What Wire Connector is the Best? Settling a Debate! Wire Nut VS Wago
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In this video we will be having a closer look at wire nuts and wago connectors. Both are used for electrical house wiring and both come with their own advantages & disadvantages. I will present you their most important ones by doing a couple of different tests and at the end you will know what connector you will use in the future ;-) Let's get started!
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0:00 Wire Nut VS Wago Overview
0:59 Intro
1:57 Comparison Criteria
2:58 Ease of use
5:27 Possible Problems
6:19 Fast to use?
6:54 Reusability
7:23 Size
7:44 Price
8:01 Pull Test
8:46 Resistance Test (Heat)
10:05 Flammable?
10:22 Verdict - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Part 2 ;-) : th-cam.com/video/C8Xpjj47vgU/w-d-xo.html
apparently youre supposed to pre twist the wires before adding the nut, which makes the connections between stranded and solid wires better and less prone to problems, but takes longer to do.
Maybe done by cheap shitty wire nuts. I'm an electrician I would never use those cheap wire nuts
Dude 99% of homes in the US are wired with those connectors my house was built in 1929 they used those connectors my house is still here it hasn’t burnt down there’s nothing wrong with what your calling crap connectors as long as you buy decent ones I was also an electrician they have higher quality ones than those off Amazon like the green didn’t have a pass through hole like the good ones I bet
as superdruid999 said, it is true you have to twist them yourself.
I have also been teached to do the pre-twisting. You usualy strip them longer then needed so its easier to twist them with a tool and cut them off so the copper would be about the spring length. It the netherlands (next to germany) they were used until the mid 90's i think. So its not a us only solution. Additionaly one of the biggest cons of the wago types is that if used bigger ones it easier to add a wire.
The reason wire nuts don't have a current rating is because they are not intended to conduct electricity. They are intended hold the wires in intimate contact. The wires themselves are the bus. This is best illustrated by the fact that not all wire nuts contain any conductive material.
While I get what you are saying, the connection between the wires is not flawless (Especially if the wires are not perfectly connected, as seen once in this video), and thus a high enough current will still create additional heat at the connection, which could melt the connector if the current is too high. Of course such a current should not be achievable under normal circumstances, but considering these connectors are used in the US (120v vs 240v, thus twice the current for the same power) it is still a bit weird.
That was my first thought in the conductivity test. The wire nut isn't meant to conduct anything, they just smash the two wires together tightly which seems ideal but the wagos performed very well.
Ah, that makes total sense. Of course it actually adds zero resistance.
that also explained why wire nuts have lowest resistance...
but wire nuts are easily loose, especially after hard days works. in some crucial connection, this might be the last thing you want to have.
and wago have a more consistent grip
@@mongelaloe2304 I think wirenutz have the strongest grip when done right but easy to install wrong and hard to check.
I realize I'm a bit late to the party here... but for me the main benefit of the WAGOs are that I can remove a single wire without needing to disconnect the others. This is such an immense time saver, especially when doing trouble shooting or installing additional wiring later on.
What good was the time savings after one burns down your house?
@@RadioRich100 i doubt they will burn your house down. ive used wago connectors for about 5 years and havent had any issues.
Thats right save the time, burn down the house.
@@GamingKing545 Oh I see, you put your name and phone number on each one u installed.
@@RadioRich100 no? they are installed in my house
Not mentioned in the video, the WAGO allows to connect different conductor material, e.g. Al and Cu (a special chemical gel is required to fill the WAGO). This is common in old elec. installations, e.g. in the Czech Republic. The wire nut cannot be used as Al and Cu would chemically react together if connected and the current is flowing.
Special wire nuts exist for this purpose.
I was once assembling a small booth for an international trading fair. After the fair I noticed, that most companies didn't even bother disassembling their lighting setups and just threw the whole things into the garbage containers. Most of them used WAGO connectors. I just looked through them during my lunch break and salvaged 200 WAGO connectors worth around 100 eur. O.o
WOW. That is a serious waste of money! I'm American and I still have a general idea of how much they're throwing away! Keep a few around if you're an electrical engineer.
In Germany 200 Wago connectors cost about 10-15 € for companies
@@ClayLama These were the fancy ones with levers. Back then they were around double the price than what I can find now. The cheapest option I saw today is 50eur/200 in bulk. Perhaps if you order 20000 it's a different story.
The reason the Wago connectors have a current rating and the wire nuts don't is because of the way power flows. In a Wago, the power has to go through the connector, but in a wire nut the wires are held together and power goes straight from one to the other.
Yeah pretty much. With wire nuts, the connecting element being conductive is more matter of fact rather than elementary to the design. Definitely an advantage from an electro-physics perspective.
Sounds like a potential way to start little tiny fires inside your walls and attic when there's an over-amp situation.
@@ShadoFXPerino Wagos aren't meant to be fuses, and they can absolutely melt and fuse wires together open as well. They CAN act like a fuse, but there is no guarantee of it, nor is it something to be relied on. If you have overcurrent, it's melting and fusing just like a wirenut would.
@@truthbetold1855 He has not mentioned them acting as a fuse in any way. Thats only your interpretation.
@@truthbetold1855 A wire nut wouldn't melt and act like a fuse because the wires are physically twisted together. The wirenut is not carrying any current. You can take it off and the mechanical connection of the copper is fine.
USA electrician apprentice here, when using a wire nut with both stranded and solid you strip the stranded a few mm extra and when placing it in the wire nut extend it slightly more then the solid, this makes the stranded wire wrap around the solid wire much more reliably. When doing it that way I don’t think I’ve had a single wire nut tug off (you should always give the connector a slight after installing any connector imo)
Thanks for the tip :-)
This is correct. Good technique and no matter which connector you use always give a pull to test. I've had bad wirenuts and a bad wago spring and found out when I pulled them right off. Into the trash they went and redo the connection. A tight connection is a safe connection
I came down to say the same thing, I also pre-twist them a little and they're reliable enough. Also, last time I bought a bag they came to around 2 cents a piece here lol.
You do have to be careful how much extra length you strip from the stranded, because you can end up with the wire nut only biting the ends of the strands, which can leave the solid able to be pulled out of the joint easily.
@@jarphabib I Never Use A Wire Nut On Stranded Wires Unless It Is Low Voltage! Stranded Wire Can Be Tinned With Solder To Perform The Best With Wire Nuts! I Have Never Had To Replace The Ideal Brand Of Wire Nut! But Some Of the Cheap Ones Are Crap To Start With! If The Nut Will Not Tighten Up So I Can No longer Twist On It It Goes Into The Trash! Winged Wire Nuts Work Great By Hand But If Using The Other Type They Make A Driver For Them! Or I Use The Strippers Designed Just To Do That!
- wago for standard home installation and/or for temporrary wiring (or not
- crimping with a copper sleeve + heat shrink tube for very good conduction and waterproof needs
I love how no matter the industry, a "temporary" solution, is never just temporary
@@p3chv0gel22like Japan's power grid?
In Australia we generally use screw connectors (BP connectors) but in the industrial sector wagos are becoming popular. Wire nuts have never taken off.
Ah thats what those are called in english. Good to know lol
@@p3chv0gel22 True that, we call them Dominos in french
That's my preferred way of doing electrical work too
I'm in Sydney, I believe wire nuts do not complie with AusNz safety standards of a wire connector in a electrical environment, no current rating . Working on Ausgrid /Endeavour and Essential Energy networks ABC (Ariel Bundle Cable) use larger industrial connectors and some connect services that look similar to Wagos except they are entirely covered in the same black rubber as ABC.
They are also used in germany. Not that common in the electrical field anymore. They have a lot of disadvantages.
Is the wire in deep enough or already on the other side. How is the power afflicted by the dent the screw left in the wire. And if you reuse that same wire. Is the screw screwed in deep enough but doesnt pierce the wire. You need at any time a skrewdriver. Those screws wear out over time of usage. Sometimes the plastic housing gets damaged (most of the time while operating the screw) and exposing live parts of the connector. You can ever connect 2 wires together only or you have mostlikely a bad connection and a bad grip of the screw. You shouldnt connect stranded wires except you coate them beforehand.
Everytime using them they feel like operating an experimental device.
I'm currently a retired electrical engineer in the US where I made designs for industrial machines. When Wago demonstrated the lever nuts we were quick to change. The over all the ease of use and reduction in service calls more than paid for the change. The older version of the lever nuts were a bit harder to use and would pinch your finger when closing if you weren't careful so I was glad to see that they were redesigned to be easier to use. The only stores I found that carries them for the general public in the US is Menards if anyone is interested in trying them for themselves.
Locke supply house has them as well. They service professionals and home owners alike.
You can still pinch your fingers, it's just slightly less painful now
Thank you so much for that information! The only reason I haven't switched permanently is that they are not easily available at my usual stores.
Menards opened a store relatively local about 1 year ago. I will be going on my next trip to that town!!!
Home Depot has both types (lever and non lever) and Lowes has the non-lever type 😀
Yeah, those old bastards bite you if you have the tendency to play with them in your pockets ^^'
I had a few wagos for prototyping that someone gave me. I honestly didn't even look at the rating on them until almost a full year later, because I was just using them for low voltage DC stuff. When I realize they could actually handle mains AC I immediately bought an assortment and haven't looked back. For me, the biggest thing aside from the ease of use is knowing that the connection is made properly. I feel like wire nuts make it too hard to tell if you have a solid connection or not, and I think that's much more of a safety issue.
