Everyone thought i would love them as I do trouble shooting and diagnostics. They're great, imo, for temporary testing purposes, but I'd never leave them in equipment I'm signing off on. Unless someone insisted I use them. Then I'd be requiring a hold harmless, that I always have. No one seems to believe in them as much when I ask them to sign it for either of the two reputable mfgrs. The off shoots I never touch. Either the connection method goes back to what was specified, or I go to someone else's job. I don't risk my reputation or livelihood or my ability to provide for my family, for nobody, let alone one project or one job. Why do that?
@@johnathonbraun341Try military work. Don't want to do this? No problem. Don't take the job. Take the job and don't do what you've agreed to? Get an attorney, fast. You're going to be prosecuted. You've agreed to be prosecuted when you signed the contract"S". And no one with sense turns down military work. Turn it down once? You'll never get another chance to turn down another.
The Wagos are experiencing the same resistance as PEX , shark bites and pVC did with plumbers. I have been using the stab in Wagos and now the lever locks for years and never had a problem. You should probably put the line feed wire in the labeled lever chamber as good practice and always pull on the wires to be sure they are seated. As a bonus , the Wago lever types have a small probe hole if you need to check for voltage or continuity. Like anything ,you have to do a little research and reading and follow the directions.
I needed something for making quickly temporarily connections during renovation, so i tried wagos because that was quick and reusable. I did not feel resistance. I only felt like why this didn't exist when i was young,? Now my lighting circuits are all connected with wago and if i feel like reconfiguring or adding something, i can do it in minutes without even switching off the electricity. For the outlets i don't use wago though. For that i still use the same massive 5 pole screw terminal as 40 years ago. It's still 100% mount compatible, only made of cheaper materials now and the machining of the copper is not so clean as 40 years ago. But ok it became cheaper for the same functionality. Anyway, i bet wago will also still be there in 40 years.
Years ago there was so much hate around shark bites, I am SO GLAD I used them for my recent water heater change. Professionals might mind the extra cost over convenience for things like shark bites and wago connectors, but for DIY it's all cheaper than hiring someone to do it for you.
Because wagos, like pex and shark bites are lazy assed contractor in and out crap. Fast and convenient for them, but a pain in the ass for the home owner at 2am when your shark bite lets go or your dumb pex takes a piss inside your walls.
@@steverich136 What are you talking about, I've never seen contractors using anything but the cheap wire nuts because they care more for low cost over convenience. Sounds like you're talking about an incompetent contractor.
Thanks for this. I'm an old school home handyman and enjoyed the first bit of the video about pre-twisting the wires. It's the way my dad taught me 50 years ago when I was still young enough to learn from him. He often used solder and cloth tape cause that's how he originally learned in his youth. Yeah, also a family taught home handyman. Never even seen the WAGO connector in any of my previous homes so I know a bit more today than yesterday.
I just started using them for home projects about a month ago. They're great! I picked some up on Amazon, didn't really look around the brick and mortar stores
Just an FYI... those Ideal Tan wire nuts fit right in the 5/16th socket driver on a typical 10-in-1 screwdriver. really saves the fingers when trimming out a house and you're doing dozens of wire nut connections.
NICE!! Gonna steal that bit of info and take all the credit. I'll fess up in my will. Would you be OK with thst? If not, I never brought up the subject. Just a thank you for being smart!!
@@nothankyou5524 yea no worries, it's not top secret info. I believe Ideal themselves advertised it for awhile. If it helps someone else, then all the better.
A lot of this video mistakes are why I stopped using wire nuts and prefer WAGO connectors, they work great and are way easier to get a good connection. Of course you still have to strip the wires according to the strip guide. A word from the wise, dont trust any knock offs of the wago connectors. The cheapos have very poor contact area on the wire and small levers that are harder to operate. Great educational video and you covered the topics very well ! Good work.
No reason to use wire nuts anymore. However so far I have seen 2, 3 and 5 pole Wago connectors, but recently I would have liked to have a 10 pole. The reason is that the cable I was installing had both a shielding and a separate protective ground wire and they can be wired together at each end. The cable has the quite complex designation S07Z1A5EZ1-U but is more known as EQLQ in Sweden and is very common for outdoor and industrial use. The shield can either be to just protect against penetration or used as a signal ground. But it depends on your specific use case.
Spent ten years installing and repairing cable. All the sizes for cutting the wires on the big stuff, 1/2 inch or bigger, was on the linemen's pliers. the wire sticking out the end of a standard fitting, used on tv, was the thickness of a nickel, or the size of the Klien lineman's pliers from the cutting side, the length of center conductor going into the amps on the telephone poles was the width of the pliers, etc. there was also one for the thickness of the pliers. I am curious if the stripping guide for the WAGO is on the lineman's pliers also, or maybe the width of your wire strippers, which could be brand specific. I know using the lineman's pliers to cut the lengths of the center conductor saved a lot of time so you didn't have to hold the wire, a fitting and the cutters all while 20' literally above traffic was nice, one less thing to have to hold when you were afraid of heights.
@Dev JB it´s the first time I´ve hear about problems with WAGOs. Correct usage provided. I´ve tried to find objective information. Could you please share some. Most - even USA - sites tell that WAGOs are more reliable than the twist ones. Whole Europe relies on WAGOs. Never heard of quality problems causing fire or so.
@Dev JB Your comment vanished, but here's my reply anyways. "I'm not going to slander..." *It's not slander if it's true.* You saying it would be slander to name them implies your statement is untrue. Naming them would allow electricians to verify wago are not allowed before using them and failing an inspection. "Trust me bro" is poor evidence to back your statements. "It is well documented" *No it isn't.* You know what is well documented? Wago connectors meet NEC code, which is the electric code adopted by all 50 states. If they had the high failure rate you claim, they would be disallowed by NEC code. If you didn't want to be in a pissing match, you should not have started one.
I love your mention of the WAGO connectors. I started using them in industrial work several years ago because you never know when you might need to move, remove, or update either a circuit or a heavy device like a motor. I've seen more than enough stranded wire just totally messed up and continually shortened by using wirenuts. The result is usually inadequate wire available for solid contact.
Absolutely! Wire Nuts versus Wago's is a "no contest" for me. Wago's are head and shoulders better than wire nuts will ever be even if properly used they way they need to be. Too many times I have seen the "professional" install of wire nuts on my jobsites and it just makes me cringe!. In all fairness I am sure the wire nuts we done as a "repair" and not part of the original install so probably not inspected for code.....but....doesn't matter. Wago's are now main stream as well as HD carries them. Best Tip...only buy actual Wago's: not the knock offs you can find elsewhere...
@@hansmanschaft2593 Even in a home install I've seen some wire nuts installed where they left very little spare wire for any future use. It's like the electrician was just showing off by leaving a bundle of 5 wires in a nut with no slack left. But I like lever connectors (WAGO 221 or Ideal In-Sure L2) where they do little damage to the wire where the wire end can be reused in the future and it doesn't need to be stripped.
I've been watching vids in preparation for installing a pendant - and then to figure out why it didn't work (lol). Huge problem with a lot of them is that the person talks through what they're doing BUT they don't show close ups. "Then you twist the wires into..." but showing the guy saying that instead of the wires so you have no idea what they actually did or what it should look like. This video cleared up about 10,000 (okay - hyperbole - but after all of these vids it feels that way!) questions and misunderstandings in less than 15 minutes. Just wish I'd found this one first! Great job.
I've been frustrated with many videos for the same reasons you mentioned. Not only with wiring but lots of things. Like guitar lessons. A lot of those guys should watch some videos before they make videos. LOL. I appreciate videos like this that SHOW how to do it, as well as why.
The Wago levers are pretty hard to lift and unless you pull the wires and the level catches on a cover edge or something, there is no way it's opening by a little jostling. (Assuming you chose the right Wago size for your wires etc.) Clamping the levers down manually does nothing to the spring force inside the Wago. The wires are held in place by a spring and lifting the lever by half a millimeter, or whatever play there is, does nothing.
I might be a derp but I just bought my first set of wago connectors and had this exact thing happen to me. I caught it immediately and rectified before continuing to stuff the wires in the box but a little electrical tape will probably go on my future connectors just to simplify. Especially for my application with smart switches - things get tight REALLY quickly.
As long as the lever isn't actually open, as you note, the lever not being fully down doesn't do much. At the point the cam action of the lever engages with the spring to compress it, there's a good deal of resistance to the lever opening. Anywhere from completely closed to where it starts to meet resistance, the spring has as much pressure against the wire as it ever will. There have been teardowns and even tests where a WAGO 221 was pushed well beyond its current rating. I saw one test from WAGO that showed maybe 5x the rated current going through until it melted. Even with all the plastic melted, the springs maintained the connection with the bus bar.
Thanks for the tips. Just when you use the piers to twist the cable together, make sure that you twist it the same direction as you would twist it with the wire nut. Otherwise, the twisting done later by the wire nut, may untwist the previous twisting you have done before.
I remember being a first year and they asked if I twisted or spliced the wires... well gee what's the difference? I could tell you making the twist below the nut was a no no in the residential commercial jobs I was part of. The secure mechanical electrical connection was to be at the conductors contact as a pre twist could potentially unravel. As an apprentice I didn't argue. Stop thinking about it and get it done some would say. That wire nut should not come off after a test tug. Try it on some spare wire first because some wire nuts can be faulty. Of course you can't re use the the one you tested but the rest should be uniform.
I have found wirenuts in walls remodeling that were actually split open. One had 12 gauge wires in it like you demonstrated, but rather than change the nut they added a couple outlets by undoing that nut and cramming another 2 wires in. It was hilarious, and a bit scary. Side note: I ripped every wall down, and redid all the wiring properly. It's odd, but I enjoy waking up not on fire. I'm just weird that way.
Damn straight it is! If you were in a situation of passing an inspection by an NEC officicial you're gonna eat that job when it has to be ripped out and done to code@@crosisofborg5524
Quality and important content. Too easy for folks to learn just enough electrical to be dangerous by watching random UA-cam videos and these "top wiring mistake" videos are essential. I think the algo may even push them for safety's sake.
That's right, the safety aspect of these videos is the most important part of electrical work especially when we have all these racist illegal aliens doing most of the construction work not knowing anything about electrical safety. I see it every day at work.
All of these are great to know, and they follow a very important rule: A good electrical connection requires a good mechanical connection. This was hammered into my head when I started as a technician over 40 years ago, and it is still the #1 rule to follow.
This adds a good layer of robustness. I usually try to pre-twist, but with this explanation I feel a greater necessity for this level of detail and I shall improve my method. Thanks!
When closed correctly, which is no big deal, never had a failed Wago connection for 16+ years. Made wiring in several production facilities. It gives flexibility and saves a lot of time. As per wire twisting, as the colleague said, these units are not common in Europe. However, after proper twisting pattern with pliers, we use an insulated ‘cap’ that has a tightening screw and is insulated. Everything is rock solid. Great video, mate! People should be aware that improper wiring is pure risk and danger.
Good timing for asking for a thumbs up. I see people asking for this right at the beginning. I'm not giving a thumbs up until I've watched your video. Others won't ask at all and I'll forget this helps you and costs me nothing. Happy to give you a thumbs up after explaining two solid core wires.
I have been doing DIY wiring since circa 1955 and am prepping for my final rewiring of an old house. I am sure I am guilty of the mistakes you illustrate. I will be doing a much better (and safer) job this time, thanks to you.
@@henkerj are you old enough to know what a "ding-batter" was? I didn't start pulling wire until 1981, so you have a few years on me. Good luck with your project.
I've done a lot of wago usage, never ever did the leavers open while pushing them into a box. Also for boxes you often use the wago without levers. Same as the wire nuts, you have to use them how they are intended. Then they are safe and much nicer to use.
@@jstone1211 I agree. Now when you buy light fixtures (such as LED pot lights) they come with Wago clips instead of wire nuts. It's the future for sure. One thing he didn't say in this video is that those Wago clips are rated for current and voltage (in his case 20A/300V Wagos were used - written on the side of the Wago clip).
@@joireland just like everything, there is a use/place to use them. key is knowing the when/where. I will use them on 15A lighting circuits but not on the 20 amp receptacles although they are rated 20 amps...just my personal preference. I usually take the conservative approach....
@@jstone1211Most electricians are slow to change. In the UK you only see Wago connectors (hard to find those old wire nuts anymore - especially in Germany). Something you probably didn't realize based on your comment. There's 30A Wago clips called Wago 221-612. You can also get 3 connector (Wago 221-613) and 5 connector (Wago 221-615) variants. For the 5 wire variant you can also leave some of the connectors empty and still pass code.
@@joireland thanks I will get a few to try...great sharing info from across the pond. Here in America, all hell is breaking lose so...hard to tell if we will make it another five years.
Master Electrician here, 38 years in the trade, i switched to Wago 2 years ago. I sold my stock of twist nut 1/2 price to a competitor who was looking at me like a stupid guy for selling my new stuff so cheap. Needless to say, i was looking back at him as the stupid one who can’t progress. Once you go Wago, you never go back to twist nuts. Yes they are more expensive, but i charge everything i install, so in the end, they are more payfull and a breeze to work with.
Smart. It’s so funny to see how crappy US installations are done compared to e.g. Germany. The material used is so much better and its not left to accidents. And with 230V we have even only half the currents you need on 110V (at the same wattage). Of course it need to be operated and installed to the book, but then its fast and very secure. How would you compare a few hundred of extra cost for proper material to a burnt down house.
I have been a DIYer since my dad made me do all of the work starting at age 10 or so. Most of the problems you stated are common sense and people making them have no business doing their own wiring... When people ask for me to do wiring for them I usually tell them to hire a professional though, because me wiring my house is one thing, but someone else's needs a person that is bonded.
To be fair, while the laws may be different where you are from, where I am, a non compliant household is the responsibility of the owner. Unless it was signed off by a registered person within about 2 years and no changes have been made to the installation since then, in which case they will be held responsible. This is why you get a professional to do it. If your house burns down it will be considered negligence on the owners part, even if they got a qualified person to do the installation but did not get a registered person to ensure it was compliant and sign it off as such.
