ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Re: New product

There is also the "CO" sign-off!!

That is "time" isn't it? My wife says it costs about $400 a day for a house to sit.
I have to say I have never really had a pissing match with an installer but I am sure it happens. I always thought we were all on the same team.

Well, Wago connectors have been around for almost 25 years in 230V country, and I never heard of as much as a single issue - on the contrary, most electricians in Europe are praising them as the ideal solution preventing fires caused by loose screw connections (due to alleged copper cold flux and lazy installers). Basically they say there's a spring inside that will always keep constant pressure, no matter how much the copper wire deforms. When filled with antioxidant paste they are even listed for aluminum wire and Al-Cu splices in Germany.
For devices, VDE had a hard time allowing push-ins for anything but light switches (max. 10A) but eventually in the early 90s they were allowed for receptacles (16A) and now it is flat out impossible to buy receptacles with screw terminals anywhere in Continental Europe and has been for the past 15 years. I've yet had to see a melted one, even under continuous high load (mind you, you can circuits up to 100% here). Then, I've seen plenty of loose screws.

I long resisted Wago connectors for splicing, but they are so much easier and faster to use that I finally resigned and considered them time-tested enough after 20 years.

I often wonder about how much of the "backstab" problems are caused by bending the wire over too far when jamming the device back in the box, deforming the spring.

Just a couple days ago I cut a couple quad outlets into a wall, replacing single gang boxes. One of the outlets was a backstab only Leviton that was hot to the touch from feed through load which ended up being 9.9A...(which ended up being the Coke machine in the breakroom) The other outlet on the same circuit was an old "H&H DELUXE" (remember those?) and it wasn't warm at all... The H&H had screw down pressure plates.

Wagos & Backstab outlets have their place, but I personally am not a fan of a connector that I can't place my own "calibrated" torque meter on.. my hand.

Ranger,


I am glad that the Wago connectors work so well. I think they are a great idea. I would also love them if they were safe for AL wires, cause here in the states, there aren't many options to use with AL wires. Plus there were a lot of homes around here that were wired with AL back in the day. Installing a small Wago in those tight boxes would help the homeowner out.

I've been using them in private work (i.e. renovations on my own place and helping friends) for about 5 years now and never had a single problem. They're not listed for stranded conductors, so then I still use screw-type connectors. Wago does offer connectors with release levers for stranded wire, but they're larger and considerably more expensive.

Wago sells a special antioxidant paste for aluminum wiring (Wago AluPlus) but I think in Germany it is not even required to be used as long as any generic antioxidant is used. I never heard about any trouble with that combination either, and in former Eastern Germany aluminum wiring is extremely common (it was used almost exclusively until the early 1990s and you can still find NOS rolls left over).

I assume in the US it's mainly a listing issue - I think there aren't any UL-listed Al connectors except for the Copalum crimps, are there any?

We also have the Ideal 65 purple wirenut for cu/al splices.
I won't get in that fight but they are listed.

The Ideal version of Wagos ("In-Sure") are listed for stranded wires.

Use of Wago-type connectors - including this new gizmo- on short wires in existing work is tempting, but problematic. The only failures I've had with the connectors has been when the bare wire had been previously used for connection, and was bent or nicked.

King makes small set-screw connectors that are listed for use with aluminum. Thomas & Betts has a line of "Marettes" (wire nuts) that are listed (CSA, not UL) for use on aluminum. (T&B may choose not to market them in the USA, but they are available).

As has been discussed here several times, 'back-stab' devices might appear to work like Wagos, but what's inside is often quite different. This seems to explain the difference in reliability.

is there any differentiating capacity from ampacity with these pessure connectors? In fairness, i don't see them on wirenut packaging....i.e.~ can we take it that if it's rated for 2-#10's , it's rated for 30A (USA) ??

~S~