Definitely. When Scott mentioned that you "can't see" what the connection looks like you made in there, I was thinking that they could have the color coding as a ring at the bottom while the upper portion of the cap is just transparent.
Ya. Especially when connecting stranded and solid core. I'm sure electricians are better at getting that to work than I am but maybe the wago should be included in all light fixtures instead of wire nuts for safety reasons.
Memo to wire nut manufacturers, everywhere: Enhancement suggestion: go with transparent plastic instead of the opaque! ;-)
If a firm tug is too hard idk what to tell you lol I’ll be honest wagos are nice, and I got no horse in the race I really don’t care I just thought it was humorous
@@newsogn5148 the problem is that inexperienced people might not be doing that or will get frustrated with the stranded wire and leave it as good enough.
I recently moved into an older home in the USA, and I just started some renovations. This topic has been on the top of my mind. Thanks for the in-depth analysis!
If it was built in the early 1970's, you run the risk of homes with aluminum wire.
US resident here. I discovered WAGO connectors about a year ago and feel they are a godsend, is so many ways superior to the wire nuts, If you only do occasional electrical work around the home, I appreciate having data printed on the WAGO connectors. It's also quick to install and allows for confirmation of the connection. Especially good when connecting a solid core wire and stranded wire (I'm never comfortable whether the strand wire twisted around the solid core properly since the wire nut dos not allow you to view the connection without removing the nut). Great video!
Same, I too came across WAGO connectors about 1.5 years ago when remodeling homes and have not gone back to the wire nuts. I can confirm each connection by looking through them and can tell that I have a good connection, with wire nuts, at times, when I push them back into a box one of the wires may come out of the nut or not make a good connection at all. I have more confidence in the WAGOs making a good connection than I do with wire nuts.
But that is user error. Even in this video, the author doesn't always properly twist them
Im an electrician and wagos are trash on solid wire. They dont make a very good connection
@@morscovium8881 When you are dumb you need to add
@@morscovium8881 They spin when moved they dont grasp the wire.
I bought a box of Wagos years ago and never went back, every time I find an old wire nut it gets replaced with a Wago lever or a push connector depending on how likely I think I'll ever have to do rework is. I like the newer generation of transparent lever Wagos that are less likely to snap your fingers, that's about my only complaint with the older grey ones.
That was actually my only complaint about the grey ones as well :-)
How sore is it when you smack your finger nail with one 😂 OUCH
@@greatscottlab 100% Same here. Honestly, I remember the first time I seen these and it was like a godsend. Wire nuts work, but they IMHO suck to use, esp with stranded wire. They work much better for solid wire, but still are best kept to a one shot use. Yes, you can reuse... But your wire now has metal fatigue due to the twisting, as does the spring coil.
Australia has a lot of stranded wire, and the Wago connectors I prefer even over the common brass cap with set screws (Lookup Clipsal 563J/50 for an example). Wagos do not destroy your stranded wire ends like screw caps or twist nuts do.
They grey ones were much thicker too. And as you say, quite painful once in a while …
Same. The only time I don’t replace them is when there are a lot of wires tied together, and already twisted around each other. I’ve seen wire nuts holding way more wires than I can do with a single wago.
USA here, I've been using Wago since I first learned about them 10 years ago. Even went through the trouble of opening ever box I had in my home to replace the wire nuts with the wago. Glad I did at least half of the wire nuts were either barely on the wires or in the case of two plugs had fallen off
were they poorly installed, then? any poorly installed type can fail...
@@judychurley6623 yeah seems the previous owner was a DYI guy but didn't have a clue what they were doing. Beyond the lose wire nuts I found many plugs with the hot and neutral reversed and a few that had the ground tied to the nuetral in the box. Now maybe the guy was an idiot or maybe it was done to fool the home inspector because the cheap ground testers will show a plug as good with a cheat like that. Not sure but I fixed them all and the Wago connectors made my job a whole lot easier so I'm glad they exist and that they are perfectly acceptable per code.
Sounds like your house was wired by a first timer.
@@RobertBeck-pp2ru for sure
5:44 always run the stranded wire longer than the solid so the nut has something to grab onto
Soldering the 2 wires before screwing in the marette is also a good idea
@@carlosoruna7174 some years ago I read in the NEC that soldering is not allowed in house wiring.
@@ianmckinley5613 You are correct, Generally solder shall not be used .
Normally an electrician twists the wires using the linesman pliers and then twists on the wirenuts
Just spend so little more and buy fucking Wagos.
When will some of you understand that in every country that is developed enough and has strict legislations when it comes to the whole electrical system, like DE and UK, the WAGOs ARE the STANDARD. :)
When connecting stranded and solid wire with a wire nut,
extend the stranded wire beyond the end of the solid wire slightly before connecting.
It is required to twist the wires together to make a sound mechanical connection before securing with a wire nut. We strip more than enough sheathing from the wire and twist them together holding the ends with a pair of lineman's pliers, then cut the excess wire to length and secure with a wire nut.
haha yes and it takes a good bit of experience to do it properly. A good few kids in my class never got it right. It takes muuuuuch more time than a wago.
The wago does make a shitty connection which can be an issue at times. I hear someone who had cars driving by worsen the cut it makes in the wire and make the lights flicker.
I would never use wago's for an electric stove but I imagine germans would run a cable straight to the switchboard.
If you keep twisting the nut you can push it in circles into the box and fit a bit more spare wire inthere. You shouldn't twist a wago.
@@gabydewilde yea it also takes time and experience to be an electrician.
Both of the Wago connectors add a new component to the circuit, the metal connecting bar. The wire nuts goal is to compress the wire ends together. More than 90% of the current goes through the wire joint while less than 10% passes through the spring. Probably explains why the resistance is so low.
Ya, running the juice through a bit of steel is just never gonna be as good as copper to copper.
Though, I wonder if in the case of dealing with old, aluminum house wiring, the wago connectors would be safer?
In my old house, someone wire nutted an aluminum wire to copper, and the nut liquified and very nearly caught fire in the wall. WE only knew about it because the light stopped working.
@@Nevir202 i doubt its steel
@@executive On what basis? Guarantee it isn't copper, which is both too ductile, and work hardens so that it would be prone to crack.
In fact, most highly conductive metals have similar issues.
@@Nevir202 The wago connectors consist of two pieces, a spring (which is a nickel steel alloy), and a bus bar (which is copper). The spring is used to push the wire against the bus bar, and isn't designed to carry significant amounts of electricity (after all, steel is a terrible conductor)
I totally agree
I was taught by the U.S. Navy and don’t have any experience as a professional electrician in the civilian world but my training was to always make a secure mechanical connection between the wires before adding the wire nut so the wire nut is a redundancy instead of the primary fastener. Our trainers regularly pulled on random wires to see if we had short-cutted this step.
Twisting wires together with pliers isn’t hard but it can feel tedious and a lot of people tried to skip it and just twist the wire nut on. I find a lot of that kind of work when I’m doing little repairs so I don’t know if that’s not something that’s regularly taught or if people are just lazy.
This gives me "electrical school" vibes c:
Here in Italy we use screw connectors, but twisting never seemed to prevent the pulling out.
The most professional way we learned connection, is to firstly put on a cable . . .tube? (round metal that fits over the cables) and the other things just for protection.
Twisting cables isn't allways posdible, especially with larger diameters. Most connectors here make a really tight fit with straight wires
@@caked3953 I think the term in English you're looking for is "ferrule". A metal tube that you crimp over the ends of the wires?
@@seabeepirate Yes, the proper way to use a wire nut is to twist the wires together and then “screw on” the nut. This is how I’ve been taught as an electrician pre 2000. Given the fact that Wago like terminals were already present and you basically use then as they are easier to work with the education did cover the Wire Nut as it’s possible to find them in older houses. So about 5 of the practical installation we had to use a wire nut just to know how it works.
We basically use the same German standard here in its neighboring country, the Netherlands.
Side note: Scott only used 2 wires and could reuse the spring. If the nut has more wires going in you most definitely can’t get the spring out without “destroying/deforming” it and you have to buy a new spring. The holder can be reused as you can “unscrew” the cap from the spring.
Twisting wires together before installing a wirenut is something taught by teachers that teach and don't work. It's a horrible practice. 1. Unnecessarily time consuming. 2. Unless you're going to twist and solder, twisting wires is a crappy connection that can EASILY hide a loose wire nut. 3. It makes any service work dramatically less safe, not to mention the PITA to untwist all wires straight again. Not to mention the problems of twisting different diameters effectively and god forbid stranded wires. Worse yet many diy-ers don't even bother to re-straighten. When I see wires twisted with kliens inside a wirenut it's a red flag someone with more desk-time than field-time was in that box and to check EVERYTHING in the vicinity. A properly installed wirenut is a MECHANICAL connection. Wagos, REAL Wagos, are good but pricey. For every Wago I see, I see 50 cheap dangerous imitations. Flame away. Just know I've seen most everything in my 37 years actually in the field.
Very well done! On the cost/price analysis topic, I recommend combining the part cost with the labor (time) cost, and maybe sprinkling in a "repeated attempts probability" risk factor to account for cost of errors, such as the solid+stranded "miss" on the wire nut example in the video. At an hourly rate of $60/hr, just one extra minute per connector will completely swamp the parts savings - and good luck finding an electrician billing rate of $60/hr. The I^2xR loss on the 221 was more than expected.