I'm glad I just watched this video. For 30 years I didn't pre-twist with the thought that it was correct but never confirmed it. Yesterday I decided to pre-twist when I installed a furnace motor. I have no idea why, maybe subconsciously doubting the process I had used for years considering I have never had any formal training and have heard electricians do it that way. Glad to learn my way is okay. My thought now is how long would I have pre-twisted if I hadn't watched this video. lol. Thank you! Edit: I forgot to mention how many of those mistakes I have made? All of them! Thank you for keeping homeowners safe!
It's better when twisted however if you have to take it apart hot(which I know as a electrician of 30 plus years never happens) those twists can make life tricky.
If you look on the packaging for the wirenuts, it’ll actually be printed whether you should pretwist the wires, or if it’s not required. I always pretwist my joints because there are less chances of joints coming loose. And to Brandon: yes, I am ALWAYS thankful the previous guy pretwisted the wires when I have to take a circuit apart hot.
Your wiring connection technique is like Schrodinger's Cat. The wires are twisted, not twisted or partially twisted all at the same time until you go back and check them or one of them cause a fire.🙃
@@J_Trask Most instructions say that pretwisting is acceptable but not required. As long as all wires are securely in the spiral and tightened to a reasonable point (but not too tight because I've seen wires break), the connection will be electrically/mechanically sound.
@@jamescole3152 Why does it need to hold on to 100 lbs ?? I believe/know.. yep, female ^retired now^ electrician here) that Electric wires aren't ment to hold even close such weights..
@@mademoisellekaya1438 meant to hold != can hold; obviously the statement is simply suggesting that a good wire nut is simply more secure. Also, I noted you didn't address the conductive point.
@@cwtrex Why should I have to go into the conductive point. That was not my point. I am from the generation that threw away those darn wire nuts, the first female Electricians in the early 90's . And no, not French as may the name suggest. And yeah, European.
@@mademoisellekaya1438 But WHY did you throw them away? The point here is supposedly wire nuts (good ones that is) have better conductivity and holding strength. You haven't made a single point as to why you would throw them away or why you would disagree. And I don't understand what anything else you've said has to do with anything relating to those points other than distract from them. Not sure if you are simply looking for a high five or whatever, but I am more interested (regardless of your background) as to why you might disagree with the point that was made.
This was invaluable advice to aid me in installing a smart light switch in my kitchen. I struggled to the point of giving up for more than a year because of the three solid wires I'd need to join to the stranded wire of the light switch for the neutral connection. The Wagos really helped with this.
I'm an electrician in the UK, we use Wago connectors a lot these days and have virtually zero problems with them, they are pronounced 'Vaaaygo', I think it's German. I have seen a 'wire nut' only twice in my whole career, back in my apprenticeship, they were used for lighting circuits only, back when we had rubber cables in the 50's and 60's! I remember they were small and ceramic. They are now illegal for use in the UK (for the last 40 years at least) and rightly so.
Modern wire nuts are not illegal in the UK. There are several sources for them in the UK. They're uncommon in the UK, but that doesn't mean they're illegal. I was looking for some on a UK website, and I found KEW Electrical in Cheshire sells Ideal twist-on wire connectors, including Twister, Wire-Nut (which is Ideal's trademark), and Wingnut.
Wire nuts have pretty much disappeared in Europe over more reliable and fast connectors that use springs. Lever Wagos and push connectors (wago 2773 for example) are just reliable and cut down installation time considerably. Lever wagos are more expensive, but they are used where stranded wire is needed. The thing that you might want to consider with these connectors is that spring-loaded connectors will not loosen due to thermal explansion. Any screw connector will loosen over time, and this can cause fires. The wire loosening completely out of the connector is actually not that dangerous. But wires loosening just enough to cause sparking is something that can cause fires. The wires heat up and eventually melt. This is why flame retardant plastics are used literally everywhere, and connections are done inside plastic or metal housings that contain the potential fire. The industrial automation sector is moving heavily towards spring-loaded connectors in all applications since most industrial machines experience heat variation and vibration.
It's great to hear a electrician be concerned about fire . I see so many of these you tube videos where guys go from the outside to inside, just drill a hole thrue the wall and pus the wires thru , I recomend to go up to fire department and ask About those dangers . Of causing a home to burn. Because they dont understand pipe . Hats off to you iam 35 years in ibew 134 and never 1 time used romex . Take care bro.
Those type of uncrimped wire-nuts are totally banned here in Australia, & I doubt that those Wago fittings are legal either as I've never seen them before! Screw-terminal blocks are the predominate & safest wiring method nationally!
@@stevie-ray2020 the issue with screw terminals is that they sometimes dont screw in properly, and sometimes they loosen over time. youd experience this quite frequently if you work in industry. Wago lever has a spring that completely solves this issue.
Europe isn't using 120V like we do in the US though, so aren't you typically working with lower amperage where heat is less of an issue and the risk of melt is significantly lower?
As an electrician, I appreciate your video. It has good and accurate information and highlights some of the DYI mistakes many home owners make. Those mistakes keep me in a job however:)
I’ve been a commercial electrician for 19 years. My take from this…read the instructions. It’s all right there as with anything you do. All your power tools, your lawnmower, your vehicle, etc. If you just carefully read the instructions you won’t fail
The problem with instructions, sometimes they aren't complete. I just installed 2 lights, and the box for the lights came with wire nuts, and there was no mention of twisting the wire. I twisted the bare wires(1 solid, 1 stranded) inside the wire nut, but didn't twist the wires(with insulation) outside the wire nuts. Now, I'm going to have to open up the light and redo it after watching this video.
@@quasistellar I redid them with WAGO's. Won't go back to wire nuts. So much simpler. Also, I am aware of the pitfall of the WAGO's, so I made sure to hold the levers when pushing them back into the box.
is actually mostly click bait! most of his point between bad and good method is actually done with twisting the nut more tile in winded! 1 and 3 for sure!!!
Great job on providing awareness and safety! One item not covered is the non-lever "Way-Go" which is typically used in the industry, especially since the lever model is still starting to gain popularity. But from a cost point (I have purchased >100K) the non-level is much more economical and has less chance of, as you stated, pushing the lever and releasing the wire. Another good point with the "Way-Go" is that you can test the voltage through the top holes without exposing yourself to any bare copper.
There are a lot of different manufacturers of push-in wire connectors. Ideal probably has more of that market in North America than WAGO. The only one I saw at home didn't look that secure (one of the wire was actually out) and I took it apart and wasn't terribly impressed by the design. However, others like Ideal or WAGO seem to have a more secure design in my opinion. Those have a way to release solid wires, by twisting and pulling simultaneously. I get that some people claim it means that they're not secure, but it doesn't realistically reflect what would happen in a box. However, I've tried removing stranded wire from one and it just wouldn't come out. Had to just cut it off and strip. I ended using an Ideal lever connector to replace it.
As a retired electrician, I can say that I have never had a wire connection come loose, ever ! While I did use Ideal wire nuts (the non-winged version), I also used 3M brand wire nuts. OH... There's an inexpensive installation tool just for those wingless nuts...
I wondered about that from a pro's point of view. There are 10k of these videos like all wire nuts or connectors are on a moving ship and coming loose. I dunno, but probably should be 10k videos on how to drive more safely LOL then wire nuts and wago connectors that probably come loose 1 in 100000000 occurrences.
42 years in the trade and I'm 100% in agreement with you. I never had an issue with any brand of wirenut. 3-M or Ideal, they work everytime all the time. I also hear non electrical terms "solid core vs. stranded core" and "braiding. He just sounds like another WAGO salesperson.
How would you know if they ever came apart after you've left. A year down the track, and they wouldn't come looking for the original sparky (electrician)
I have always though I was a pretty good amateur electrician for home repairs or projects. I have gone through 3 or 4 inspections and never had a problem, although a licensed electrician lost when he had to install one outlet on our house after a fire. I did both the electrical demo and rewire, but an electrician had to do something, and that outlet was it. I have watched several of your videos and learned a lot about little details and hidden tricks. I am about to rewire a garage after purchasing a new home (to us) and the rewire will be extensive. I will use much of what I have learned watching your videos and thank you for them.
In my personal experience, which while not infinite does stretch back to the 1970s, I have never seen a professional electrician pre-twist wires. All I have seen is twisting the wire nut tight and then going until you have 2-3 twists in the wire. As you neatly demonstrate that produces essentially the same end result as the pre-twisting with a lot less time and effort. Getting the right size wire nut and the right amount of bare wire are going to be huge factors in how well they work. I haven't used wagos yet, but they are intriguing and will probably make an appearance in my next wiring project.
Yes, you should really try the Wagos. My whole house electrics are done with those. Most of the time with the ones w/o the lever, though. Easy to install, to measure (!) and to change.
Pre-twisting is what we were taught in school. I'm sure this is done as requested from the professional field. Don't know how else you would weld 4 or even 5 wires reliably.
The Wago connectors come in different sizes to suit different wire gauges. If you use one that is too small for the wire gauge, then it will cut the wire, as shown in the video. You just have to make sure that the right size is used for the right wire.
@@gary851 So wrong. These are standard in so many commercial buildings now. You just have to use the right ones, with the right wires, in the right places.
@@DansDrives exactly. I used them on all the high voltage lighting 12 years ago. The push in kind not the lever kind, but it made working on live circuits much safer, and any facility electrician knows there's no other way to get it done at times. Now on my military jobs they always required terminal strips. I wonder if these wago connections would be ok. Would have made the job much easier...
@@beentheredonethatoriginals5673 The push in kind is very good for solid strand conductors I hear. Mechanically it's about the same as the levered model but there's no easy way to get the wire back out.
Thanks for the video on this. I've worked in industrial automation/maintenance/engineering for well over a decade, and simply due to inexperience with residential work, cause me to put projects off I know need done, your videos are extremely helpful and easy to follow. A lot of my desire but procrastination to work on my house is due to how much I know I have had to learn in industrial applications, and I'm always worried I'm going to miss something (especially everyday things like this, that say, an electrician would just know) working on my house since I don't have experience in that area. I can install and program a robot cell, and an industrial 480 cabinet, but I don't have much experience with simple outlets lol as crazy as that sounds. Your videos have helped immensely and they are extremely easy to follow. Thank you for your time and effort!!!
25 years ago I wired a 24 unit senior housing, apartment building. All connections were made with Ideal tan "Twisters" . I have never had a single call-back on a failed connection. I still use mini blue nuts and small orange ones, usually for lighting applications, but the tan "Twister" is my everyday nut. 30+ year master electrician....
Depends. A lot of DIY work is dealing with just whatever is available in the junction box in older homes that have antiquated splices. I cut off a twisted/soldered/taped splice (that was probably installed before I was born). I underestimated the wire nut size needed to connect 3 12 AWG wires with limited wire/room to work with. It slipped out, I diagnosed why two downstream outlets wern't working, and I connected it with a red wire nut. But I think Ideal's tan Twister would have been fine. Those twisted and soldered connections were a huge pain. Even if I was OK with electrical tape, some of them were so bulky that it was hard to fit a GFCI receptacle in the box - especially a narrow box.
@@ypw510 Those soldered connections usually had friction tape on them. Here in the Catskills I have dealt with a bunch of those splices.... Imagine lugging a soldering iron around with you ???
I just had an electrician out to do a 240w EV install and to troubleshoot a breaker that keeps tripping. I think you may have just helped me solve my DIY and the trip issue. Thank you. Most helpful! P.S. He replaced the breaker and offered to come back to help further if it continues to trip. Great guy.
Thank you. This was very interesting. My husband is not an electrician, but learned enough along the way that he wired an entire addition to our house with my help. He taught me all I know. When the code inspector came by, he said that the wiring was better than some he'd seen contractors do. I've never seen a Wago, but they look interesting. We always twist the wires before putting the nut on. We have found some pretty disastrous situations in some of the houses we've lived in. Our current dining room light put out a giant spark with a loud pop, while we were eating dinner. One of the wires had come out and contacted the metal housing. We were lucky we were here and that it just shorted itself, thus avoiding the fire. Electricity is fairly simple, but you have to go by the rules or there will be disaster. Thanks again.
I am extremely impressed with what I learned from this video. I have wired 12vdc for many years and thought I was doing just fine. You pointed out several techniques I had not considered...and will be following from now on. As I said...extremely impressed with this video. Thank you,
Bless you for making this video, sir… I’m a single woman in my first house and no one to help me with these things and im on a fixed income so I can’t afford to pay someone to do these things for me so bless you
I am a big fan of Wago connectors so I keep getting hooked in every time I see Shots like yours with a "BAD" pointing at the WAGO. I always know it will be too much or not enough insulation, but you get me to watch... just in case.
Good video. The number one place I've seen wire nuts come loose is in an attic. Numerous time on service calls I've found the heating and cooling cycle of the attic will loosen the connections made by DIY'ers adding lighting or ceiling fans. Poor wire connections (not twisted as shown) sometimes causes burning/melting of the wire nuts. As an apprenticeship instructor I always taught that you had to twist the wires and not rely on the wire nuts for the connections.
It has to be just right though. Overtightening can break off wire ends. Not enough and it can be vulnerable to coming out. I don't really like pretwisting. I prefer to have a look at the inside of the wire nut if possible to make sure that all the wires are buried in the spiral. Overheating is only going to come from a marginal connection that creates a high resistance. Pulling completely out might be better than just barely hanging on.
@@ypw510 As always, experience is the key to making a good splice. Having wire nuts come loose when amateurs make splices proves nothing about the reliability of wire nuts. Those people should probably be using those overpriced Wago things instead...
In my old, extensive and poorly wired house, I need to do this job at least once per week. Only yesterday...... I have frequently wondered what is the best practice when joining wires. Thank you for showing me the safest way to do it. Thank you!
Great video. Thanks for the reminder on how to properly use wire-nuts. In the walls next to my washing machine, I twisted the wires as you stated, then I soldered the connections, then I crimped a Closed End Splice Connector over them & finally used electrical tape over them. It may be overkill, but I feel it is better safe than sorry, since my kids continue to overload the washer & it dances around on the floor bouncing against the walls.
@@69BTony I found a lot of soldered and taped connectors and cut all of them out. I don't trust electrical tape to hold for years. A properly tightened wire nut should be fine.