Good suggestions.
The miss on the stranded to solid wire nut was because of a really easy mistake. With stranded wire we push it just a mm or 2 past the solid before putting on the nut. Def impacts the ease of use but once you get the technique it works every time.
Germany, so many awesome things, but still uses a flat head screw? There goes your time savings : )
Wah wah wah. You just don’t like wirenuts because your girly wrists can’t handle twisting them
@@morscovium8881Brody as an electrician I've gotta say Wagos are just faster and easier to use. If I have to fix someone's fuck up I prefer Wagos every time.
Wago's are easier and less likely to result in a poor connection when used by a non-professional, but the reason I do not favor their use is the big difference in surface area in contact and the added resistance of the Wago system. When done properly, the twisted connection results in much more surface area of each wire being in contact with the other wire(s), creating less resistance and more reliability over time. The Wago has a much smaller surface area in contact with the bus, and relies on spring tension alone to keep the connection tight and secure. Feel a Wago connector in an activated circuit and you are likely to feel some heat (due to resistance). You do not want heat being generated in wiring connections.
@gcraig0001: Thank you!
Wagos for joes and wire nuts for the pros,
You use them around me I’ll slap them hoes right out the door.
If you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be engaging in electrical work, you'll get somebody killed. If anything, that's an argument in favor of wirenuts.
wago connector may have has less resistance with stranded wire compared to solid due to how the clamp force works.
Yep, I am an electrician by trade, and I agree with you completely. Even though wago connectors are slightly easier and faster to use than wirenuts, I do not like wago connectors as well as wire nuts because I have seen WAY more loose connections and "pullouts" of wires, especially when twisting and moving a joint/connection around within a junction box, with the wago connectors than with wirenuts.
If wirenuts are used properly, (being an electrician I have used them long enough to know how to best use them, lol!), the wirenuts produce a considerably better and more long-term reliable connection!
The USA/Canadian Ideal wire nuts that I use most of the time come with a table printed on the bottle or bag that lists what wire combinations go with which wire nuts. No dooblydoo required.
Also, a good update to this test would be to try some set screw insert wire nuts, which use a brass insert to hold the wires together. The outer plastic cap which goes over the brass insert is only for insulation.
The constant turning movement in the hand leads to problems in high age. That's why electricians like to use small electric screwdrivers to tighten the screws.
Simply plugging it in or turning a lever is much easier on the hands and can be done without restrictions into high age.
Good point :-)
Even just a long day with a hundred or two wire nuts will leave my wrist hurting for a while.
Thats why I use an ideal wire nut twister in my impact gun/cordless screwdriver. Faster than wago and gives a rock solid mechanical connection and no pain in the wrists
There are screwdrivers that have a socket in the handle that accepts wire nuts used in house mains wiring. They really decrease the force one needs to exert when twisting wire nuts.
For solid wire you dont even have to open the Wago 221 just push it in ;)
Here in Europe, and 240V, the currents are smaller compared to US where 110V is more common. Something to consider when comparing the contact resistance..
I had the same thought about why WAGOs are more popular in Europe while wire nuts are more popular in the USA. It makes sense that in the EU, with higher voltage and lower current, the relatively greater resistance of WAGO connections is less of an issue than it is in the USA with higher amperage for a given wattage.
A 1500 Lumen LED household light bulb that draws about 13W is generally considered to be equivalent to a 100W incandescent bulb. This is a pretty bright bulb. An typical LED light that's in the form factor of a 5 to 6 inch recessed ceiling light draws about 13W and is equivalent to 75W incandescent (more-or-less). At 120VAC, that LED can is drawing 0.11 amps. At 0.0022 Ohms of resistance (as measured by Great Scott), you get a power loss of 0.000027W. This is basically zero.
So in the USA, if I'm wiring up a lighting can or an AC-powered smoke alarm, I think the difference in power loss between a WAGO 221 and a wire nut is de minimis. In both of these instances, when I do wiring myself, I'm generally on a ladder working overhead, and I much prefer the increased simplicity and speed of using a WAGO. For those overhead lighting and smoke alarm installations, I think WAGO connectors are less error prone since it's harder to balance on a ladder and get a very solid and even twist on 2 wires -- I think especially for a stranded-to-solid connection and when you're connecting wires of different gauges together.
If I'm wiring up electrical outlets, I'm not working overhead. I get to sit in a comfortable position, and I can take my time to twist together wires very tightly. My wife might plug in her hair dryer and draw 15A from an outlet. In the kitchen, we might run our mixer or toaster oven or coffee machine. In my garage, I might run my AC air compressor from an outlet, which draws quite a lot of amperage. In all of these cases, I've decided to use wire nuts for household outlets and potentially any other circuit that will draw more than maybe 1A.
When I started doing some of the repair work at the restaurant I used wire nuts all the time as they were easily available
As I got more into the job I saw the Wago push in type and then the 221 type and now I only use wire nuts in certain conditions
When we started relamping stores with LED fixtures I used the Wago push in style units a lot as that's what came with the new fixtures
I agree with most of what is on there. Wagos are definitely better for space, neatness, time, and reuse while nuts tend to be cheap, easy to use, and durable. Though, there are a couple of things to point out for someone who doesn't use nuts often.
First off is that nuts aren't supposed to conduct. The wires are held together directly.
Second, is that issue you had with the strands not twisting together. For those of us that grew up on them we normally give the wires a small twist before inserting them. This removes the problem.
I was taught that you do not twist the wires with the wire nut. You twist the wires with pliers first, making sure they are in correct and intimate contact. Then you twist the wire nut onto the twisted wires.
It would have been nice to see wire nuts used correctly. They wires are supposed to be twisted together before installing the wire nut just as you said. Also a fairer comparison would be using the Ideal wing nuts because those are what is used in the field here.
@@davisladd6473 whats the difference with a wing nut?
@@tjeulink wing nuts allow the bare hand to leverage higher torque to the copper wires, twisting tighter.
@@davisladd6473 it's actually not necessary. I do pretwist mine. However wire nuts are made to cut into the conductors and grip them and twist them.
I prefer the redundancy, myself, as many do so it's still done. If you don't prep the wire proper(good length, mechanical twist, trim after) then you can make an even sloppily connection and you should have just let the wirenut do its job.
I was told by someone much smarter than me to pre-twist wires before the nut.
Great video! Thumbs up!
@9:35 - I hope Wago can improve/upgrade there 221 soon so that it'll have resistance closer to the nut. (or less than 0.3mr for the 221. I hope that's not too much to ask for, IMO with that one thing at same price point or just a little bit more expensive would be perfect)
There's a time and a place for both types. I initially didn't trust the Wago type when they first appeared in the U.S. for higher amp loads after seeing them through thermal imaging. They seem closer to wire nut now. I've never used the 221 lever lock type. If it positively locks and isn't easy for it to come loose accidentally, then I see a huge benefit for certain scenarios. I can't fathom why it would be unsafe to reuse wire nuts provided they are in working order. After all, they simply insulate the connection and hold the wires together for the wires to carry the current. Also, there is a "winged wire nut" that isn't round like those in the video. They are much easier to twist and physically smaller. Also, there's a tool that works for both types of wire nuts that can be used with a wireless drill or ratcheting bit holder that really helps. It reduces fatigue on the forearm and makes it easy to get a good solid connection. I fully trust Wago connections if the wires are largely parallel in the box and not a lot of stresses pulling wires different directions. But, if they have to get shoved in, rotated, twisted, etc just to get them in the box and/or barely fit in the box, I'd rather have wire nut. I definitely sense personal bias and preference in this video though I think the presenter made an honest attempt not to.
You forgot one very important function of the Wago: the hole where you can insert your multimeter Tip to measure Voltage without disconnecting!
True
This can be done with wire nuts too
@@jarphabib do they have a hole on top?
@@TrolloTV No, at the bottom
@@Engineer9736 So it only works when you removed too much insulation, or what is the method there?
Being from the US, I was raised on wire nuts. However, I now keep both wagos and wire nuts around. There are plenty of instances in existing work where wagos have been much easier to install due to space and wire limitations. I also prefer them for mixing stranded and solid cable, but that is purely personal preference. However, I still prefer wire nuts for new work where I have plenty of wire and can cut and strip everything to the length I want. The cost savings is significant when making more than a few connections, and when I am doing something simple like connecting two solid wires of the same gauge, they produce a great connection without much difficulty.
I was also taught to pre-twist the conductors before installing a wire nut. That is part of the reason I don’t like them for adding to existing work: there often isn’t as much room to get a tool on all the wires I want and twist them up, so I have to rely on the nut to do it. I don’t need nearly as much space to shove wires into a wago.
How many wire nuts (or similar connections) would you say there are in a typical 3 bedroom 2 bath home? Curious to see how much that .88 watt/wago adds up.
@@Kr-oy2bo Unfortunately, I don't think I could give a good answer on that. I just use 'em!
@@Kr-oy2bo 250+ terminations would be reasonable estimate at 3 connections per outlet/switch. Average American home is about 75 outlets according to Googles. If I were an Electrician, I'd prefer the Wago connectors. I've only used wire nuts and I'm not a huge fan. I've done some plug terminations and I'm a low voltage tech, so I appreciate the fact you can see how well your conductor is terminated inside the connector. I always worry about insulation getting in the way for a wire nut to make proper connection or them not winding together inside the nut properly. I'll probably buy some Wago connectors at some point to keep around the house.
interesting. Would the higher cost of the wagos not be offset by the time savings they provide in your project?
@@AndreSomers at the price a German electrician charges: Absolutely. At the price point of electricians elsewhere in the world? depends I think.
I prefer the 221 wago because if you make a mis take its very easy to fix and they are very easily reuseable
And when it starts a fire??
@@RadioRich100 why would it start a fire its got great connection, it is just People like you Who dont know shit about electricity and run around saying wgos cath fire whitout proof😂
The 2273 ones are also reversible, just twist them slightly while pulling on the wire you want to remove.
And no, Wagos don't start fires unless you really, really misuse them (i.e. don't push the wire far enough for the spring to grab it) and that's something just as easily done with wire nuts.
Quite a few European countries have been using Wago connectors exclusively for well over 20 years. Do you really think we wouldn't have noticed an increase of electrical fires if Wagos were actually bad?
@@Ragnar8504 100% true 👍 i also work with stranded wire so The lever wago is sometimes must, when using single core solid wire i use The push connectors because they are smaller
I feel like these tests can be a bit flawed depending on where you’re from. Where I’m from, we use higher quality wire nuts than the ones tested and almost everyone I’ve met pre-twists their splices.
I like to strip an inch and hold the wires with 520 channel locks (the small ones), and offset the strands and use Klein Wireman's Pliers to twist the connection. I snip the tip and then I use the winged wire nuts on my connection. (A multi-tool with the barrel pulled out fits over winged wire nuts and gives a great grip to run them down tight). I did this professionally during my carrier.
I came to say this, best German connectors versus cheapest Chinese wire nuts.
Not even a remotely fair comparison.
They don't make them in Europe, so you can only get cheap ones
@@onebacon_ no but good wire nuts exist on Amazon ;)
@@onebacon_ I don't think they are even legal to use here, never seen one being used in all my life in any installation.
For wiring Lamps like @GreatScott! did in this Video, there is also a special Wago just for that purpose. It is the Wago 224-xxx. They are designed as InLine Connector, so one wire in the one end and the other wire in the other end of the connector and are specially designed to wire stranded wires and solid core wires together. So one end of the connector is the wago 2273 like connector for the solid core wire and the "simply push it in" way of use. The other end of the connector is a clamp like connector that you can push together and insert the stranded wire.
Thats why they are called "Wago Lighting Connector".
Just wanted to tell, if someone don't know them but want exactly that kind of connection for his project.
Greets from Berlin, Germany
Those are awesome for hoking up light fittings.
PS when using wire nuts I was taught to always pre twist with your pliers before adding the wire nut. Also when connecting one wire to a smaller size the smaller size is twisted proud of the larger to enter the wire nut first by a small bit. Same with stranded connected to solid with the stranded entering first by a bit.
Yep, one need to pre-twist them! Today, wire knots are little used in the Netherlands. But in the past I used them a lot. But first you twist the wires together. Only then are the wire knots screwed on. That gives a stronger and better connection. Like any tool, you have to use it properly!
It's actually in the instructions. Which I have never seen since they don't come with them.
i always found the joint is much better if you do not pretwist the wires, and insert them parallel (not crossed over) and get at least three half twists under the nut to take the strain off the nut
There are wire nuts like the ideal wing nut that instructions say that twisting is not necessary . And it isn’t. Take the nut back off and the wires will be twisted just as if you had twisted with lineman’s pliers first. You do however need to make sure the ends line up and you have sufficient strip length. But you do not need to pre-twist and any nut that says you do , throw it out!
Without pre twisting you will never know if the connection is good as it is hidden under the nuts. I have taken apart many which were not right. No matter what the advertising says (saving time is a selling point not a best practice) pre twisting is a visual testing and best practice.
New US subscriber! Have always been a fan of Wago connectors. Your comparison was thorough and professional. Thank you!
Finally a video that shows what is inside a wirenut! I have been wondering for years.
In the Netherlands, I was learned at school that you first have to twist the stripped wires into each other, after that you cut them the right length and place the wire nut. I also was learned that you need to use the wirenuts at critical places like hospitals. The reason for this was that the wirenut made better electrical connection due to the huge surface that the wires touched each other, which should make it less vulnerable to faillures.
Long time ago. In fact the surface is counterproductive, because it reduces the pressure, and the problem with those nuts is that the pressure relieves when the material set...
@@chargehanger No you are wrong is still the best method because they are twisted so every force try to unravel it cancel each other plus the force between 2 wires are 10x bigger than a wago
You can bend it so tight it can easily be broken.
The electricians have put the force they need, plus a much greater surface area.
@@chargehanger The pressure is not just one total amount, but rather each twist of wire adds its own pressure, and since the copper is being worked and stretched as the twisting is done, the surfaces of the two wires become flattened into each other and thus dramatically increase contact surface area and therefore greatly reducing resistance. Contact surface area is highly important for longevity of any electrical connection, because even the smallest amount of heat generated at the junction will accelerate the oxidation process, which in turn will increase resistance, and eventually if there is enough current being drawn through the connection, it can experience thermal runaway and fail. But this is highly unlikely to ever occur with a well-twisted wire nut connection. Emphasis is on proper installation. If not installed properly, a wire nut connection can be dangerous as well.
Zo heb ik dat op de MTS ook geleerd. Tot 9 draden geloof ik. En dat was niet mijn favoriete opdracht.
@@HeyChickens "Contact surface area is highly important for longevity of any electrical connection"
Air tightness of the connection is more important. Especially with copper, because it conducts heat away much better.
If the contact pressure is high enough, the connection is air tight, and no oxydation forms into the interface.
Wago gets extra points for easier fault finding due to their test holes at the top of the connectors, and the ability to fix your probes in the 221.
Also to spot a loose Neutral.
Almost every residential service call I deal with is because of a Wago.
@@lelandclayton5462 what?
@@lelandclayton5462 ?
@@lelandclayton5462 Someone wrote in US they have used a loads of wire nuts and wire nuts can lose overtime because connection gets warmer and result is electric arching and "Each year in the United States, arcing faults are responsible for starting more than 28,000 home fires"
In Sweden "Torix" is quite commonly used which has a measuring point.
th-cam.com/video/H_kMiBS7OdE/w-d-xo.html
I believe Wago is more common today then when I studied to become an electrician.
I've only ever worked as a marine and industrial electrician so I'm not really up to date regarding "common practices" on the construction/housing side.
Awesome job comparing them. Makes me want to look into using the wagos more.
Most light fixtures we install at my company use Wago connectors. They are nice to use, but seem like more of a luxury than anything. I won’t say one is better than the other because they can both easily get the job done through proper installation. The only problems I’ve had with wire nuts are working in tight spaces with limited slack, including trying to tape them up after.
good explanation. one thing to add is wago connectors are really expensive.
I think wago is an updated way to splice wires. It’s faster and less strain on the wrist. I think if they were so bad then all of UK would be burning in flames.
For light fixtures that makes sense. Perfect for when you're called to replace a fluorescent ballast 30 ft off the ground.
Wago doesn't damage the wires. Wire nuts can be "aggressively" over-tightened, requiring that the wire ends be clipped before making a new connection. Living in the US, I replace wire nuts with Wago whenever I work on an electrical connection.
Good to know :-)
This is a good point. For new installation, especially by a licensed electrician, I have no problem with wire nuts. Rework is a nightmare though. I think I will get Wagos for any time I'm doing some repairs or changes.
You don't seem to understand that the whole point of a wire nut is to create a low resistance gas tight connection between the conductors by physically deforming the copper into direct conductor to conductor contact. That's also how screw terminals work by the way and you'll never find press in contacts where current is important. Pay attention to resistance.
Wire nuts are suppose to be aggressively over tightened. The biggest problem with them is people not clamping them down enough.
@@Peter_S_ You are tunnel blinded by resistance...Yes, wire nuts are better in resistance but i never seen WAGO or wire nuts on continuous high load application like running high kW motor or residential heating, there are always employed screw terminals. You are crazy if you think little warmer wago (1-5 degree C above ambient) within rating 24A 2273 wago and 20A 221 (IEC/EN) gonna cause any problems...
Wire nuts are prone to user error. I've never used Wago connectors, but I think that's about to change...
So you gonna create a long distance wago connector dispencer?
There are billions of wire nuts installed across America. Billions. They are not at all prone to error if you understand how to use them. This is why Electricians are licensed professionals in the United States. This is just an example of the difference between a professional and an amateur. The wago in the test above performed only 37.5% as well as a wire nut in the resistance test. Why do you think US Electricians would substantially downgrade the quality of their work?
@@senfdame528 You can get them from Lowe's or home Depot too.
Go for it ;-)
I have never had a wire nut fail.
You should add an typical screw terminal to the comparative. Here is Spain it is the standard device for electric connections.
Thanks very much, Glad to see what the rest of the world is doing for electrical connections. I've never liked wire nuts, they have just been the only thing I've ever known. I will want to try the wago on my next project. :)
Wago is also designed for ease of electrical testing, with special slot for the probe on the other end.
For price, probably could have added a sidenote on prices for connectors manufactured location and compare prices for ones manufactured in US
Right, ones are from US/EU while this other is from China!