@@ypw510 I found some splices in Turkey that were 3 inches of 14 equivalent copper solid twisted together and taped. In Germany they use set screw type connections. In Iraq I saw a yellow and green conductor coming out of a 220V breaker. I guess it is just what you get used too.
Excellent presentation. Great information for the lay person. Wish every homeowner could see this video . I have been doing it wrong for years . I’ve been lucky so far in my 35 plus years of home repairs. I always use electrical tape around the wire nut and the wires. Thanks for the great information !
I never heard of WAGO levers being opened accidentally. Only option I see is that the lever was never really closed in first place. BTW: when dealing with solid wires, you can also use the WAGOs with no lever, push in, let the spring do the securing. BTW: it looks as if you have taken off the insulation too much. Usually the WAGOs have printed the correct stripping length (usually 12mm) on the case. Wire nuts may have have their advantages and disdavantages, but I wonder if you really can connect 8 wires with drilling. No problem for a 2273 WAGO.
I've had a wago lever pop open several times when doing rework on a crowded box full of twisted and wire nutted connections. Specifically, this has been in 3 and 4 gang switch boxes, with 4 and 5 conductor twisted/wire-nutted connections that are bulky and don't fold in well - especially when it's a box full of 12ga. I have not had this issue in an all wago box -- the conductors fold in much better without the thick twisted pigtail
Great Video. I hate using wire nuts for anything. I normally twist them as you show but i always use electric tape to be certain they will never come apart. I know never say never but it greatly reduces the chances. I have never used the lever type but I like your Idea of using tape also with those. I am no more than a DIY'er but I am extremally concerned with the potential for fire. I mostly do this wiring in my own garage and sometimes in my own home. I just hate wire nuts and even worse with stranded and solid. But I feel a lot more confident now that I have watched this video and of course I have read the packaging none the less I feel much better about using the regular wire nuts. And in addition I do not use the cheap ones that come with anything. Always IDEAL is my choice. Especially pig tailing. Great video. Thank you and I will try the clip on ones at some point. I would guess they are not cheap but for peace of mind what is expensive?
Other guys channel showed even partially closed (improperly) they hold 20 lbs of force pulling on it. WAY more than it should ever see inside a box. 27 lbs when fully properly closed.
Trow out the wire nuts, use WAGO. The time and problems you save completely erase the extra cost of the WAGO connector. They're also about the most reliable thing I've ever used to connect wiring, with very few very niche exceptions.
@@Hoops-Senior Wagos only connect at on very narrow point just like the push-in connectors on cheap outlets or light switches. Wires twisted together and held by wire nuts have a LOT more connection between them.
@@jimbritttn That’s why they have their current rating printed on EVERY connector. WAGO expects their users to be able to read! 🤔 maybe not suitable for the US market, after all. 🤣
I agree most issues raised start from user error and neglagance if people cant read whats on a connector they should not be working with electricity.@@Hoops-Senior
Very helpful, thank you very much. I've done the wire-nut things too often, but I've had the common sense to wrap all my connections up with electrical tape. Thus far no fires or equal, but I'll be sure to double check my connections and redo them when I get the chance.
I was always taught to divide the strands and pretwist, then screw the nut in twisting and once the nut is secure, wrap the bottom of the nut down to the wires with electrical tape to keep moisture out of getting inside the wire nut and secure it better at the same time. What are your thoughts on that?
You're more advanced than this guy. The only problem with that method is if the wires get hot (won't happen in a home, generally, but if when you fold the nut down and wrap you run the danger of putting a crimp in the wires which will increase the chances of them getting hot) the tape will slide off. Really only a problem in vehicle or outdoor applications. Wire nuts really are not for permanent connections, and anything that needs tape to secure would benefit from a different style connector. If you're already pretwisting then a shrink tube would be a better solution, imho.
Yes heat shrink everything so whenever you go to change something out you have the headache of having to cut the wires way back and redoing everything. Heat shrinking is for completely permanent connections and not used in most residential applications.
Well I changed out a light fixture to a fan the other day, I have been slowly updating all of the light switches in my house, and sometimes I decide to replace them with smart switches so more often than never. I would never want to make my splices that permanent because you never know when you may want or need to change something. Only places I use butt connectors or heat shrink is on my AC, well pump, places like that.
I just want to give thanks for you taking the time to make these videos and explaining them so people actually understand. By far you make the best videos I've seen!! Most of the videos I see people post they skip over the most important part that just happens to be the reason you're watching the video in the first place so you find yourself rewinding and pausing so you can see if you just missed it or see if u can kind of figure out what it looked like before and after they skipped over that part. As I train people that make medical and military equipment it's very important that you are patient and actually go step by step so that they understand it completely. Like I said most people will skip over certain steps and what's the point of making a video because there's always going to be somebody that knows one step but not the next and that's why we need videos like you post. So I appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to help people like me and let you know there are people out there that do appreciate it so thanks again
Wow! That voltmeter reading was a real eye-opener! I've always figured you either have contact, or you don't - but that demo showing how an improperly stripped wire may have partial contact (I think?) and show voltage on a NCVD, but only around 5 volts on the DVM? WOW! Thanks for excellent info with great visuals, demos and clear explanations!
Although it technically can happen, that part on the video is fake, you can clearly see after he uses the non contact tool he cuts the video and switches to a different video clip using the meter and shows around 5v
It happened. There is a cut only to not waste everyone’s time screwing around with getting the NCVD set down, the probes in hand, and making sure the camera isn’t going out of focus. Nothing was messed with in between.
@@HowToHomeDIY we called this a phantom voltage and it's like you describe. Not enough contact to flow ample current but enough to pass through potential (v). Same thing we'd see in the field on mechanical relays that had carbon build up, or the well known issue with aluminum wires that never get tightened or maintained.
The power (actually voltage) you are seeing at the end of the insulated Wago wire, is usually called induced, ghost or phantom voltage and is not dangerous, as there is no current associated with it. It is voltage induced into the "dead" wire, due to its proximity to the live AC wire. There are low impedance multimeters for double-checking, that that is what you are experiencing, if you're worried.
2 years of commercial level training in HS (yes, my high school had a commercial electric class) and I was taught the method you showed, pre-twisting with linemans pliers. We had several days in class just repeatedly twisting joints with 2, 3 and 4 wire connections. Any electrical work that needs done around the house and stuff, I'm the family electrician lol. Had to give up on that particular career path for health reasons. That tip with the stranded and solid wire was definitely one I needed to know. We never touched stranded wire in my class, and recently, installing a couple light fixtures and 3 ceiling fans, I was struggling with getting the stranded wire to grab and not slip out.
@@Hoops-Senior Nothing wrong with wire nuts if you do it correctly. If the fixture comes with Wago style connectors I'll use em, but most come with wire nuts, and we already have wire nuts at the house. I'll stick to wire nuts.
It's great that WE don't make these mistakes but thank you for posting this kind of stuff because maybe you'll save a DIYer's life! Great stuff! Details matter.
@@ripjohnson2121 Neither have I, I was trying to say that after a certain point we don't make these mistakes because we've learned the proper way or discovered it the hard way. DIYers are often in the learning stages and being shown a mistake BEFORE you make it is a win. Once you know it, you know it.
@@ripjohnson2121 Nah, I express things shorthand too often. Ultimately videos like this get viewed and we'll never know the amount of people who might be saved a trip to the emergency room, or worse!! I grew up dealing with DC where black is nearly always utilized as negative or ground. When I got in to AC I read up on it in an old Sears Hardware book on electricity and was glad I did, black conductors had a very different function!
Pointing out every single way to prove the wire nuts good and finding every silly problems with Wago to prove them wrong. Very nice strategy man, keep it up!
I showed more potential issues when installing a wire nut than I did the Wago. You just didn’t see it because of your bias. Guessing you aren’t in the US. A properly installed wire nut is arguably the best connection that can be made in these applications.
Something you missed with those Wago clips. They are rated for the amount of current and voltage that can flow through them (it's labelled on the side). For example, the Wago clip you show at 12:09 shows it supports 20A and 300V so make sure you don't go above those values. There are Wago clips that support higher values if needed. Also, there are counterfeit Wago clips out there that are cheaply made and the levers can break. Make sure you buy your Wago clips from trusted sources like Digikey or Mouser.
@@HowToHomeDIY You should probably update this video with that. It's more important to follow those guidelines than anything else in your video (could cause a fire).
While many of the previous comments state they've never seen the Wago open up accidently, I have. And you know what they say about Murphy's Law; If you say it won't happen it probably will sometime in the future. Simply wrapping a couple times with electrical tape to make sure they stay shut isn't all that hard an additional step IMO. Good info Adam. Thanks for putting this out there. And it's a great refresher video for those that don't do this everyday as a profession, etc. Thanks again.
Never had a problem with WAGO, other than the price. They do work exactly as advertised, as long as you strip the wire to the proper length. The biggest advantage is how easy it is to add/remove/switch wires.
Wow this was helpful. I have replaced a few lights in my house over the years and I just learned I've been installing the nuts wrong... I'll definitely be doing it correctly in the future thanks to this video.
I am from Europ and have always used Wagos for any type of electrical installation. I actually ran into situations, where I didn´t remove the exact 11mm of isolation, as required but never experienced any problems with that. The only thing that sometimes happend to me, was that the exposed part of the wire was that short, that it didn´t even make any contact with the peace of metal, that connects the seperate slots. But after about 4 years of working with wagos i never had a situation, where I got a lower output then input voltage from a wago. That doesn´t mean, that it isn´t possible at all, but for that to happen the contact area betwean the exposed part of the wire and the contact area of the wago, would have to be lower then the gage of the wire, (typically 1,5mm) to create eanough resistance, to seginifficantly reduce the output voltage, what appears very unlikely to me to happen. Also the wagos with the lever aren´t meant to be used in electrical boxes, at leasst not in thoose that don´t connect direcly to a device with a stranded wire, althought they can of course be used there. But there are actually special wagos fore the use in electrical boxes that only connect solid core wires with eachother, wich are fore exsemple the "wago 2273" or "Dosenklemmen" (don´t know how to translate that into english). Thoose don´t have levers, and take a lot less space, because they are only about half as thick as the classic wago 221, used in the video. But as mentioned they can only hold solide core wires.
@@waukee321 I think what you mean are the "Lyster Klemmen". You still find a lot of them in old Installations and some people even still use them today, scince they are a little cheaper, but they are just such a pain to work with.
If you do not have any load you will measure full voltage even if there is just a tiny strand connected to the Wago. This is because the multimeter draws so little current when measuring. So you can go by unloaded voltage to see if a connection is good.
Hvac tech/model railroader. I love the wagos. They're expensive but when you've got 3 or more conductors the 3 or 5 conductor levernuts are my favorite.
@@TraktorTarzan Not having to stip back to beyond the twists must help. Every time you have to redo a wire nut you are losing cable length. With a wago you don't. I also don't like the idea that the cable is being strained/distorted when twisting it.
Wow, this is very useful! My collection of wire nuts is old and loose, so I never knew which ones could handle how many wires of what gauge. Some years ago our furnace stopped working, so I called in a repair person. When I came back later, on the top of the furnace was a wire nut that had MELTED. Unfortunately I recognized it immediately: when I had previously worked on the furnace (at least a year earlier) I stuffed 4 wires into one wire nut. That one. It worked at the time, but obv the connection wasn't as good as I thought. I consider myself lucky nothing worse happened. I still have that melted wire nut, as a reminder of what can go wrong. Now I understand how to make sure that never happens again.
For solid Wires you can use the Wago 2273 Series. The Wago 2273 series is available for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 wires. 2273-202 is for 2 wires 2273-203 is for 3 wires 2273-204 is for 4 wires 2273-205 is for 5 wires 2273-208 is for 8 wires To loosen the wires again, simply twist the wire(s) back and forth while pulling. However, it is always important to keep an eye on the current carrying capacity of all Wago terminals.
And for the uninitiated, twisting to disconnect is the manufacturer's RECOMMENDED way to remove them. It is not a fault, as some other idiot stated on another channel!
Thanks man for the video. I decided to start studying basic electricity and in a few weeks time I plan on order some electrical stuff so I can experiment and actually get some basic experience with messing around with circuits and such to help improve my understand of electricity.
I was trained as an electrician in the union in the 80's and the wire-twisting technique wasn't taught. Never did it myself. But I did come to use the best wire nuts (Ideal) align the ends of the wire, and use the largest suitable nut. Tighten it well so the inner spring got a good grip on all of them, then give each wire a tug to make sure they weren't loose. Two problems with twisting the insulated part of the wire: 1. If for some reason one of the wires inside the nut is loose (e.g. it breaks off) you won't know it. 2. If you need to work on that connection at a later time (e.g. add a wire) it's a mess. Re: a stranded wire with a solid wire that is a challenge using a wire nut. My method was to twist the stranded around the solid with my fingers, and leave it longer than the solid. And then after putting nut on, give each wire a tug. We didn't have those fancy new clip connectors you showed, but that looks like the better solution. One more point about wire nuts: in addition to the continuity of the wires being in contact with each other, the metal inside the wire nut also conducts electricity from one conductor to the next. So, it's not entirely dependent on wire to wire contact (except with those cheap-O nuts with no metal in them).
Wago (and similar connectors) have the advantage of applying constant pressure to the wire inside, instead of applying a fixed pressure during installation and then not moving any more. This is mainly important for stranded wire. When using screw terminals for example, if you put a stranded wire or a tinned stranded wire with no ferrule in them, the wire (or the tin solder) may deform slightly over the years, which will increase the contact resistance, either to the point of not providing a connection at all or being a fire hazard. Terminals with spring mechanisms like the Wagos on the other hand will move if the wire moves any amount, keeping the connection secured. This is why you're only supposed to use screw terminals with single wires or stranded wires with ferrules on the end.
All good tips! I have learned to ALWAYS pull on those wires, even if I’m pretty sure the wire nut is on OK. Maybe one slipped. That stranded to solid is super common when people add outdoor lights, and the stranded wire on that new motion sensor light may be as small as 18 gauge, while your 20 amp lighting circuit is 12 gauge solid. Thanks for a useful video.