@@IncroyablesExperiences The Chinese ones have spying electronics in them so China knows exactly your lifestyle
Love that test slot! Great for small motors you can test voltage drop without having live wires hanging out.
He should show how eu and us motors are wired differently that terminal block they use is slick.
@@Engineer9736 your phone has it pre installed
I really like the name of your channel and how it enshrines the greatness of all the people of Scotland!
Sure ;-)
I have worked with both of these. I prefer Wago connectors. To ensure a perfect entangling of wires while using wire nuts it is best to initially twist the wires then screw on the wire nut. Never failed me. That is my experience with wire nuts. That said, I will continue to use wago connectors.
Thank you for your to show the difference between the different tires of connectors. For the wire nuts, first what I found the easiest way to insure the wires are secure when using wire nuts is this.
Once you strip the insulation you use the lineman pliers and twist the wires just and then use the wire nut. The result is a secure connection.
Pre-Twist As Daniel Knows North America there is a ongoing electricians argument about the proper way to use a wire nuts, it falls into two groups. Pre-twist / those who do not pre-twist wires when inserting them into the wire nut.
@@mackfisher4487 l I
Twisting more than 2 conductors together also becomes much more difficult with a wire nut. That is where ease of use difference starts to really show.
And the size too. Wagon has 2-, 3- ... way version
Can confirm from experience
idk if its been said, Insert the stranded wire first, then solid core and twist nut. it fixed the slipping 99.97% of the time
In the junction box for my master bedroom, I found 7 conductors held together with a wire nut. All that is now spread out across three junction boxes. With push-in connectors (not Wago brand specifically), not wire nuts.
Ideally, you would pre-twist the wire (known as a pigtail splice) before you put the wire nut on, especially when mixing solid and stranded wires. But yeah, wagos win
From the eyes of someone who's had to tinker around the house once or twice: Wago all the way. Much easier to keep it tidy and the miniscule power loss is fine (And I imagine could be improved with future design changes.)
They're expensive in Canada (Like 5-6 more than wire nuts) but are worth it.
could they be a good solution for AL to CU connection?
@@ullacockambrink9101 thanks :)
Great video and thinking of trying the wago wire connetors for a renovation project. The only comment I would say is if buying the wire nuts from a proper electrical supplier instead of amazon their ratings are usually listed on the packaging.
As a homeowner in the US, I've been switching over to Wagos whenever I replace switches, outlets, or fixtures. They're better for stranded to solid connections (for whatever reason, US fixture manufacturers seem to insist on using stranded wires). They're also much easier for bundling neutral wires (I always switch hots only) and ground wires compared to giant wire nuts. If need be, I just install a deeper box (for those massive smart switches).
Due to the wire nut itself not being a conductor, there generally doesn't need to be a rating of amperage. If you project has proper gage wire, the smaller wire nut won't fit the wire that is bigger and meant for more power. Meaning unless you don't know what you are doing(meaning you shouldn't be connecting wires in the first place), you should never have a loose connection or a nut not capable of the amperage said cable provides.
That is exactly right. Twisting wires provides more area of surface contact than the area of the wire itself. Voltage drop should come from the load and the resistance of the wire itself, not a handful of "weak link" conductors added into the circuit. Anyone who regularly uses Wagos in switch or plug (device) boxes probably hasn't been around long enough to see the results of the vast use of "stab-lock" receptacles. The poor connection causes overheating. The outlet becomes brittle and cracks causing the clamp that holds the cord to weaken, adding even more heat ... Service electrician removes the outlet and wires slip right out. Wagos have their purpose, but carrying the full load of a 15A or 20A branch circuit is not it.
@@SteveWhiteDallas you’re pretty spot on. I’ve seen the same people go on and on how stabbing outlets is a bad idea but then go on and on about why wago connectors are better than wire nuts.
Wago Connectors are designed for german / european market in mind. That said, the DIN is giving out the technical norms of wires and connectors.
The maximum current allowed for a 4mm² wire in a wall is 24A. Since there are no 24A fuses, these wires are protected with 20A fuses.
And these 20A are exactly the rating for a 4mm² Wago Connector. So if you overload that connector you are also overloading the fuse.
So here is the same argument: as long, as you know what to do, there is no special NEED for a rating of wago connectors. BUT they do have a rating since it is possible that you use these connectors in ways, they normally should not be used.
That is simply how our norm system works. We are experts in doing special limits and regulations and stuff and then even print it on the damn thing so every idiot can read and understand it. It is like printing "Attention! HOT!" on a cup of coffe.
Or writing "Don't dry your pet in a microwave" in the manual of that microwave.
You never know what people may do with these things.
I live in Finland. My house was built in 1989. Some connections in my house's junction boxes were made with wire nuts. Whenever I need to make modifications I just rip out all the wire nuts and replace with Wago. One point which is also noteworthy is that with Wago it's very easy to ADD wires to an existing connector. With wire nut you have to open the nut to add more wires.
@@forownmade1243 Well you shouldnt do that in first place^^
Great Video and an interesting test. my only criticism is that some tests are more important than others. In my opinion, the most important test is "the resistance" test and should be weighted accordingly. As an Electronic Engineer, I have always questioned the concept of having a spring (typically flat) make contact with a round wire, and therefore a tangent point contact can not be as reliable as twisting round wires together. Thank you for your interesting video.
@Treb Nev I agree with your comments. Any time I use wire nuts I manually twist the wires as tight as I can in a clockwise direction and then use pliers to tighten the wrap. Then I put the wire nut on. What I'm curious about are whether the Wago connectors are safety approved. In the US we have UL (Underwriters Lab) and I have had experience with VDE, CSA, CE, ...... Thanks for your reply
Hey, you might have overlooked this, but the spring in the Wago serves only to hold the wire in place. On the other side there is a bus connecting all the wires. So the wire in the Wago is held by the spring, but connected via the bus rail on the opposite site of the rail. But nevertheless it is only 40%ish contact
As an electrician working with wire nuts, you know it's right when the insulated wires are turning as well, then pull to test.
When something heats up and cools down ( wago ) it can theoretically fail over time, especially when using them for something like a baseboard heater at 3,000 watts which cycles thousands of times over the years. I'd like to see a test involving that scenario. Even though I bought some wago connectors, I ended up using wire nuts, only after twisting the wires together first, then on goes the wire nut. Maybe I'm just too cautious.
If the resistance of the Wago is in the certified safe range that's all you need. Fit for purpose is all you need.
After my first internship as an electrician, ive come to love wago connectors. They are so amazing
I'm from Eastern Europe, and I have been doing electrical work for almost 20 years now. Given the fact that we were occupied by Soviets for almost 50 years, majority of our old electrical installations didn't had any wire connectors at all - just a twisted wires with some terrible plastic duct tape that mostly had disintegrated. As a result when a proper building codes were introduced here 20 years ago a first product that came to our attention were twist cap ("American style") connectors like shown in this video. I happily used them for 10+ years without a second thought - ANYTHING was better than a bare twisted cables and duct tape. But once I had a chance to try out Wago for the first time - oh, boy, I have never used twist cap connectors since that day. Wago is better in any imaginable way (apart from the price, though) - they are smaller, easier to use, faster, and much more reliable (from my experience at least).
Our house was built in 1939 and the original wires are fabric wrapped with a lead liner. You look at them funny and they fall apart :( Moist of them are replaced now though.
When connecting stranded with solid wire in a nut, the stranded wire must be a little longer so it is up in the top, this solves the user induced error you were making.
Easy to do if you have both cables on the desk in front of you. But having to wire up a lamp (that often come with stranded wires) to the mains in the ceiling, i can see it easily be done wrong with wire nuts. Same with two solid wires: Unisolate, then twist them with a pair of pliers, then twist on the nut, THEN secure with tape. Versus Wago: Uninsolate, then stick in.
@@dcdc358 might be hard for unqualified personnel such as home owners but any electrician worth his salt can do it blind folded. And there is no need to tape a wire nut in normal circumstances stances. This just shows you don’t know how to use them. Wire nuts only benefit from tape when exposed to vibration like on a motor.
I use both. In some settings Wago works best, like in tight spaces, but because they are so expensive, I only use them for these types of stuations.
I’ve started using Wago as I’m putting smart switches in my house. These switches are much bigger than standard switches and leave less room in the box. While Wago are sometimes bigger than wire nuts they’re flat and fit behind the smart switches better. There were switches I couldn’t get in the box until I used Wago instead.
i've used wago in a project where wire nuts simply couldn't fit. not only that the wire i was using had to be so short it would be impossible to twist a wire nut on them within the extremely limited space. all i had to do was get the wago in place and flick the lever and it was all set.
Just remember that those smart switches use a few watts all the time. Actually costing you money while not in use..
@@taylorsutherland6973 I figured, they're always warm to the touch. They also require a neutral connection where timer switches don't.
Agree - I used Wago 221 to connect my smart switches due to limited space. Chances are, anyone who is using smart home technology has already converted to LED lighting, so current draw is much less of a concern.
Whenever I have ordered Wago lever nuts they didn't seem to make any 4 conductor versions. At least none of the kits or packs I could find on Amazon USA showed any. I didn't look it up today, but when I have in the past all I could get were 2, 3, or 5 conductor versions. Nearly all of my installations required 4 conductors. Supply hot, hot out to next outlet in the circuit and then one hot to each of my two smart switches. it was super annoying.
Here in spain, we use the "connection terminal block" all the time, simple and with screws, but i hate them. It takes too long to do / undo an electrical connction, and it's harder to use several wires in the same slot... also, the wire usually suffer from excesive twisting, and the stranded wire usually ends up damaged, and can't reuse the final part of it once disconnected, must cut and strip a new piece every time you change a connection, to make sure the wire is perfect... that's why i love wago...
The screw terminals were the standard in Germany in the past. Now everyone are using Wagos because of their ease of use.
@@Toxicity1987 Not only because of their easy of use but because screw connectors tend to become loose over the time or if there are vibrations or something like that. When I bought my house (20 years old at that time ) I had to replace all screw connectors because they where all loose and some where already with signs of burn because of sparks! The Wago are spring loaded so there is no problem with that.
Btw: Most manufacturers of control enclosures here in Germany use spring loaded terminal blocks in the meantime (Wago and Phoenix are most common). Lots of these eclosures are exported and shipped in containers on boats for example. And after arrival at their destination they had to prove every single connection in fomer times, much much work...
Interesting video sir o7 got to admit I was surprised how well the wire nuts held up in those tests, I'd be interested to see how "Coco blocks" (screw terminal blocks) with and without bootlace crimps on multistrand wires do in such a comparison.
Termination of multistrand cables in any type terminal block without crimp lug or bootlace ferrules is proper bodgy business.
Ohhh I've seen it and QA failed such work done by sub-standard workers.
We only use screw terminal blocks and connectors here. Anything else is considered inferior.
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I would have guessed that the Wago would have been superior in most respects but the wire nuts certainly show some strengths. Most amazing to me was the pull test you conducted. The wire nuts really held up formidably.
I was actually impressed the amazon Chinesium ones held up that well.
As impressive as that is:
What is the point of such a test?
@@MegaHarko it’s a stress test basically if it’s on good you can tug on it until your hands go red , which means you did it correctly , my teacher from level one used to check every single joint on the circuit and would deduct marks if they were taken off by force, it doesn’t mean much except that it will make a very secure connection, another thing this video fails to mention is that wire nuts have a good mechanical connection ( an inch of twisted insulated wire under the wire cap, to make it more secure) making them better for conditions under constant vibration such as fans although it is always good to tape them so the wire cap does not untwist years after it’s installation.
I find wago to be quite good for fast and easy installation but I’m not sure if it would hold up against vibrational or outside weather installations.
They more so seem to be rated for low voltage lighting and stranded wire applications (ie electronics like buzzers, cameras, garage openers, etc.) not so much for residential uses as wire nuts always run into trouble of making a good connection when different types of wire are used aka stranded with solid, as little strands easily get damaged and can be pulled of with much less force than a solid 2-6 wire joint would need which in my opinion is not a secure installation not to mention they take time to do properly, but seeing as wago apply even pressure on each strand I’d imagine it would not damage them and hold them in place much better than wire nuts do.
In the end both are good for certain applications and we as electricians should understand the strengths and weaknesses of each component and use them accordingly, that’s all it comes down to in the end, sorry for the rant.
@@MegaHarko I guess it answers the question of "Is It Secure or Loose".
I would rather my connections have some strength physically. Arching would be my concern as well as a firm grip in the wall.
The Wago connections are spring loaded so vibration and age of connection are less of a factor in the connection.
@@MegaHarko in some cases, you may find your wires under stress (for example if you want to install a new lamp and pull the cables out a bit) and don't want the Connection to come lose
Here in the US, I had an addition put onto my house a couple years ago. When I did the wiring, I used all Wago connectors. I'd never heard of them before then but man, they were a godsend and much better than wire nuts.
Nope, made by WAGO - not god.
@@inwen8258 no shit he never said it was made by God but said godsend meaning it was easier.
Not all wirenuts are created equal. I'm an electrician and have installed 10s of thousands of wirenuts and at least a thousand wagos.
Cheap or "included" wirenuts are an overall crappy experience. They give proper wire nuts a bad name.
If you try a name brand wirenut, such as Ideal or 3m, you'll see what i mean. The difference is night and day. They make a very solid connection and grip, twist and hold the wire better, with less effort. I almost always discard the wire nuts that are often included with electrical products, such as light fixtures. I've filled up coffee cans with "included" wire nuts that I refuse to use. You'd be amazed how many electricians will turn down free cheap wirenuts. They are that bad.
There are some scenarios that I prefer wagos, but for most uses, especially high amp draw continuous loads, a wirenut is better when done right. Another factor is cost. Name brand wirenuts are still very cheap, compared to wagos. When you use as many as I do, the cost of wagos adds up fast.
For the average DIYer, wagos are harder to mess up. They are nearly idiot-proof. For most people, wagos usually make more sense.
Easier does not mean better.
You’re just gonna confuse the electrician after you and will most likely just cut them out and use wire nuts.
You can use a multimeter on the open end of the WAGO connector to test each wire. Big plus for my car stuff.
shouldn't use either in a car
@@michaelphillips8780 i see no problem why you shouldn't use WAGO 221 in cars aswell, the rating goes down to 0.2mm² wires. so it's totally fine
@@Skrabob because they aren't sealed to start with, no protection against corrosion.
@@michaelphillips8780 most plugs in car electric aren't that well sealed either, but i see your point. My thinking was more in the direction for inside the drivers cabin, for fixing your cables for the hi-fi and stuff there they are pretty handy.
@@Skrabob should always solder and heat shrink, none of this nonsense
I just wired my house with both wire nuts and Wago's that my dad gave me. I really like the wago's for stranded wire connections! My main concern was to make a good connection though so I used wire nuts for 95% of my connections, but the trick with them is to pre twist the wires then use the wire nuts, then do a pull test before pushing them in the junction box. The pull test failed too often with stranded wire so the wago's made the better connection in those cases.
Once you are familliar with wire nuts it goes very quickly! Push in connections I would avoid at all costs though, I do not trust that over time. Good connections are the key to good wiring, it saves electricity, breakers and a possible house fire too!
This is about where I'm at with it. I've been doing electrical work for 9 years now. Dealt with alot of old shoddie work where they did what he did and just stuck em in the end and twisted. Just today I pulled off some like that, and redid the connection tin the proper way. Those are the only times beyond stranded wires that I've seen any problems with a wirenut. Stranded isn't the best for wirenuts, so I might be getting those wagos for that purpose, transitioning solid to stranded is sometimes more annoying, but others it grabs very nicely. anything that's early in a circuit especially, anything solid, I'm sticking to wirenuts. Watching this other guy overcurrent all these connector types reinforces that wirenuts are absolutely the best connector for solid wires. Posting the link in s seperate comment in case TH-cam hides it.
th-cam.com/video/cMVnOZCGljc/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the video; I've never seen a Wago connector at any of the stores near me (on marrettes / wire nuts), so it was nice to see them.
I think the biggest difference between the two, is the power they are used for. Wago connectors are primarily european, where 230 volts is the norm, while the U.S. uses 120 volts. Since we use lower voltage, it means to compensate, we have high current. The wire nuts are much more compatible for high current connections compared to the wago, which is why they are more common here.
Good Point. Half the current, half the heat inside the Wago. And maybe not an original Wago. For my 3D-Printer Heatbed 230 V i use Wago´s. Wago has a mounting system. Wire nuts too?
@@helgemoller5158 Half the current - quarter the heat inside a Wago. Q = I^2Rt
I used wire nuts for decades, a big issue is trouble shooting, and the pull resistance can actually be a problem.
The biggest issue is wiring older wiring, or wire that have been heat damaged, such as subject to heat from a fire. You can have a broken connection inside the wire nut, and when you pull a wire does not come free. What happens is that a wire breaks, inside the wire nut, because it is brittle from heat, but the connector is still grabbing both wires, and the broken connection in one wire causes issue with the connection.
The Wago's allow you to see the wire and troubleshoot much more easily, and are the only connections I use now.
Your video just appeared for me, I don't work with electrical, but hey, i love this kind of info.
I found Wago connectors here in Brasil and they helped me solve a problem I was having here at home, and I love them, for sure!
Will see if i can found a box of them here in the future if I need them.
A lot of people dont know about them but when I did here in the US I got a pack and love them. I am a DIYer homeowner and the wagos make things much easier.
I like that you tore them down so we could see how they work - from this, I learned that wire nuts are not actually quite as terrible as I thought they were - almost, but not quite terrible. I've never used them (I don't think they are sold here in the UK) - screw terminal blocks would probably be the most common traditional way of joining wires.
Good to see you here too Shrimp, really enjoy your of odd ball content!
They used to be used in the UK before screw terminal blocks and were made of porcelain.
I believe Denman Electrical sell wire nuts.
I would argue that the thing about wire nuts that makes them awful is the fact that you're using wire nuts. Absolutely hate those things they cramp the hell outta my hand and it's a pain in the ass getting more than two wires to cooperate with them
@@tamamoland4247 the wire nut if used correctly has a superior connectivity, so lower resistance and when high currents are used in that part of the leads, they will produce less heat. Less heat means insulation is preserved longer, less risk of fire and failure.
also, it is not good practice to use only 2 wires and you should twist the wires together (solid ones) in such a manner that they stay stuck without even the nut on it. cut to size and twist on the nut.
where i work we use the Conex brand, which comes with a tiny tool inside the box that fits over the nut. You can even put that tool in a (cordless) drill though i'd use caution with that. you could ruin the nut with that much power
The most important advantage of the WAGO Connectors is, that they don't get loose over time because of temperature variations.