In my apprenticeship as a mechatronic engineer in germany my teacher once told me that everything else then wagos is stupid😂 in germany we do not trust those wire nuts. I’ve never even seen them in a german hardware store. But I didn’t know that you can do so much wrong with wagos🤣 Great video😊
I love the Wagos, but I still find myself using wire nuts more often; it's probably because I have thousands of them lying around, and they are cheaper. But in the UK, it's the other way around. If you know what you're doing, they both work great. What still amazes me is how many times I've opened up a wire nut and found what you pointed out.
Wire nuts can make for a very solid connection. However, it gets much harder to line up wires with little wire to work with inside a junction box. I've even considered using more wire nuts to extend wires, then make three connections further out. It's a lot easier to connect two wires together than three unless there's decent room to work with.
You don't twist wires together just to create a mechanical bond. I find the notion of wires "vibrating" apart over time, to be a hard pill to swallow. The main reason to twist wires together is to reduce the chance of fire. Strong and secure mechanical connections are key to a low-resistance electrical circuit. Resistance in a connection like this occurs when the wires do not make good contact with each other, over a suitable surface area of the bare wires. Resistance can lead to heat build-up, melting of insulation and fire hazard. The wire nuts should only be there to electrically insulate the ends and ensure that the twist stays tight during installation and rough-in.
Fortunately for me the only mistake I’ve made is re-using wire nuts. Heat shrink tubing would also be a way of keeping WAGO and similar closed without creating the inevitable sticky mess left by most tape adhesives.
Yes guilty as charged. I've never twisted wires in a wire nut so that they are twisted outside of the wire nut. Now that I've seen the wago, that is a much better and easier way to go.
My electrical instructor in college told to always use black tape even on wire nuts to prevent things or moisture from getting into the connection. It also made it so the wires couldn't just fall out.
There's no need to place electrical tape all over the wires...and wirenuts...if you make a proper joint, those wires will remain in that wirenut for fifty years without issue. All that tape does is actually cause a gooey, sticky mess for the next man making amendments to circuits and such. Don't do that..its messy and not needed. If you ever had to work behind someone in an outlet box that did this, you would understand quickly my anguish. It's highly likely that's something your instructor picked up from making motor connections inside the motor J boxes. The tape can help from vibration rattling a wirenut loose perhaps but even still, in motors, I never use tape...just good quality wirenuts like the Buchanan B2s or the older style yellow slimline scotch connectors....when either one of those two springs bite onto a good solid joint, those wires are going to be there for decades.
@chrisharrell5945 damn right sir, same thing with having a wall spray foamed. Setting the next person who installs a circuit or is troubleshooting up for failure
@@Pownderosa well the whole residential realm is one big escapade now days -- there's too many matters we could discuss. Houses are thrown together now days and most are built by individuals with hangovers or high on some type of drug.
I am sure you have covered this before, but just in case someone is watching this video alone, there is also strip gages on the back of recepticals and switches. Make sure to follow them!
Great video. I recently had to deal with this issue, installing a ceiling light fixture. The cheap manufacturer only had about two inches of stranded wire protruded from the fixture making it very difficult to get your hands between the fixture pan and the ceiling box to connect the wires. Add pigtails to the solid core wire... then you have two more connections to potentially fail, plus would have been even harder to fit that extra solid wire in the pan, more stranded wire would be much easier. Wago's would have made the job much easier, but I haven't seen them sold in Canada... It seems like every product you buy these days is made with the absolute minimum and sometimes less than minimum amount of material, how much more would it have cost to have two more inches of wire, one cent??
A couple comments on the WAGOs. Having used them all over my house and my workplace, I've never seen one open and drop the wire out. We have one guy who worries about that, but instead of tape, he uses a small ziptie near the top and makes it tight. That way you can still see inside, you can still use the test holes, and if you're using wire that is being pushed to it's max, it'll never get too hot, which tape might hold in. Also, I'll never use a wire nut again, especially for multiple connections. Being able to leave things hot with a 3 or 5 hole Levernut and just add the new conductor is so much better than undoing a wire nut, and trying to get 3 or 4 wires all perfectly back together while not getting shocked is wonderful. And for those who don't like even levers, there's the push in style wirenuts, and they work, but hard to ever undo if you're rewiring anything. And anyone leaving That much wire unstripped outside any lever or wirenut doesn't need to be wiring. Levernuts are just like you said about wirenuts. Follow the instructions and you'll probably never have an issue with them. They even come in different sizes as well for slightly larger conductors and amp loads.
Great video! Yup -- seen these issues and early on made them - but realized it and fixed and learned to do it correctly the first time. I realized early on that the wire nuts without metal inside don't grip so I bought packages of different sizes just to have them. When I changed out barn lights for LED tubes, bought boxes of wire nuts and found the crappy ones were used originally. I haven't used the two terminal connector shown. Will get some. I don't like wiring as it always seems too much is crammed in the boxes. So, it is nice to know how to do it correctly the first time and NOT create a fire hazard.
A friend called me to get bees out of her basement rafters. I got there and there was a lot of buzzing for sure. It wasn’t bees but an unboxed connection of wirenuts that had come loose.
I heartily agree with wrapping WAGOs with electrical tape to prevent accidental lever opening when pushing into a crowded box, but there is one caution here: The tape might provide unintended thermal insulation that could cause the connector to overheat if being used a maximum load. I use a single wrap of tape that covers the lower end of the levers only to reduce this possibility.
I am guilty of all of these at one time or another. Once I discovered the wago connectors I rarely use anything else. My favorite, though, are the leverless version of wago connectors. It takes one more potential failure out of the element and it is nice to just shove the wire in and seat it without levers. Just like you, I also, tape around all my connectors after they are installed to add that extra level of security. Lastly, once my entire outlet is wired, I also tape around the entire thing to isolate the side screw connectors from anything else in the box ;D It doesn't take too many jingles or flashes of light after installs to learn your lessons quickly ^_^
Excellent video. Safety is Key so 13:00 3 ideas are critical: 1. wrapping electrical tape wire nut and Wago connectors, 2. Twisting or pre-twisting wire nuts and ensuring correct exposed wire in the Wago 3. Checking your work
Be honest, how many of these did you catch yourself doing or have done in the past? I think at some point just about everyone has committed at least a few of these at some point.
I remember that I overloaded a couple wirenuts wiring up some outlets in my parent's house. But I was pretty good at checking them before closing it up and in 40 years since the house never burned down. After that I learned the proper way to do things and while not a professional, I do all my own work and help friends as well. I have an assortment of wirenuts of different sizes and just started to use the Wago style connectors.
@Tim Rock-It Saunders Agreed , All these are Bullshit ..
@Tim Rock-It Saunders wire nuts aren't junk. Actually quite an intelligent design, if you take the time to understand them. Use the right size for the application, follow the strip length and pre-twist, then cut the ends flush with each other before installing the nut. A solid, compact, durable connection never intended to be used in anything that moves.
Bus bar in a switch box? How are you going to do that?
crimp nut? want to add a pigtail? How are you going to do that?
think about it.
Trying to join stranded to solid, mostly for light fixtures. Especially, as is typical, when the stranded from the fixture is so very much smaller than the 14 or 12 gauge solid. Now I exclusively use Wagos for that.
😊😊😊😊😊
Hi professional European electrician here. Wire nuts are pretty uncommon here, indeed I´ve never seen one in use here. The WAGOs are really hard to open, I can´t imagine that this could happen by accident. (theoretically when you pull in backwards direction only.) And all the information you need to know is printed on them: Voltage, current, wire style, AWG, cross section, even the strip length (as picture for the true length and also as number). Additionally the same information huge on the paper box. So if you are able to read...they are pretty safe. They even have a hole to check voltage without the need to open the connection. Tests show that they are more safe than screwd junctions and as soldered junctions.
Ja die wagos sind echt gut im Vergleich zu dem was es vorher gab
they are everywhere in sweden, i moved from denmark to sweden and had never seen them before, i dont use them my self think they are outdated
@@bikerpumbajh8108 the wagos of the wire nuts?
I don't think we'll ever se wirenuts used in Europe or the Nordic countries. I use Wago's too or the normal single or double screw block thingies. I prefer the 2773 in most cases where no stranded wires are used - but they are a bit of a bitch to take of sometimes. The 221 are multipurpose, but i feel they can easely open and they are very brittle if a painter has been there, and you can't really reuse them as the levers brake easely..
@@Hemshemsems The levers break easily?? What? I've never encountered that.
Interesting video! Reading the instructions? What a concept. Thanks
I mean, most people don’t. Just assume it’s a no brainier device to use and don’t need extra details.
@@HowToHomeDIY I'm certainly glad I always, always read the direction prior to installation or use. Always!
Why is my nose itching? OMG
How else is he going to use clickbait to generate views like all his videos
@@gregs8678 I thought the video was pretty good and informative. I'm not training to be a commercial installer/contractor but just want better solutions to what I'm doing out in the garage.
@gregs8678 by clickbait if you mean interesting or curiosity provoking then sure but you clearly don’t know what true clickbait is.
Been in the electrical industry for 25 years, last 20 being heavy industrial. We started using the WAGO connectors a couple of years ago and they are a much better option than wire nuts.
We still have a use for the wire nuts in certain applications but we always tape them up as well.
Ten years here and absolutely agree
Yep agree. I've been slowly but surly replacing all nuts with push in or wago clips. I LOVE these things since a lot of my machines have enclosers that becomes impossible to actually spin a nut without doing some gymnastics. These save me so much time and frustration
I agree with taping up the wire nuts in theory but from my experiences opening up old Jboxes, the adhesive on the tape doesn't hold up very well over the years and comes unraveled.
Americans have to protect them for themselves... 🤫
Tape them. That’s really old school grandpa used to do it that way 50 yrs plus
I enjoy doing minor electrical projects around the house, but I want to do them properly. Folks like yourself who share your knowledge really helps! Thank you!
I love the WAGOs. Your starter frame just shows, "Bad" and points to the Wago which would lead people to think they are a bad option when they are really a great option and probably the safest option for beginner \ DIYers who would make some of the other mistakes you pointed out with the twist caps. Thanks for the videos.
In the video you see what the bad is pointing at with the Wago.
Wago is bad.
@@Faruk651 pretty generic response. Why bad?
@@NBSTL68 Because.
@@Faruk651 WAGO's make a better connection, are easier to use and have far less chance of falling off than wire nuts
DIY guy here....
Never had any of the shown issues with the WAGOs.
If you have concerns with the levers or little space in a box, there are lever-less connectors as well (which work with solid wires only). 👍🏼
I've met fools who use them "successfully" with stranded in those push contacts. Never underestimate the DIYer with a vision and confidence.
@@RolandsDad so true! i have seen so many strange diy things in the 20 yeears of beeing an electrician in germany :D
@@RolandsDad I don't know much about these connectors, but you seem to have a strong opinion about it. What is wrong with using stranded wire with these?
According to Wago they work with wires that has few strands (and solid ones as well). There might be two types. The Wago 2773 can use wires with few strands but the Wago 2273 seems to be for only solid wires.
@@danielwurmer2266 They rely on pushing force to load the retaining springs. With stranded wire, you cannot deliver sufficient pushing force without getting the strands messed up. It's like trying to penetrate without erection. Surely, by luck you may get a few of the strands into the spring-loaded contacts, working until the few connected strands get overloaded by the current meant to be distributed between all strands of the wire...
Exceptions may be the wires with just a few, solid strands, sturdy enough to deliver the pushing force.
I love Wagos, they are fantastic especially when you are on a ladder trying to terminate a fixture with one hand. If you are not convinced, they are German engineered and I have been using them for decades and never had one fail.
I agree. The older Wago 222's were quite bad, but obviously still better than wire nuts, however the Wago 221's are just amazing. Been using them for around seven years.
Wago 2273-205 is perfect for permanent install, not 221
@@stijnvandamme76 I am just going to respectfully disagree with you on this. I love the 221 and they work and last well.
I'd say both are great, just different purpose
I had a Volkswagen and it was German “engineered” to cost me a fortune. Had to basically take the engine out to change a light bulb. Whatever a repair cost on a decent car cost 4X that for a VW. Thing was always in the shop. German engineered is trash. I’ll stick with 3M. Best products in the world.
35 year elevator mechanic here. I’ve used wirenuts for every wire 14 gauge and larger, both stranded and solid wire. Used to be the only approved connectors for >14 ga. were Kearny’s and wirenuts. You have to properly tighten them, and if you’re dealing with vibration, I was taught to wrap the finished connection tightly with electrical tape. Never had one come loose, including ones I had done decades ago that I needed to cut off because they were too tight to undo manually.
Same here. Started as industrial electrician around 1992. Still scared of wagos. Prob because I was always dealing with vibration. And wagos make me think of back stabbing. I ALWAYS twisted the wires with lineman pliers first because I've seen so many solid wire tips pierce through end of connector before the wires twisted to what I felt was proper. 1-2 turns below wire nut. And super 33 or 88 always got stretched over. Today they say no stretching of tape at all? Never had a failure...I'll stick with experience.
For home wiring, wagos are the way to go IMO. Wiring industrial panels and motors is a different beast, though.
When in an industrial environment and specifically motor applications we always recommended bolt, lock and nut then three layers of tape starting with flex rubber, then standard scotch and finally friction over the connection. Worked great and accomodated all our concerns specific to shock, start-up currents, high heat and vibration. Good comment on elevators as safety is a huge factor. Cheers.
@@davidyansky6605 First one I did (dating myself here) was full wrap of cambric tape, full, tight wrap of rubber tape, then full wrap of plastic 33 electrical tape. They showed me the sticky asphalt-soaked cotton electrical tape they used to use before that had 33. Fun times!
@@davidyansky6605 Yep. Still keep all that stuff on hand today 30 years later. Still have to handle a peckerhead from time to time. LOL
Professional electrician here. I've worked in many houses and commercial buildings. My company does everything with WAGO. It grips the wire really well, it's really easy to make a proper connection and tests show it can handle electric issues much better than any other connectors. We use wire strippers to get perfect amount of wire isolation removed. I never faced the issues pointed in this video.
WAGO made in a Chinese garage is not preferable!
WAGO is made in Germany.
WAGO is made in Germany.
WAGO is made in Germany.
WAGO products are made in Germany.
I started my apprenticeship 5/91. The journeyman i tooled with taught me to pre twist the wires and to put the stranded wire just past the solid one. Over 3 decades later I'm still doing it with success. I've just come across the Wago and plan to use them for connecting control valve wiring on a job this summer. Great video my late tool buddy would give it a thumbs up.
@Sheila Walker does your brother have an Electrcaul license?
@@gnaskinyAnWinyan Ummm, NO. Tape just ends up a gooey mess. The only time you MUST tape a wire nut is if there is some odd requirement from the AHJ. Wire nuts installed correctly are what the NEC calls for.
@@uisignorant Imagine being the electrician getting the approved electrical designs that say "All wire nuts must be taped in place where they cannot be removed without first removing the tape."
At least you believe he would. Everyone thought i would love them as I do trouble shooting and diagnostics. They're great, imo, for temporary testing purposes, but I'd never leave them in equipment I'm signing off on. Unless someone insisted I use them. Then I'd be requiring a hold harmless, that I always have. No one seems to believe in them as much when I ask them to sign it for either of the two reputable mfgrs. The off shoots I never touch. Either the connection method goes back to what was specified, or I go to someone else's job. I don't risk my reputation or livelihood or my ability to provide for my family, for nobody, let alone one project or one job. Why do that?
@@johnathonbraun341Try military work. Don't want to do this? No problem. Don't take the job. Take the job and don't do what you've agreed to? Get an attorney, fast. You're going to be prosecuted. You've agreed to be prosecuted when you signed the contract"S".
And no one with sense turns down military work. Turn it down once? You'll never get another chance to turn down another.
The Wagos are experiencing the same resistance as PEX , shark bites and pVC did with plumbers. I have been using the stab in Wagos and now the lever locks for years and never had a problem. You should probably put the line feed wire in the labeled lever chamber as good practice and always pull on the wires to be sure they are seated. As a bonus , the Wago lever types have a small probe hole if you need to check for voltage or continuity. Like anything ,you have to do a little research and reading and follow the directions.
I needed something for making quickly temporarily connections during renovation, so i tried wagos because that was quick and reusable. I did not feel resistance. I only felt like why this didn't exist when i was young,? Now my lighting circuits are all connected with wago and if i feel like reconfiguring or adding something, i can do it in minutes without even switching off the electricity.
For the outlets i don't use wago though. For that i still use the same massive 5 pole screw terminal as 40 years ago. It's still 100% mount compatible, only made of cheaper materials now and the machining of the copper is not so clean as 40 years ago. But ok it became cheaper for the same functionality. Anyway, i bet wago will also still be there in 40 years.
It is what you are comfortable to work with. I have been using shark bites and wagos for years and my house is still in one piece (no flood/burning).
Years ago there was so much hate around shark bites, I am SO GLAD I used them for my recent water heater change. Professionals might mind the extra cost over convenience for things like shark bites and wago connectors, but for DIY it's all cheaper than hiring someone to do it for you.
Because wagos, like pex and shark bites are lazy assed contractor in and out crap. Fast and convenient for them, but a pain in the ass for the home owner at 2am when your shark bite lets go or your dumb pex takes a piss inside your walls.
@@steverich136 What are you talking about, I've never seen contractors using anything but the cheap wire nuts because they care more for low cost over convenience. Sounds like you're talking about an incompetent contractor.
Thanks for this. I'm an old school home handyman and enjoyed the first bit of the video about pre-twisting the wires. It's the way my dad taught me 50 years ago when I was still young enough to learn from him. He often used solder and cloth tape cause that's how he originally learned in his youth. Yeah, also a family taught home handyman. Never even seen the WAGO connector in any of my previous homes so I know a bit more today than yesterday.
I just started using them for home projects about a month ago. They're great! I picked some up on Amazon, didn't really look around the brick and mortar stores
Just an FYI... those Ideal Tan wire nuts fit right in the 5/16th socket driver on a typical 10-in-1 screwdriver. really saves the fingers when trimming out a house and you're doing dozens of wire nut connections.
Even vice-grips, if used carefully, can be a good option.
NICE!! Gonna steal that bit of info and take all the credit.
I'll fess up in my will. Would you be OK with thst?
If not, I never brought up the subject.
Just a thank you for being smart!!
@@nothankyou5524 yea no worries, it's not top secret info. I believe Ideal themselves advertised it for awhile. If it helps someone else, then all the better.
A lot of this video mistakes are why I stopped using wire nuts and prefer WAGO connectors, they work great and are way easier to get a good connection. Of course you still have to strip the wires according to the strip guide. A word from the wise, dont trust any knock offs of the wago connectors. The cheapos have very poor contact area on the wire and small levers that are harder to operate. Great educational video and you covered the topics very well ! Good work.
No reason to use wire nuts anymore. However so far I have seen 2, 3 and 5 pole Wago connectors, but recently I would have liked to have a 10 pole. The reason is that the cable I was installing had both a shielding and a separate protective ground wire and they can be wired together at each end. The cable has the quite complex designation S07Z1A5EZ1-U but is more known as EQLQ in Sweden and is very common for outdoor and industrial use.
The shield can either be to just protect against penetration or used as a signal ground. But it depends on your specific use case.
Spent ten years installing and repairing cable. All the sizes for cutting the wires on the big stuff, 1/2 inch or bigger, was on the linemen's pliers. the wire sticking out the end of a standard fitting, used on tv, was the thickness of a nickel, or the size of the Klien lineman's pliers from the cutting side, the length of center conductor going into the amps on the telephone poles was the width of the pliers, etc. there was also one for the thickness of the pliers. I am curious if the stripping guide for the WAGO is on the lineman's pliers also, or maybe the width of your wire strippers, which could be brand specific. I know using the lineman's pliers to cut the lengths of the center conductor saved a lot of time so you didn't have to hold the wire, a fitting and the cutters all while 20' literally above traffic was nice, one less thing to have to hold when you were afraid of heights.
@Dev JB it´s the first time I´ve hear about problems with WAGOs. Correct usage provided.
I´ve tried to find objective information. Could you please share some. Most - even USA - sites tell that WAGOs are more reliable than the twist ones.
Whole Europe relies on WAGOs. Never heard of quality problems causing fire or so.
@Dev JB would you care to give the inspectors names so that we can verify with them that Wago connectors are not allowed due to high failure rate?
@Dev JB
Your comment vanished, but here's my reply anyways.
"I'm not going to slander..."
*It's not slander if it's true.* You saying it would be slander to name them implies your statement is untrue. Naming them would allow electricians to verify wago are not allowed before using them and failing an inspection. "Trust me bro" is poor evidence to back your statements.
"It is well documented" *No it isn't.*
You know what is well documented? Wago connectors meet NEC code, which is the electric code adopted by all 50 states. If they had the high failure rate you claim, they would be disallowed by NEC code.
If you didn't want to be in a pissing match, you should not have started one.
I love your mention of the WAGO connectors. I started using them in industrial work several years ago because you never know when you might need to move, remove, or update either a circuit or a heavy device like a motor. I've seen more than enough stranded wire just totally messed up and continually shortened by using wirenuts. The result is usually inadequate wire available for solid contact.
Absolutely! Wire Nuts versus Wago's is a "no contest" for me. Wago's are head and shoulders better than wire nuts will ever be even if properly used they way they need to be. Too many times I have seen the "professional" install of wire nuts on my jobsites and it just makes me cringe!. In all fairness I am sure the wire nuts we done as a "repair" and not part of the original install so probably not inspected for code.....but....doesn't matter.
Wago's are now main stream as well as HD carries them.
Best Tip...only buy actual Wago's: not the knock offs you can find elsewhere...
Thanks for the tips! I'm new to these.@@hansmanschaft2593
WAGOs are a godsend to industry. makes the work easier, safer and faster
@@hansmanschaft2593
Even in a home install I've seen some wire nuts installed where they left very little spare wire for any future use. It's like the electrician was just showing off by leaving a bundle of 5 wires in a nut with no slack left. But I like lever connectors (WAGO 221 or Ideal In-Sure L2) where they do little damage to the wire where the wire end can be reused in the future and it doesn't need to be stripped.
I've been watching vids in preparation for installing a pendant - and then to figure out why it didn't work (lol). Huge problem with a lot of them is that the person talks through what they're doing BUT they don't show close ups. "Then you twist the wires into..." but showing the guy saying that instead of the wires so you have no idea what they actually did or what it should look like. This video cleared up about 10,000 (okay - hyperbole - but after all of these vids it feels that way!) questions and misunderstandings in less than 15 minutes. Just wish I'd found this one first! Great job.
I've been frustrated with many videos for the same reasons you mentioned. Not only with wiring but lots of things. Like guitar lessons. A lot of those guys should watch some videos before they make videos. LOL. I appreciate videos like this that SHOW how to do it, as well as why.
The Wago levers are pretty hard to lift and unless you pull the wires and the level catches on a cover edge or something, there is no way it's opening by a little jostling. (Assuming you chose the right Wago size for your wires etc.) Clamping the levers down manually does nothing to the spring force inside the Wago. The wires are held in place by a spring and lifting the lever by half a millimeter, or whatever play there is, does nothing.
I might be a derp but I just bought my first set of wago connectors and had this exact thing happen to me. I caught it immediately and rectified before continuing to stuff the wires in the box but a little electrical tape will probably go on my future connectors just to simplify. Especially for my application with smart switches - things get tight REALLY quickly.
@@RussSchampersyeah trying to install smart switches right now and holy hell they take SO much space.
ive used tons of wagos and they work so great. never had one do anything. i can see the tape the levers helping.
As long as the lever isn't actually open, as you note, the lever not being fully down doesn't do much. At the point the cam action of the lever engages with the spring to compress it, there's a good deal of resistance to the lever opening. Anywhere from completely closed to where it starts to meet resistance, the spring has as much pressure against the wire as it ever will.
There have been teardowns and even tests where a WAGO 221 was pushed well beyond its current rating. I saw one test from WAGO that showed maybe 5x the rated current going through until it melted. Even with all the plastic melted, the springs maintained the connection with the bus bar.
Wagos are GARBAGE; no better than the "push-in" connectors on 15-amp switches & outlets.
Thanks for the tips. Just when you use the piers to twist the cable together, make sure that you twist it the same direction as you would twist it with the wire nut. Otherwise, the twisting done later by the wire nut, may untwist the previous twisting you have done before.
3:52 pre twist those wires first.
In the correct direction, of course.@@danlux4954
@@danlux49540:40
Never pretwist never had a problem
I remember being a first year and they asked if I twisted or spliced the wires... well gee what's the difference? I could tell you making the twist below the nut was a no no in the residential commercial jobs I was part of. The secure mechanical electrical connection was to be at the conductors contact as a pre twist could potentially unravel. As an apprentice I didn't argue. Stop thinking about it and get it done some would say. That wire nut should not come off after a test tug. Try it on some spare wire first because some wire nuts can be faulty. Of course you can't re use the the one you tested but the rest should be uniform.
I have found wirenuts in walls remodeling that were actually split open. One had 12 gauge wires in it like you demonstrated, but rather than change the nut they added a couple outlets by undoing that nut and cramming another 2 wires in. It was hilarious, and a bit scary. Side note: I ripped every wall down, and redid all the wiring properly. It's odd, but I enjoy waking up not on fire. I'm just weird that way.
"I'm just weird that way." you missed a perfect opportunity to say "I'm just wired that way."
Thanks for explaining
You should never find wire nuts in a closed wall. That’s a code violation.
Damn straight it is! If you were in a situation of passing an inspection by an NEC officicial you're gonna eat that job when it has to be ripped out and done to code@@crosisofborg5524
Poor quality of the wire nuts. Or the electrician...
Quality and important content. Too easy for folks to learn just enough electrical to be dangerous by watching random UA-cam videos and these "top wiring mistake" videos are essential. I think the algo may even push them for safety's sake.
That's right, the safety aspect of these videos is the most important part of electrical work especially when we have all these racist illegal aliens doing most of the construction work not knowing anything about electrical safety. I see it every day at work.
All of these are great to know, and they follow a very important rule: A good electrical connection requires a good mechanical connection. This was hammered into my head when I started as a technician over 40 years ago, and it is still the #1 rule to follow.
A loose connection can cause arcing which can cause a fire.
This adds a good layer of robustness. I usually try to pre-twist, but with this explanation I feel a greater necessity for this level of detail and I shall improve my method. Thanks!
When closed correctly, which is no big deal, never had a failed Wago connection for 16+ years. Made wiring in several production facilities. It gives flexibility and saves a lot of time. As per wire twisting, as the colleague said, these units are not common in Europe. However, after proper twisting pattern with pliers, we use an insulated ‘cap’ that has a tightening screw and is insulated. Everything is rock solid. Great video, mate! People should be aware that improper wiring is pure risk and danger.
Good timing for asking for a thumbs up. I see people asking for this right at the beginning. I'm not giving a thumbs up until I've watched your video. Others won't ask at all and I'll forget this helps you and costs me nothing. Happy to give you a thumbs up after explaining two solid core wires.
I always do the tug test, I was going to mention making the stranded longer, but you already had it in the video. Well done sir.
Really glad to hear you liked it! Thanks a lot for the feedback!
I have been doing DIY wiring since circa 1955 and am prepping for my final rewiring of an old house. I am sure I am guilty of the mistakes you illustrate. I will be doing a much better (and safer) job this time, thanks to you.
Mr Brexton, I was born in 1955, if you were 18 then, you would be 85, are you certain you want to re-wire a house at your age?
@@henryjames8654 It beats not having any electricity. PS I am only 81 :)
@@henkerj are you old enough to know what a "ding-batter" was? I didn't start pulling wire until 1981, so you have a few years on me. Good luck with your project.
Get right on that next job …you’re bound to burn a home down sooner or later 😂
@@gan1440 Piffle, I gave up on homes years ago, I specialize in commercial property.
I've done a lot of wago usage, never ever did the leavers open while pushing them into a box. Also for boxes you often use the wago without levers.
Same as the wire nuts, you have to use them how they are intended. Then they are safe and much nicer to use.
he sure seemed to trash the Wago's. Personally, I only work with them if possible. I use them all the time.
@@jstone1211 I agree. Now when you buy light fixtures (such as LED pot lights) they come with Wago clips instead of wire nuts. It's the future for sure. One thing he didn't say in this video is that those Wago clips are rated for current and voltage (in his case 20A/300V Wagos were used - written on the side of the Wago clip).