When I open an old junction box, the old screw terminals are often a bit loose. I can imagine, wire nuts can also become loose after temperature cycles for 20+ years.
I never had an issue with WAGO connectors coming loose, even very old ones.
Also, the WAGO connectors are almost foolproof to install, wire nuts or the older screw terminals require far more skill to be installed correctly.
Here in Germany every electrician I know uses WAGO terminals. The old screw terminals seem to have disappeared completely. Just for the time saving alone, WAGOs are worth the money.
Actually they do work loose over time.
If it's predominantly a monetary loss and you already have the skills to properly affix a wire nut, there's little benefit in using
wago. I have had to replace such type connectors quite alot here in florida exactly because they no longer held good connections so im not sure the lifespan of one vs the other is any better.
I think wago is the way to go for newever people getting into electronics as they are easier to use though.
Why should a wago connector come more or less loose than a wire nut? Both are based on a spring mechanism. And in my 300m² house we had a lot of very old screw terminals mostly ceramic types ~70 years old. Most of them were very tight so that unscrewing them sometimes even the ceramic broke. I can't remember one that was particularly loose.
I personally prefer wago connectors (or their cheap alternatives), however I think there isn't anything wrong with screw terminals (Dosenklemmen/Lüsterklemmen). If you use Lüsterklemmen (double screw ones) and put the wire through both screws you will get a really good and strong connection. And they even have some advantages especially in terms of size.
I came across old WAGOs (the black ones) in an old lighting setup which was buried under the ceiling for 20 years and the connection in all of them was excellent and nothing was loose. I even reused them instead of using my new ones because they were perfectly fine.
@@lal12 I have had a lot of failures on wago connectors in industrial environment, my only experience of wire nuts was on an American import machine on the motor terminals after they caught fire I had to replace them with 16mm2 crimp lugs.
This was a very comprehensive video. I am from Germany, a learned electrician but lived in the US for over 20 years. I remember that 30+ years ago at trade school, we already used push in connectors, whereas to this day, the main connector in US is the wire nut. Now, I am not against the wire nut, however, over time and with the cheap built of a US house (things shake), the wire nut is often not securely on the wire any longer after many years. The push in connectors stay firm forever. This is even more disturbing as US houses are build out of wood, whereas fire hazard can be a big problem. However, after this many years in US, it is all about the bottom line, meaning, how much profit can you make and not how easy to use or safe it is, thus the wire nut is the winner.
4:12 Some people do this, but the correct way is to take your linesmans and twist the wires first, then twist the wire nut on the splice.
from the USA and i do a lot of wiring and after i saw Big Clive use the wago 221I instantly bought them and haven't used a wire nut since. They do cost significantly more but the peace of mind that i can see the wires have a connection in the conector, makes it worth it for me.
Big Clive got me stared with them too. Harder to find actual Wago in Canada, possibly because the original wire nuts were invented here.
Well, I see wire nuts (everywhere) installed in the 40ies in old houses and they have not failed.
Industrial elec here. Interesting to note that the loss on a wago at 20A is almost a watt, something to keep in mind. Learn something new every day
When I first saw the wago style connector my thought was they would have more resistance. How could they not, it's not touching the two+ wires together. It sure seems like an easier thing to do, but the thing being warm sets off alarm bells.
@@bradleyrex2968 This is no problem, they are used for deveral decades in Europe and not a single house burnt down because of them, serveral houses burnt down with loose screw connectors though. Every circuit breaker or these 1960s relict of fuses get warm, you don't even notice the wagos gettng warm on the typical 400/230V 16A circuit.
Main advantage is that the two wires have a separate stainless spring so they don't loose contact over time due to vibration or corrosion.
if screw connectors have worked as long as electricity has been around, then wago's do too, as they are functionally the same thing.
Very objetive tests, thank you!!!!!
Since I discovered lever Wagos, I find myself using them more frequently in both mains projects around the house and low voltage prototyping situations. The strong snap of the lever feels like I always get a nice full contact that wire nuts just cant match. Plus they save so much space in small junction/switch boxes!
" The strong snap of the lever feels like I always get a nice full contact that wire nuts just cant match."
I don't do mains stuff, and I use neither of these for low voltage electronics, so this might be ignorance on my part. But doesn't the fact that the nuts give a lower resistance indicate that it makes much better contact?
I say indicate, because the busbar, by virtue of creating additional length, adds extra resistance, so even if it gives a higher overall resistance, the contact resistance might be lower.
I personally think that the Wagos are better based on the videos I've seen from Scott, and the fact that I have seen improper applications of wire nuts, which seems so much harder to do with the wagos.
@@sr6550 Thing is that when under power or when using stranded wire the wires (especially thinner ones) will somewhat deform and possibly worsen the contact resistance.
WAGO and other spring tensioned connectors come in handy in such occasions since the spring loaded tension will assure a good connection besides compressing the strands together which leaves less surface area for corrosion
@@sr6550 You are absolutely correct. Wire nuts may offer lower resistance, but twisting together neutrals in a residential switch box (5+ 12AWG conductors at times) can end up causing one of those conductors to pull out of the group and you wont be able to know by just looking. With the wagos I only need to look at the top side and I can easily see all conductors fully inserted.
Big fan using them to do low voltage layout before crimping.
@@sr6550 The 'added' resistance is trivial. There have been many tests under thermal load and they perform perfectly. I worry more about some mucho-macho apprentice overtightening a connection and annealing the copper. In my 35+ years in the trade, I've seen that happen too often.
The super low resistance and very low price, I think, are the main reasons wire nuts are so commonly used here in the US.
I like this video, but the resistance part seems pretty significant. I'd probably stick with wire nuts for my next electrical project.
@@PhoticsTV Yeah, the resistance test is definitely a giveaway why wire nuts are still the standard in the US, even while beeing inferior in most other aspects and beeing susceptible to errors.
With 120V mains voltage you presumably have fairly high continues current draws, in europe on the other hand with 230/240V mains voltage the usual current draws are way lower, with germany even having 16A fuses in each single circuit, so you can't even draw more then 16A of current (3.680W) in a single circuit, even if you would be crazy enough to try.
@@Shidera5721 The current loads are basically identical in Europe and the USA with 15amp being the standard... our appliances in the US use less power however and max out at 1800w with most being under 1500w. It's not unusual to have a higher wattage appliances in europe however... electric kettles heat twice as fast in Europe as the USA for instance. Twist connections are still used because they are mechanically strong, and have ideal conductive characteristics... both of which spring contact type terminals fail at. Really the only pro of the Wago is convenience.
@@Wingnut353 A 15A current draw per circuit is defnitely not a realistic scenario in germany at all, you can only even pull that amount of current in kitchens and utility rooms because every other circuit only has 10A rated sockets (and fuses) usually.
It is true that electrical heating devices like kettles/immersion heaters are available in higher power variants, but that's practically the only scenario where you can simply scale the power usage.
Other appliances/devices have pretty much identical power ratings, as i saw by looking up the most sold products at Amazon US (Microwaves/Coffee Machines/TVs/PCs/Mobile Air con.).
I dont even want to argue what is the better connector, as you stated the electrical connection is definitely better with the twist connectors, but from experience i can say that most people would value convience way higher if the other aspects are "good enough", which is certainly the case with wago connectors considering their use case and scenarios when they are used in Europe.
Another aspect that definitely shouldn't be underestimated, is the fact that wago connectors are less prone to beeing applied incorrectly, even the most experienced and professional people DO make mistakes, whoever says they don't is a fool and is lying to themselves.
I work as a senior software developer and logical circuit engineer, for quite some time now and i can admit that i make mistakes, even very bad ones where we needed to call back a whole consignment
of FGPA's because i overlooked something.
@@PhoticsTV Yes, that was the most important factor, yet the author was biased towards wago (admittedly).
For me, being able to do non-destructive changes to circuits is the reason I've started using Wago. I know, I know. 99.9 % of all circuits are never changed after they are assembled. I also know that changing that 0.1% easily makes it worth it for me..
You mean 0.1% of circuits.
Maybe .1% during construction. Then afterwards, on a 15 year old house owners have likely swapped a few switches for dimmers and maybe even again switched the dimmers to led supported dimmers. Had kids? Maybe they swapped bedroom outlets to the kid safe kind. Added ceiling fans or swapped basic contractor lights for something fancier.
I am working with automotive camper conversion stuff, and I am confident in saying that about 10% of my connections are good on the first go. For absolutely everything I do, I leave extra material on either side in order to be able to do a rework in some way. Junction boxes are nice and all... I have enough space! Just... Not the right shape.
I do a lot of unconventional fabrication. Wago wins the point in my book, and I came here in case I was creating danger through stuff I didn't know. Turns out I had the right idea and didn't find anything too surprising.
@@MtnXfreeride More expensive. Lets see here 22 connectors are reasonable at nearly one watt each lets call it twenty watts. The years roll buy we have the two examples both lets hope safe properly installed no issues. EXCEPT you paid 5 times as much to latter pay maybe another 20 times as much in electricity. Wago is worse than plain old mechanical connection pre wire nut in the long run. Total waste of money effort and engineering IMO.
Impressive seeing the avalanche of comments and opinions here! Kudos to Great Scott for somehow making this happen! Didn't see this coming. Wow the guy is phenomenal!