@@joireland just like everything, there is a use/place to use them. key is knowing the when/where. I will use them on 15A lighting circuits but not on the 20 amp receptacles although they are rated 20 amps...just my personal preference. I usually take the conservative approach....
@@jstone1211Most electricians are slow to change. In the UK you only see Wago connectors (hard to find those old wire nuts anymore - especially in Germany). Something you probably didn't realize based on your comment. There's 30A Wago clips called Wago 221-612. You can also get 3 connector (Wago 221-613) and 5 connector (Wago 221-615) variants. For the 5 wire variant you can also leave some of the connectors empty and still pass code.
@@joireland thanks I will get a few to try...great sharing info from across the pond. Here in America, all hell is breaking lose so...hard to tell if we will make it another five years.
Master Electrician here, 38 years in the trade, i switched to Wago 2 years ago. I sold my stock of twist nut 1/2 price to a competitor who was looking at me like a stupid guy for selling my new stuff so cheap. Needless to say, i was looking back at him as the stupid one who can’t progress. Once you go Wago, you never go back to twist nuts. Yes they are more expensive, but i charge everything i install, so in the end, they are more payfull and a breeze to work with.
They also make solo DIY jobs (hanging a ceiling fan) much easier, faster, & safer.
Smart. It’s so funny to see how crappy US installations are done compared to e.g. Germany. The material used is so much better and its not left to accidents. And with 230V we have even only half the currents you need on 110V (at the same wattage). Of course it need to be operated and installed to the book, but then its fast and very secure. How would you compare a few hundred of extra cost for proper material to a burnt down house.
It was about time for the US to find out about Wago! In no case I would ever use power nuts. I work since 1983 with Wago with no issues at all.
Agree with your general sentiment, but the US is on the 120V electrical standard.
110V is one of the Japanese standards
I was using Wago for myself ...I labored for a Master electrician & learned a little 👍
I have been a DIYer since my dad made me do all of the work starting at age 10 or so. Most of the problems you stated are common sense and people making them have no business doing their own wiring... When people ask for me to do wiring for them I usually tell them to hire a professional though, because me wiring my house is one thing, but someone else's needs a person that is bonded.
To be fair, while the laws may be different where you are from, where I am, a non compliant household is the responsibility of the owner.
Unless it was signed off by a registered person within about 2 years and no changes have been made to the installation since then, in which case they will be held responsible.
This is why you get a professional to do it. If your house burns down it will be considered negligence on the owners part, even if they got a qualified person to do the installation but did not get a registered person to ensure it was compliant and sign it off as such.
I'm glad I just watched this video. For 30 years I didn't pre-twist with the thought that it was correct but never confirmed it. Yesterday I decided to pre-twist when I installed a furnace motor. I have no idea why, maybe subconsciously doubting the process I had used for years considering I have never had any formal training and have heard electricians do it that way. Glad to learn my way is okay. My thought now is how long would I have pre-twisted if I hadn't watched this video. lol. Thank you! Edit: I forgot to mention how many of those mistakes I have made? All of them! Thank you for keeping homeowners safe!
It's better when twisted however if you have to take it apart hot(which I know as a electrician of 30 plus years never happens) those twists can make life tricky.
If you look on the packaging for the wirenuts, it’ll actually be printed whether you should pretwist the wires, or if it’s not required. I always pretwist my joints because there are less chances of joints coming loose.
And to Brandon: yes, I am ALWAYS thankful the previous guy pretwisted the wires when I have to take a circuit apart hot.
Your wiring connection technique is like Schrodinger's Cat. The wires are twisted, not twisted or partially twisted all at the same time until you go back and check them or one of them cause a fire.🙃
@@J_Trask
Most instructions say that pretwisting is acceptable but not required. As long as all wires are securely in the spiral and tightened to a reasonable point (but not too tight because I've seen wires break), the connection will be electrically/mechanically sound.
Never had any issues with Wago's! Easy to use, much faster to connect than using wire nuts!
And not as secure and not as conductive. Watch the video by Ideal. 2 wires into a red connector. I think the nut can hold a hundred lbs.
@@jamescole3152 Why does it need to hold on to 100 lbs ?? I believe/know.. yep, female ^retired now^ electrician here) that Electric wires aren't ment to hold even close such weights..
@@mademoisellekaya1438 meant to hold != can hold; obviously the statement is simply suggesting that a good wire nut is simply more secure. Also, I noted you didn't address the conductive point.
@@cwtrex Why should I have to go into the conductive point. That was not my point.
I am from the generation that threw away those darn wire nuts, the first female Electricians in the early 90's .
And no, not French as may the name suggest.
And yeah, European.
@@mademoisellekaya1438 But WHY did you throw them away? The point here is supposedly wire nuts (good ones that is) have better conductivity and holding strength. You haven't made a single point as to why you would throw them away or why you would disagree. And I don't understand what anything else you've said has to do with anything relating to those points other than distract from them. Not sure if you are simply looking for a high five or whatever, but I am more interested (regardless of your background) as to why you might disagree with the point that was made.
This was invaluable advice to aid me in installing a smart light switch in my kitchen. I struggled to the point of giving up for more than a year because of the three solid wires I'd need to join to the stranded wire of the light switch for the neutral connection. The Wagos really helped with this.
I'm an electrician in the UK, we use Wago connectors a lot these days and have virtually zero problems with them, they are pronounced 'Vaaaygo', I think it's German. I have seen a 'wire nut' only twice in my whole career, back in my apprenticeship, they were used for lighting circuits only, back when we had rubber cables in the 50's and 60's! I remember they were small and ceramic. They are now illegal for use in the UK (for the last 40 years at least) and rightly so.
I've been using wire nuts for 40 years. Have a shop with 40 electricians. never had a problem. There engineered to work and work perfectly.
Modern wire nuts are not illegal in the UK. There are several sources for them in the UK. They're uncommon in the UK, but that doesn't mean they're illegal.
I was looking for some on a UK website, and I found KEW Electrical in Cheshire sells Ideal twist-on wire connectors, including Twister, Wire-Nut (which is Ideal's trademark), and Wingnut.
Wire nuts have pretty much disappeared in Europe over more reliable and fast connectors that use springs. Lever Wagos and push connectors (wago 2773 for example) are just reliable and cut down installation time considerably. Lever wagos are more expensive, but they are used where stranded wire is needed.
The thing that you might want to consider with these connectors is that spring-loaded connectors will not loosen due to thermal explansion. Any screw connector will loosen over time, and this can cause fires. The wire loosening completely out of the connector is actually not that dangerous. But wires loosening just enough to cause sparking is something that can cause fires. The wires heat up and eventually melt. This is why flame retardant plastics are used literally everywhere, and connections are done inside plastic or metal housings that contain the potential fire.
The industrial automation sector is moving heavily towards spring-loaded connectors in all applications since most industrial machines experience heat variation and vibration.
It's great to hear a electrician be concerned about fire . I see so many of these you tube videos where guys go from the outside to inside, just drill a hole thrue the wall and pus the wires thru , I recomend to go up to fire department and ask
About those dangers . Of causing a home to burn. Because they dont understand pipe .
Hats off to you iam 35 years in ibew 134 and never 1 time used romex . Take care bro.
Those type of uncrimped wire-nuts are totally banned here in Australia, & I doubt that those Wago fittings are legal either as I've never seen them before!
Screw-terminal blocks are the predominate & safest wiring method nationally!
@@stevie-ray2020 the issue with screw terminals is that they sometimes dont screw in properly, and sometimes they loosen over time. youd experience this quite frequently if you work in industry. Wago lever has a spring that completely solves this issue.
Europe isn't using 120V like we do in the US though, so aren't you typically working with lower amperage where heat is less of an issue and the risk of melt is significantly lower?
As an electrician, I appreciate your video. It has good and accurate information and highlights some of the DYI mistakes many home owners make. Those mistakes keep me in a job however:)
I’ve been a commercial electrician for 19 years. My take from this…read the instructions. It’s all right there as with anything you do. All your power tools, your lawnmower, your vehicle, etc. If you just carefully read the instructions you won’t fail
The problem with instructions, sometimes they aren't complete. I just installed 2 lights, and the box for the lights came with wire nuts, and there was no mention of twisting the wire.
I twisted the bare wires(1 solid, 1 stranded) inside the wire nut, but didn't twist the wires(with insulation) outside the wire nuts. Now, I'm going to have to open up the light and redo it after watching this video.
@@pazicjrthat's a sad truth.
@@quasistellar I redid them with WAGO's. Won't go back to wire nuts. So much simpler.
Also, I am aware of the pitfall of the WAGO's, so I made sure to hold the levers when pushing them back into the box.
I had a friend in customer service who would refer to some people as RYFMs. Read Your Fucking Manual. It's a rare thing.
As a new home owner with zero electrician training, your videos are a godsend. Thank you.
is actually mostly click bait! most of his point between bad and good method is actually done with twisting the nut more tile in winded! 1 and 3 for sure!!!
Great job on providing awareness and safety! One item not covered is the non-lever "Way-Go" which is typically used in the industry, especially since the lever model is still starting to gain popularity. But from a cost point (I have purchased >100K) the non-level is much more economical and has less chance of, as you stated, pushing the lever and releasing the wire. Another good point with the "Way-Go" is that you can test the voltage through the top holes without exposing yourself to any bare copper.
It's just wago.
@@dmiguy5897 WAGO not wago
There are a lot of different manufacturers of push-in wire connectors. Ideal probably has more of that market in North America than WAGO. The only one I saw at home didn't look that secure (one of the wire was actually out) and I took it apart and wasn't terribly impressed by the design. However, others like Ideal or WAGO seem to have a more secure design in my opinion.
Those have a way to release solid wires, by twisting and pulling simultaneously. I get that some people claim it means that they're not secure, but it doesn't realistically reflect what would happen in a box. However, I've tried removing stranded wire from one and it just wouldn't come out. Had to just cut it off and strip. I ended using an Ideal lever connector to replace it.
As a retired electrician, I can say that I have never had a wire connection come loose, ever ! While I did use Ideal wire nuts (the non-winged version), I also used 3M brand wire nuts. OH... There's an inexpensive installation tool just for those wingless nuts...
I wondered about that from a pro's point of view. There are 10k of these videos like all wire nuts or connectors are on a moving ship and coming loose. I dunno, but probably should be 10k videos on how to drive more safely LOL then wire nuts and wago connectors that probably come loose 1 in 100000000 occurrences.
42 years in the trade and I'm 100% in agreement with you. I never had an issue with any brand of wirenut. 3-M or Ideal, they work everytime all the time. I also hear non electrical terms "solid core vs. stranded core" and "braiding. He just sounds like another WAGO salesperson.
I Agree .. Many of these videos are bullshit
How would you know if they ever came apart after you've left. A year down the track, and they wouldn't come looking for the original sparky (electrician)
🤣⚡️🤣⚡️🤣⚡️🤣🤣3 phase
I have always though I was a pretty good amateur electrician for home repairs or projects. I have gone through 3 or 4 inspections and never had a problem, although a licensed electrician lost when he had to install one outlet on our house after a fire. I did both the electrical demo and rewire, but an electrician had to do something, and that outlet was it. I have watched several of your videos and learned a lot about little details and hidden tricks. I am about to rewire a garage after purchasing a new home (to us) and the rewire will be extensive. I will use much of what I have learned watching your videos and thank you for them.
I have no idea why sparkies in the US hate WAGOs so much, it’s, by far, the best
Some electricians are just “frugal”. Some are set in their ways. Some just like to contradict anything posted online.
As a US sparky I love them
We prefer them, just waiting for industry to be forced to accept their superiority.
In my personal experience, which while not infinite does stretch back to the 1970s, I have never seen a professional electrician pre-twist wires. All I have seen is twisting the wire nut tight and then going until you have 2-3 twists in the wire. As you neatly demonstrate that produces essentially the same end result as the pre-twisting with a lot less time and effort. Getting the right size wire nut and the right amount of bare wire are going to be huge factors in how well they work. I haven't used wagos yet, but they are intriguing and will probably make an appearance in my next wiring project.
Yes, you should really try the Wagos. My whole house electrics are done with those. Most of the time with the ones w/o the lever, though. Easy to install, to measure (!) and to change.
pre twisting is the way to go.
Anything that increases quality and safety is a win.
Is everything you do a race? Good work takes time.
Pre-twisting is what we were taught in school. I'm sure this is done as requested from the professional field. Don't know how else you would weld 4 or even 5 wires reliably.
I’m a electrician, remember reading on wire it bags “twisting wires not necessary”
*Wire nut bags
The Wago connectors come in different sizes to suit different wire gauges. If you use one that is too small for the wire gauge, then it will cut the wire, as shown in the video. You just have to make sure that the right size is used for the right wire.
@@gary851 You talk nonsense.
@@gary851 I work industrial and a lot of oil field clients are making wagos standard.
@@gary851 So wrong. These are standard in so many commercial buildings now. You just have to use the right ones, with the right wires, in the right places.
@@DansDrives exactly. I used them on all the high voltage lighting 12 years ago. The push in kind not the lever kind, but it made working on live circuits much safer, and any facility electrician knows there's no other way to get it done at times.
Now on my military jobs they always required terminal strips. I wonder if these wago connections would be ok. Would have made the job much easier...
@@beentheredonethatoriginals5673 The push in kind is very good for solid strand conductors I hear. Mechanically it's about the same as the levered model but there's no easy way to get the wire back out.
Thanks for the video on this. I've worked in industrial automation/maintenance/engineering for well over a decade, and simply due to inexperience with residential work, cause me to put projects off I know need done, your videos are extremely helpful and easy to follow. A lot of my desire but procrastination to work on my house is due to how much I know I have had to learn in industrial applications, and I'm always worried I'm going to miss something (especially everyday things like this, that say, an electrician would just know) working on my house since I don't have experience in that area. I can install and program a robot cell, and an industrial 480 cabinet, but I don't have much experience with simple outlets lol as crazy as that sounds. Your videos have helped immensely and they are extremely easy to follow. Thank you for your time and effort!!!