The wire nuts with the grooves in them tell you how much insulation to remove and the outside diameter of the maximum wire gauge it will accept. The ones without the grooves but have wings the insulation is the tip to wing length. They all tell you their ratings with the color code as well. The small gauge wire nuts aren't worth using, they're quite difficult if you have braided/stranded wire. Push connectors always get hotter than direct wire to wire connector like wire nuts do so they're less prone to starting a fire in the case of overload. It's rarely a concern though so if you're a contractor, use the wago, it's the customers cost anyway. I prefer screw terminals, there's more contact and higher current ratings.
So you’re the contractor when I worked as a contractor and as a contractor helper for 30 years never once did I see a contractor save money on materials and give it back to the customer what they normally did was charge extra for the better materials and then buy the cheapest thing they could buy at the home center put that up and put the rest of the money in their pocket i’m not saying this is you but I’m just saying at 90% of contractors and builders that’s what they do and that’s wrong I took made a good fight I’m trying to get people when I was a contractor to take over their own materials in tear material deliveries so they could save money so the only thing they were paying me was a labor charge I’m just saying
@Eric Neering universally True... Sad but true.
However if a Gen Cont has repeated problems with an Elec Cont's work & identifies this practice, bad reputation can impact future business.
Had a guts full of screw terminals, my wrists and fingers start screaming after a while. Wago is so nice, strip and click in. So, so much quicker too.
@@Shrouded_reaper also the old style screw terminals were intended to be checked/ get maintenance, so retightening regularly.
But of course that never gets done, let alone in private installations. Gotta be happy for big safety margins there.
The wago spring clamping system automatically "retightens" in their intended lifetime when the copper creeps away under pressure or with vibrations. so "maintenance free"
Consumer cost anyways?! Not a very good attitude from a contractor lol
The conclusion I would draw from this is that which one is better depends on how experienced the user is. For DIY home jobs, the Wago seems like a much safer option. For a professional who is sure that they won't mess up the connection, the wire nut is better in each metric of final performance, and cheaper.
As a professional electrician, I have to disagree. If something is easier to use, it's also easier to _not_ make a mistake.
And with Wago connectors, as long as you remove 10-12mm isolation, you make the same connection, everytime you make one. You can teach everyone how to to a proper connection with it in less then a minute.
A pro is going to run into trouble sometimes. When up on a ladder, working at the end of your reach around an obstructing air handler, in the dark, trying to line up a bunch of 20 year old wires that were cut a bit short while your elbow tendonitis is starting to flare up, a pro is going to expend a lot of effort and have a hard time getting a perfect joint.
As an electrical engineer who has designed power distribution systems, I agree the wire nut is far superior in formermance but completely disagree that the Wago is safer. When you properly install wire nuts, you twist the wires with pliers prior to putting them into the nut. The connection resistance is what tells you the performance level. Please review videos of how to properly use wire nuts, from electrical manufacturers, and not DIY people.
i repeated the resistance test of a wago 221 with AWG 16 fine stranded wire and got 1.1mR as a result.
my wago knock-off look-alikes came out even better with just under 1mR (voltage drop measured with a UT181A).
i removed more insulation so i could measure directly at the connector's entrance, while running 18A through it.
The pull test should have been a point for both. Anyway, I agree with your result. Thanks for testing!
Why? The large wago pulled out? It lost
5:49 You can avoid problems when joining a stranded wire to a solid wire by having the stranded wire enter the wire nut slightly before the solid wire.
Yeah, that will avoid the nut catching onto the solid wire first and not properly twisting the stranded wire. If it is two solid wires then a proper pre-twist will make you feel better but if the wires are inserted evenly side by side then it's just as good. For more than two wires I always pre twist. Easy to forget to do a pull test but that is very important.
I actually use a piece of electrical tape first for stranded or combo. Really hugs tight and doesn't slip when putting in the nut.
You never lead with either the solid or the stranded. They should enter the wire nut evenly. When mixing multiple wires twist the solids together and twist the stranded together and then get them even at the end and twist the wire nut on. Never twist the solid and stranded together before putting the wire nut on.
@@71160000 th-cam.com/video/NVNzuF2UUrI/w-d-xo.html
*As explained on the packaging of every reputable wire nut.
I remember when the WAGO's were introduced for the first time in the Netherlands, around 1980. We immediately stopped working with wire nuts in the industry. It saved a lot of time and painful wrists at the end of the day. Never touched a wire nut again after that.
Yep, if I find wire nuts, they immediately get replaced by wago's if I need to add wires to a junction box!
@@DuartJansen Also what I have noticed with old houses with wire nuts: When I need to remove the old wire nuts, the plastic pretty much disintegrates when I touch them.
It would be also great if you included other methods like the connectors that we use in Spain, with screws, I really like ours! 😀
we call them 'chocolate' and I hate them. You need the right size of screwdriver and it takes long to use.
We have those in Germany as well and honestly, i like wago style more. For some reason, you never have the right screwdriver or the right connector xD
@@p3chv0gel22 Haha, yeah, that happens a lot, and you end up with plastic shavings from the connector, becuase the screwdriver is normally too big... But... I don't like the fact that Wago connectors are too big, and you need three conectors to distribute in single phase, which is a bit of a pain, and they are clearly more expensive... I don't know, I'm undecided, but leaning to our traditional connectors for now...
When it comes to solid wire under a wire nut you should twist them together with your linesman pliers in a clockwise motion and trim the ends before screwing down the nut.
When connecting stranded to solid wire you don't pre twist your conductors but instead make the stranded conductor slightly longer then the solid conductor.
I agree. Because he didn't twist then together the test is invalid.
Thank you! I came to the comments looking for this!
I don’t think he looked into how electricians actually use wire nuts
@@davak72 right
I guess if he was from America, he might better understand
I almost never pre-twist, especially with solid conductors. Per the Ideal instructions: "Pre-twisting is acceptable but not required."
Seems unfair to compare genuine Wago to Chinesium mystery wire nuts, though I understand if that's all you can get over there. Something like the tan color "IDEAL Twister" (probably the most common pro grade wire nut in the US) would be a more fair comparison, and those do have permitted wire combinations and strip recommendations printed on the package, no google needed. Aforementioned nuts also conveniently fit in a hex socket if you many to install.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Worth mentioning most electricians pretwist solid conductors as well, which certainly makes a stronger connections as well.
mystery Chinesium Wirenuts is what most people who use wirenuts use though lol
I feel like the tests the wire nut lost on would have not changed based on better quality wire nuts. The temp test for example the wire nut won, despite being a cheapo one. The ease of use wouldn't improve with a more expensive wire nut.
Not all wire nuts are Chinese made..
@@L0op definitely Not!!!
Wago connectors are definitely easier to use, especially with stubby wires in small boxes. I’m predisposed to like wire nuts simply because I’ve been using them for a long time, and I feel a bit more confident in the joint they create since the wires are physically twisted together past the nut. However, after doing a lot of electrical work my fingers are definitely feeling a bit fatigued from twisting so many nuts on, especially when dealing with 12 gauge wiring. Overall, both are good connectors, but for heavy current applications I’m still gonna stick with wire nuts simply because of the reduced resistance. I always twist 10AWG and bigger together with a pair of linesman’s pliers before putting the nut on, because the last thing I want is for the junction powering my dryer to melt in the basement.
I use pliers on 12 gauge and any time there are more than 2 connectors and most times I still use tape. The people I work for pay for quality and not for me to race to get done. Saving 4 cents on a connector or getting done 2 minutes sooner is hard to explain after the fire.
use a drill chuck and clutch to screw on the nut, save your finger fatigue
if you have "stubby" wires in a box, someone did a bad job, not sure about Europe but code here is 6" min of wire in junctions
@@johnb4306 In the US, it's 6-8" from the front of the box.
@@johnb4306 codes are great .. but only when the person before you follows them!
besides the open end of wagos for testing voltage seen numerous times in the comments, the wagos end push connections have the added benefit that its easier to add something to the installation. you can just push in new wires in existing wagos in the nearest junction or central box, while with wire nuts you need to unscrew them to twist in the new wires
I watch your channel from time to time and always get an education. Love the channel. I have seen others who say never use these wago's in residential use. this is so contradicting and I don't know who to listen to.
Hey, a little tip: You don't have to lift the lever on the Wago 221 when putting a solid wire in. You can just push it in :)
I believe you have to lift it for stranded wire to make sure you aren't mushing the conductors as they go in
@@efeyzee
For stranded wire yes, you have to open them, but for solid wire not.
Yep. Both comments are correct ;-)
@@efeyzee exactly. So their primary use is when you're connecting something like a lighting fixture or fan that uses stranded wire to the household wiring.
non electrican here. weeks ago my first touch on Wigo 221. i didnt lift the lever fully, so i couldn't get a wire in.
I discovered Wago connectors thanks to one of your earlier videos on connector types and was super happy when I found them for sale at UK electrical stockists. I recently bought a large mixed box of 222, 224 and 773 series connectors along with Wago junction boxes and have wired up my new office. They were a joy to use compared to traditional British-style connectors and boxes, which are unreliable and take many attempts to make a good connection. I am really happy with the results and will never go back. Thanks!
Have you tried using wire nut twisters? They come in a hand tool version as well as a drill attachment.
Since they’re UL approved here in the States I use either one. I have switched to WAGO because they are don’t require twisting and I can visually check the connection.