25 years ago I wired a 24 unit senior housing, apartment building. All connections were made with Ideal tan "Twisters" . I have never had a single call-back on a failed connection.
I still use mini blue nuts and small orange ones, usually for lighting applications, but the tan "Twister" is my everyday nut. 30+ year master electrician....
Wonder why USA have one of the highest fires caused by electrical problems percentage...
and in the factory i worked at, with all kinds of extreme conditions wirenuts would untie themselves and fall apart. WAGOs didnt
And maybe they were installed improperly !@@TraktorTarzan
Depends. A lot of DIY work is dealing with just whatever is available in the junction box in older homes that have antiquated splices. I cut off a twisted/soldered/taped splice (that was probably installed before I was born). I underestimated the wire nut size needed to connect 3 12 AWG wires with limited wire/room to work with. It slipped out, I diagnosed why two downstream outlets wern't working, and I connected it with a red wire nut. But I think Ideal's tan Twister would have been fine.
Those twisted and soldered connections were a huge pain. Even if I was OK with electrical tape, some of them were so bulky that it was hard to fit a GFCI receptacle in the box - especially a narrow box.
@@ypw510 Those soldered connections usually had friction tape on them. Here in the Catskills I have dealt with a bunch of those splices.... Imagine lugging a soldering iron around with you ???
I just had an electrician out to do a 240w EV install and to troubleshoot a breaker that keeps tripping. I think you may have just helped me solve my DIY and the trip issue. Thank you. Most helpful! P.S. He replaced the breaker and offered to come back to help further if it continues to trip. Great guy.
I wrap some electrical tape around my diy wire nuts before putting it in the box. Use tape around outlet connections also.
@@billneurohr8509sounds really sketchy
Thank you. This was very interesting. My husband is not an electrician, but learned enough along the way that he wired an entire addition to our house with my help. He taught me all I know. When the code inspector came by, he said that the wiring was better than some he'd seen contractors do. I've never seen a Wago, but they look interesting. We always twist the wires before putting the nut on. We have found some pretty disastrous situations in some of the houses we've lived in. Our current dining room light put out a giant spark with a loud pop, while we were eating dinner. One of the wires had come out and contacted the metal housing. We were lucky we were here and that it just shorted itself, thus avoiding the fire. Electricity is fairly simple, but you have to go by the rules or there will be disaster. Thanks again.
Wrong on so much that I’m not even going to touch on it all. Full of opinion.
Try some WAGOs and join the 21st century.
I am extremely impressed with what I learned from this video. I have wired 12vdc for many years and thought I was doing just fine. You pointed out several techniques I had not considered...and will be following from now on.
As I said...extremely impressed with this video. Thank you,
Bless you for making this video, sir… I’m a single woman in my first house and no one to help me with these things and im on a fixed income so I can’t afford to pay someone to do these things for me so bless you
I am a big fan of Wago connectors so I keep getting hooked in every time I see Shots like yours with a "BAD" pointing at the WAGO. I always know it will be too much or not enough insulation, but you get me to watch... just in case.
Good video. The number one place I've seen wire nuts come loose is in an attic. Numerous time on service calls I've found the heating and cooling cycle of the attic will loosen the connections made by DIY'ers adding lighting or ceiling fans. Poor wire connections (not twisted as shown) sometimes causes burning/melting of the wire nuts. As an apprenticeship instructor I always taught that you had to twist the wires and not rely on the wire nuts for the connections.
You are correct. Twist the wires to make the connection, the wire is used only to cover the connection.
Also when you twist the wires you triple the conductivity at that bridge in the wires, less likely to fault or overheat at that point …
It has to be just right though. Overtightening can break off wire ends. Not enough and it can be vulnerable to coming out. I don't really like pretwisting. I prefer to have a look at the inside of the wire nut if possible to make sure that all the wires are buried in the spiral.
Overheating is only going to come from a marginal connection that creates a high resistance. Pulling completely out might be better than just barely hanging on.
@@ypw510 As always, experience is the key to making a good splice. Having wire nuts come loose when amateurs make splices proves nothing about the reliability of wire nuts. Those people should probably be using those overpriced Wago things instead...
In my old, extensive and poorly wired house, I need to do this job at least once per week. Only yesterday......
I have frequently wondered what is the best practice when joining wires. Thank you for showing me the safest way to do it. Thank you!
Great video. Thanks for the reminder on how to properly use wire-nuts.
In the walls next to my washing machine, I twisted the wires as you stated, then I soldered the connections, then I crimped a Closed End Splice Connector over them & finally used electrical tape over them. It may be overkill, but I feel it is better safe than sorry, since my kids continue to overload the washer & it dances around on the floor bouncing against the walls.
and you still did it wrong. all those splices in your walls should be in accesable boxes
You way over did it, but it is worth it, if it makes you sleep better.
Here's a tip for you, use Wago 221 connectors and be done in literally 10 seconds.
@@69BTony
I found a lot of soldered and taped connectors and cut all of them out. I don't trust electrical tape to hold for years. A properly tightened wire nut should be fine.
@@ypw510 I found some splices in Turkey that were 3 inches of 14 equivalent copper solid twisted together and taped. In Germany they use set screw type connections. In Iraq I saw a yellow and green conductor coming out of a 220V breaker. I guess it is just what you get used too.
Wagos are awesome...been using them for years with absolutely no issues....I will continue to use them.
Learning this in hobby electronics as a kid makes these lessons seem like common sense but it's AMAZING WHAT YOU FIND IN THE WILD.
Rule 1: never trust whoever did the electrical work before you 😂
Excellent presentation. Great information for the lay person. Wish every homeowner could see this video . I have been doing it wrong for years . I’ve been lucky so far in my 35 plus years of home repairs. I always use electrical tape around the wire nut and the wires. Thanks for the great information !
I do as well, especially if it is outside and especially if it is in a large service box with other connections.
I never heard of WAGO levers being opened accidentally. Only option I see is that the lever was never really closed in first place.
BTW: when dealing with solid wires, you can also use the WAGOs with no lever, push in, let the spring do the securing.
BTW: it looks as if you have taken off the insulation too much. Usually the WAGOs have printed the correct stripping length (usually 12mm) on the case.
Wire nuts may have have their advantages and disdavantages, but I wonder if you really can connect 8 wires with drilling. No problem for a 2273 WAGO.
Spingo Wagos huh? Sounds like a fast eddy electrical fire in about 15 years to me. Don’t be a fast eddy.
I've had a wago lever pop open several times when doing rework on a crowded box full of twisted and wire nutted connections. Specifically, this has been in 3 and 4 gang switch boxes, with 4 and 5 conductor twisted/wire-nutted connections that are bulky and don't fold in well - especially when it's a box full of 12ga. I have not had this issue in an all wago box -- the conductors fold in much better without the thick twisted pigtail
Wago is no better than the "push-in" connectors on outlets or switches
@@jimbritttn - Great explanation! I'll counter with "Yes it is!"
Great Video. I hate using wire nuts for anything. I normally twist them as you show but i always use electric tape to be certain they will never come apart. I know never say never but it greatly reduces the chances. I have never used the lever type but I like your Idea of using tape also with those. I am no more than a DIY'er but I am extremally concerned with the potential for fire. I mostly do this wiring in my own garage and sometimes in my own home. I just hate wire nuts and even worse with stranded and solid. But I feel a lot more confident now that I have watched this video and of course I have read the packaging none the less I feel much better about using the regular wire nuts. And in addition I do not use the cheap ones that come with anything. Always IDEAL is my choice. Especially pig tailing. Great video. Thank you and I will try the clip on ones at some point. I would guess they are not cheap but for peace of mind what is expensive?
Just switch to Wagos. Thank us later.
Other guys channel showed even partially closed (improperly) they hold 20 lbs of force pulling on it. WAY more than it should ever see inside a box. 27 lbs when fully properly closed.
Thank you for helping to make buildings safer and for improving installation work.
Currently doing a complete remodel in our house.
The WAGO has been a game changer with the new light fixtures.
Trow out the wire nuts, use WAGO. The time and problems you save completely erase the extra cost of the WAGO connector. They're also about the most reliable thing I've ever used to connect wiring, with very few very niche exceptions.
Wago is no better than the "push-in" connectors on outlets or switches
@@jimbritttn Wrong. They are far more versatile and can accommodate stranded wire as well as solid core.
@@Hoops-Senior Wagos only connect at on very narrow point just like the push-in connectors on cheap outlets or light switches. Wires twisted together and held by wire nuts have a LOT more connection between them.
@@jimbritttn That’s why they have their current rating printed on EVERY connector. WAGO expects their users to be able to read! 🤔 maybe not suitable for the US market, after all. 🤣
I agree most issues raised start from user error and neglagance if people cant read whats on a connector they should not be working with electricity.@@Hoops-Senior
Very helpful, thank you very much. I've done the wire-nut things too often, but I've had the common sense to wrap all my connections up with electrical tape. Thus far no fires or equal, but I'll be sure to double check my connections and redo them when I get the chance.
I rarely use electrical tape, but I make sure the wire nuts are inside the nut.
I just commented the same. Electrical tape for extra safety
I was always taught to divide the strands and pretwist, then screw the nut in twisting and once the nut is secure, wrap the bottom of the nut down to the wires with electrical tape to keep moisture out of getting inside the wire nut and secure it better at the same time. What are your thoughts on that?
You're more advanced than this guy. The only problem with that method is if the wires get hot (won't happen in a home, generally, but if when you fold the nut down and wrap you run the danger of putting a crimp in the wires which will increase the chances of them getting hot) the tape will slide off. Really only a problem in vehicle or outdoor applications. Wire nuts really are not for permanent connections, and anything that needs tape to secure would benefit from a different style connector. If you're already pretwisting then a shrink tube would be a better solution, imho.
Yes heat shrink everything so whenever you go to change something out you have the headache of having to cut the wires way back and redoing everything. Heat shrinking is for completely permanent connections and not used in most residential applications.
@@HowToHomeDIY ... how often do you change the ceiling fan, the light switch, or electrical plug? They're effectively permanent.
Well I changed out a light fixture to a fan the other day, I have been slowly updating all of the light switches in my house, and sometimes I decide to replace them with smart switches so more often than never. I would never want to make my splices that permanent because you never know when you may want or need to change something. Only places I use butt connectors or heat shrink is on my AC, well pump, places like that.
I just want to give thanks for you taking the time to make these videos and explaining them so people actually understand. By far you make the best videos I've seen!! Most of the videos I see people post they skip over the most important part that just happens to be the reason you're watching the video in the first place so you find yourself rewinding and pausing so you can see if you just missed it or see if u can kind of figure out what it looked like before and after they skipped over that part. As I train people that make medical and military equipment it's very important that you are patient and actually go step by step so that they understand it completely. Like I said most people will skip over certain steps and what's the point of making a video because there's always going to be somebody that knows one step but not the next and that's why we need videos like you post. So I appreciate you taking time out of your schedule to help people like me and let you know there are people out there that do appreciate it so thanks again
Wow! That voltmeter reading was a real eye-opener! I've always figured you either have contact, or you don't - but that demo showing how an improperly stripped wire may have partial contact (I think?) and show voltage on a NCVD, but only around 5 volts on the DVM? WOW! Thanks for excellent info with great visuals, demos and clear explanations!
Although it technically can happen, that part on the video is fake, you can clearly see after he uses the non contact tool he cuts the video and switches to a different video clip using the meter and shows around 5v
It happened. There is a cut only to not waste everyone’s time screwing around with getting the NCVD set down, the probes in hand, and making sure the camera isn’t going out of focus. Nothing was messed with in between.
@@HowToHomeDIY Thanks for clarifying and thanks for a very informative and good video. Liked and subscribing
@@HowToHomeDIY we called this a phantom voltage and it's like you describe. Not enough contact to flow ample current but enough to pass through potential (v).
Same thing we'd see in the field on mechanical relays that had carbon build up, or the well known issue with aluminum wires that never get tightened or maintained.
The power (actually voltage) you are seeing at the end of the insulated Wago wire, is usually called induced, ghost or phantom voltage and is not dangerous, as there is no current associated with it. It is voltage induced into the "dead" wire, due to its proximity to the live AC wire. There are low impedance multimeters for double-checking, that that is what you are experiencing, if you're worried.
2 years of commercial level training in HS (yes, my high school had a commercial electric class) and I was taught the method you showed, pre-twisting with linemans pliers. We had several days in class just repeatedly twisting joints with 2, 3 and 4 wire connections. Any electrical work that needs done around the house and stuff, I'm the family electrician lol. Had to give up on that particular career path for health reasons.
That tip with the stranded and solid wire was definitely one I needed to know. We never touched stranded wire in my class, and recently, installing a couple light fixtures and 3 ceiling fans, I was struggling with getting the stranded wire to grab and not slip out.
Shame they didn't teach you about WAGOs.
@@Hoops-Senior Nothing wrong with wire nuts if you do it correctly. If the fixture comes with Wago style connectors I'll use em, but most come with wire nuts, and we already have wire nuts at the house. I'll stick to wire nuts.
It's great that WE don't make these mistakes but thank you for posting this kind of stuff because maybe you'll save a DIYer's life! Great stuff! Details matter.
The fellow that doesn't make mistakes ? I've never seen one.
@@ripjohnson2121 Neither have I, I was trying to say that after a certain point we don't make these mistakes because we've learned the proper way or discovered it the hard way. DIYers are often in the learning stages and being shown a mistake BEFORE you make it is a win. Once you know it, you know it.
@ensidfkgnur I hate it when I put my foot in my mouth. At times I take things to wrong way. Have a great day Sir.
@@ripjohnson2121 Nah, I express things shorthand too often. Ultimately videos like this get viewed and we'll never know the amount of people who might be saved a trip to the emergency room, or worse!!
I grew up dealing with DC where black is nearly always utilized as negative or ground. When I got in to AC I read up on it in an old Sears Hardware book on electricity and was glad I did, black conductors had a very different function!
Pointing out every single way to prove the wire nuts good and finding every silly problems with Wago to prove them wrong. Very nice strategy man, keep it up!
I showed more potential issues when installing a wire nut than I did the Wago. You just didn’t see it because of your bias. Guessing you aren’t in the US. A properly installed wire nut is arguably the best connection that can be made in these applications.
Something you missed with those Wago clips. They are rated for the amount of current and voltage that can flow through them (it's labelled on the side). For example, the Wago clip you show at 12:09 shows it supports 20A and 300V so make sure you don't go above those values. There are Wago clips that support higher values if needed. Also, there are counterfeit Wago clips out there that are cheaply made and the levers can break. Make sure you buy your Wago clips from trusted sources like Digikey or Mouser.
Appreciate the input!
@@HowToHomeDIY You should probably update this video with that. It's more important to follow those guidelines than anything else in your video (could cause a fire).
While many of the previous comments state they've never seen the Wago open up accidently, I have. And you know what they say about Murphy's Law; If you say it won't happen it probably will sometime in the future. Simply wrapping a couple times with electrical tape to make sure they stay shut isn't all that hard an additional step IMO. Good info Adam. Thanks for putting this out there. And it's a great refresher video for those that don't do this everyday as a profession, etc. Thanks again.
Never had a problem with WAGO, other than the price. They do work exactly as advertised, as long as you strip the wire to the proper length. The biggest advantage is how easy it is to add/remove/switch wires.
I remember it used to be expensive, but I now checked the price and it's not too bad.
This is a good video. A lot of people really make these errors and don’t understand what they did wrong. Thank you for this video. It’s wonderful.
Wow this was helpful. I have replaced a few lights in my house over the years and I just learned I've been installing the nuts wrong... I'll definitely be doing it correctly in the future thanks to this video.
I am from Europ and have always used Wagos for any type of electrical installation. I actually ran into situations, where I didn´t remove the exact 11mm of isolation, as required but never experienced any problems with that. The only thing that sometimes happend to me, was that the exposed part of the wire was that short, that it didn´t even make any contact with the peace of metal, that connects the seperate slots. But after about 4 years of working with wagos i never had a situation, where I got a lower output then input voltage from a wago. That doesn´t mean, that it isn´t possible at all, but for that to happen the contact area betwean the exposed part of the wire and the contact area of the wago, would have to be lower then the gage of the wire, (typically 1,5mm) to create eanough resistance, to seginifficantly reduce the output voltage, what appears very unlikely to me to happen.
Also the wagos with the lever aren´t meant to be used in electrical boxes, at leasst not in thoose that don´t connect direcly to a device with a stranded wire, althought they can of course be used there. But there are actually special wagos fore the use in electrical boxes that only connect solid core wires with eachother, wich are fore exsemple the "wago 2273" or "Dosenklemmen" (don´t know how to translate that into english). Thoose don´t have levers, and take a lot less space, because they are only about half as thick as the classic wago 221, used in the video. But as mentioned they can only hold solide core wires.
Hast du Amis mal beim Haus bauen zugeschaut? !? Danach wüsstest du das diese Probleme alle Real sind... aber nur auf der anderen Seite des Teiches..🤣
I remember in Europe in the 1970s, they had a connector similar to the Wagos, but the wires were tightened down by screws instead of levers.
@@waukee321 in my country we called these "chocolate" as you could divide them by breaking them (like breaking squares of chocolate)
@@waukee321 I think what you mean are the "Lyster Klemmen". You still find a lot of them in old Installations and some people even still use them today, scince they are a little cheaper, but they are just such a pain to work with.
If you do not have any load you will measure full voltage even if there is just a tiny strand connected to the Wago. This is because the multimeter draws so little current when measuring. So you can go by unloaded voltage to see if a connection is good.
Been using WAGO for a few years now ever since I heard of them. Just a superior design.
Been a DIYer for 50 years. I wish I knew these tips on properly connecting wires. This will make me safer. Thanks.
Hvac tech/model railroader. I love the wagos. They're expensive but when you've got 3 or more conductors the 3 or 5 conductor levernuts are my favorite.
and you save the costs on wagos on being able to redo and join wires quicker. its soo much faster than wirenuts, especially when redoing something
@@TraktorTarzan Not having to stip back to beyond the twists must help. Every time you have to redo a wire nut you are losing cable length. With a wago you don't. I also don't like the idea that the cable is being strained/distorted when twisting it.
Wow, this is very useful! My collection of wire nuts is old and loose, so I never knew which ones could handle how many wires of what gauge.
Some years ago our furnace stopped working, so I called in a repair person.
When I came back later, on the top of the furnace was a wire nut that had MELTED.
Unfortunately I recognized it immediately: when I had previously worked on the furnace (at least a year earlier) I stuffed 4 wires into one wire nut. That one.
It worked at the time, but obv the connection wasn't as good as I thought. I consider myself lucky nothing worse happened.
I still have that melted wire nut, as a reminder of what can go wrong.
Now I understand how to make sure that never happens again.
For solid Wires you can use the Wago 2273 Series.
The Wago 2273 series is available for 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 wires.
2273-202 is for 2 wires
2273-203 is for 3 wires
2273-204 is for 4 wires
2273-205 is for 5 wires
2273-208 is for 8 wires
To loosen the wires again, simply twist the wire(s) back and forth while pulling.
However, it is always important to keep an eye on the current carrying capacity of all Wago terminals.
And for the uninitiated, twisting to disconnect is the manufacturer's RECOMMENDED way to remove them. It is not a fault, as some other idiot stated on another channel!
Thanks man for the video. I decided to start studying basic electricity and in a few weeks time I plan on order some electrical stuff so I can experiment and actually get some basic experience with messing around with circuits and such to help improve my understand of electricity.
Let us know what day, we'll call the fire truck 🚒 for you. 😆
@@Bill-vy3fx Knowing me we will need like 5 more fire trucks plus a full tanker.
I was trained as an electrician in the union in the 80's and the wire-twisting technique wasn't taught. Never did it myself. But I did come to use the best wire nuts (Ideal) align the ends of the wire, and use the largest suitable nut. Tighten it well so the inner spring got a good grip on all of them, then give each wire a tug to make sure they weren't loose.
Two problems with twisting the insulated part of the wire:
1. If for some reason one of the wires inside the nut is loose (e.g. it breaks off) you won't know it.
2. If you need to work on that connection at a later time (e.g. add a wire) it's a mess.
Re: a stranded wire with a solid wire that is a challenge using a wire nut. My method was to twist the stranded around the solid with my fingers, and leave it longer than the solid. And then after putting nut on, give each wire a tug. We didn't have those fancy new clip connectors you showed, but that looks like the better solution.
One more point about wire nuts: in addition to the continuity of the wires being in contact with each other, the metal inside the wire nut also conducts electricity from one conductor to the next. So, it's not entirely dependent on wire to wire contact (except with those cheap-O nuts with no metal in them).
Wago (and similar connectors) have the advantage of applying constant pressure to the wire inside, instead of applying a fixed pressure during installation and then not moving any more. This is mainly important for stranded wire. When using screw terminals for example, if you put a stranded wire or a tinned stranded wire with no ferrule in them, the wire (or the tin solder) may deform slightly over the years, which will increase the contact resistance, either to the point of not providing a connection at all or being a fire hazard. Terminals with spring mechanisms like the Wagos on the other hand will move if the wire moves any amount, keeping the connection secured. This is why you're only supposed to use screw terminals with single wires or stranded wires with ferrules on the end.
All good tips! I have learned to ALWAYS pull on those wires, even if I’m pretty sure the wire nut is on OK. Maybe one slipped. That stranded to solid is super common when people add outdoor lights, and the stranded wire on that new motion sensor light may be as small as 18 gauge, while your 20 amp lighting circuit is 12 gauge solid. Thanks for a useful video.
And Wago make connectors specially designed for the scenario of a mix of stranded and solid connectors.
In my apprenticeship as a mechatronic engineer in germany my teacher once told me that everything else then wagos is stupid😂 in germany we do not trust those wire nuts. I’ve never even seen them in a german hardware store. But I didn’t know that you can do so much wrong with wagos🤣
Great video😊
I love the Wagos, but I still find myself using wire nuts more often; it's probably because I have thousands of them lying around, and they are cheaper. But in the UK, it's the other way around. If you know what you're doing, they both work great. What still amazes me is how many times I've opened up a wire nut and found what you pointed out.
Wire nuts can make for a very solid connection. However, it gets much harder to line up wires with little wire to work with inside a junction box. I've even considered using more wire nuts to extend wires, then make three connections further out. It's a lot easier to connect two wires together than three unless there's decent room to work with.
You don't twist wires together just to create a mechanical bond. I find the notion of wires "vibrating" apart over time, to be a hard pill to swallow. The main reason to twist wires together is to reduce the chance of fire. Strong and secure mechanical connections are key to a low-resistance electrical circuit. Resistance in a connection like this occurs when the wires do not make good contact with each other, over a suitable surface area of the bare wires. Resistance can lead to heat build-up, melting of insulation and fire hazard. The wire nuts should only be there to electrically insulate the ends and ensure that the twist stays tight during installation and rough-in.
So you don't believe in them vibrating apart because they're loose....but you believe in them catching fire due to magically coming loose....😂
Fortunately for me the only mistake I’ve made is re-using wire nuts. Heat shrink tubing would also be a way of keeping WAGO and similar closed without creating the inevitable sticky mess left by most tape adhesives.
Yes guilty as charged. I've never twisted wires in a wire nut so that they are twisted outside of the wire nut. Now that I've seen the wago, that is a much better and easier way to go.
It will require you to pay attention to the instructions as well ;-)
after many years of doing my own electrical fixing this video has given me info I did not previously know. Very good and important info.
My electrical instructor in college told to always use black tape even on wire nuts to prevent things or moisture from getting into the connection. It also made it so the wires couldn't just fall out.
If you Twist the wire good enough you will realize it will never come loose!
There's no need to place electrical tape all over the wires...and wirenuts...if you make a proper joint, those wires will remain in that wirenut for fifty years without issue. All that tape does is actually cause a gooey, sticky mess for the next man making amendments to circuits and such. Don't do that..its messy and not needed. If you ever had to work behind someone in an outlet box that did this, you would understand quickly my anguish. It's highly likely that's something your instructor picked up from making motor connections inside the motor J boxes. The tape can help from vibration rattling a wirenut loose perhaps but even still, in motors, I never use tape...just good quality wirenuts like the Buchanan B2s or the older style yellow slimline scotch connectors....when either one of those two springs bite onto a good solid joint, those wires are going to be there for decades.
@chrisharrell5945 damn right sir, same thing with having a wall spray foamed. Setting the next person who installs a circuit or is troubleshooting up for failure
@@Pownderosa well the whole residential realm is one big escapade now days -- there's too many matters we could discuss. Houses are thrown together now days and most are built by individuals with hangovers or high on some type of drug.
I am sure you have covered this before, but just in case someone is watching this video alone, there is also strip gages on the back of recepticals and switches. Make sure to follow them!
Great video. I recently had to deal with this issue, installing a ceiling light fixture. The cheap manufacturer only had about two inches of stranded wire protruded from the fixture making it very difficult to get your hands between the fixture pan and the ceiling box to connect the wires. Add pigtails to the solid core wire... then you have two more connections to potentially fail, plus would have been even harder to fit that extra solid wire in the pan, more stranded wire would be much easier. Wago's would have made the job much easier, but I haven't seen them sold in Canada...
It seems like every product you buy these days is made with the absolute minimum and sometimes less than minimum amount of material, how much more would it have cost to have two more inches of wire, one cent??
Thanks for your video. I learned some things I didn’t know before and I’ve been doing electrical for about 15 years on and off.
Really appreciate how straight forward, concise, and knowledgeable you are!
A couple comments on the WAGOs. Having used them all over my house and my workplace, I've never seen one open and drop the wire out. We have one guy who worries about that, but instead of tape, he uses a small ziptie near the top and makes it tight. That way you can still see inside, you can still use the test holes, and if you're using wire that is being pushed to it's max, it'll never get too hot, which tape might hold in.
Also, I'll never use a wire nut again, especially for multiple connections. Being able to leave things hot with a 3 or 5 hole Levernut and just add the new conductor is so much better than undoing a wire nut, and trying to get 3 or 4 wires all perfectly back together while not getting shocked is wonderful. And for those who don't like even levers, there's the push in style wirenuts, and they work, but hard to ever undo if you're rewiring anything.
And anyone leaving That much wire unstripped outside any lever or wirenut doesn't need to be wiring.
Levernuts are just like you said about wirenuts. Follow the instructions and you'll probably never have an issue with them. They even come in different sizes as well for slightly larger conductors and amp loads.
Great video! Yup -- seen these issues and early on made them - but realized it and fixed and learned to do it correctly the first time. I realized early on that the wire nuts without metal inside don't grip so I bought packages of different sizes just to have them. When I changed out barn lights for LED tubes, bought boxes of wire nuts and found the crappy ones were used originally.
I haven't used the two terminal connector shown. Will get some.
I don't like wiring as it always seems too much is crammed in the boxes. So, it is nice to know how to do it correctly the first time and NOT create a fire hazard.
A friend called me to get bees out of her basement rafters. I got there and there was a lot of buzzing for sure. It wasn’t bees but an unboxed connection of wirenuts that had come loose.
Oh yikes! Glad you all found it and got it taken care of before something bad happened!
I heartily agree with wrapping WAGOs with electrical tape to prevent accidental lever opening when pushing into a crowded box, but there is one caution here: The tape might provide unintended thermal insulation that could cause the connector to overheat if being used a maximum load. I use a single wrap of tape that covers the lower end of the levers only to reduce this possibility.
Даже представить не могу, по какой причине рычажок сможет сам открыться.
I am guilty of all of these at one time or another. Once I discovered the wago connectors I rarely use anything else. My favorite, though, are the leverless version of wago connectors. It takes one more potential failure out of the element and it is nice to just shove the wire in and seat it without levers. Just like you, I also, tape around all my connectors after they are installed to add that extra level of security. Lastly, once my entire outlet is wired, I also tape around the entire thing to isolate the side screw connectors from anything else in the box ;D It doesn't take too many jingles or flashes of light after installs to learn your lessons quickly ^_^
I always do the extra taping too.
Excellent video. Safety is Key so 13:00 3 ideas are critical:
1. wrapping electrical tape wire nut and Wago connectors,
2.
Twisting or pre-twisting wire nuts and ensuring correct exposed wire in the Wago
3. Checking your work