AustinBike Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 I am going be have some more home-bound time and thinking about some electrical projects. Along the way I stumbled onto these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ideal-In-Sure-Push-In-Wire-Connector-3-Port-Orange-10-per-Bag-Standard-Package-is-6-Bags-30-1333S/203734796 A friend also recommended Wago Clips: https://www.amazon.com/Wago-221-413-LEVER-NUTS-Conductor-Connectors/dp/B017NQWDY4 Any thoughts on these? I hate wire nuts and many of the outlets in the house have lots of extra wire, would love to strip down some of it and use these to help make the smart switches fit better in the junction box. As a professional, what is your view? Waste of time, great idea, not worth the hassle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ericbike6 Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 Having done my fair share of wiring over the years, they don't look any smaller in size then a normal wire nut. Plus I would like the actual physical contact of the wires being together, with wire nuts. Let us know if they work good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Magnet Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 14 hours ago, AustinBike said: I am going be have some more home-bound time and thinking about some electrical projects. Along the way I stumbled onto these: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Ideal-In-Sure-Push-In-Wire-Connector-3-Port-Orange-10-per-Bag-Standard-Package-is-6-Bags-30-1333S/203734796 A friend also recommended Wago Clips: https://www.amazon.com/Wago-221-413-LEVER-NUTS-Conductor-Connectors/dp/B017NQWDY4 Any thoughts on these? I hate wire nuts and many of the outlets in the house have lots of extra wire, would love to strip down some of it and use these to help make the smart switches fit better in the junction box. As a professional, what is your view? Waste of time, great idea, not worth the hassle? I've used these for some simple wiring work. I'm not an electrician by any means but I think they work great. I know they use something very similar with some grease in them for sprinkler systems so I'm think robustness must be pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinBike Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Ericbike6 said: Having done my fair share of wiring over the years, they don't look any smaller in size then a normal wire nut. Plus I would like the actual physical contact of the wires being together, with wire nuts. Let us know if they work good. Here they are in comparison to a wire nut: I had the same question when my friend started raving about them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 Disclaimer: I'm not an electrician, just an EE that has done a lot of wiring in my house and I've pored over the code. I replaced all the outlets and switches in my house. They were all push connected. I don't like that so everything was changed to connected with the screw terminal. In my view it's a more solid contact and leaves less of a chance to have a degrading connection. I used to have voltage drops that have since gone away. If you're running out of space in your junction box, you may have to get a larger junction box. There is a spec in the code for box size vs number/gauge of wires going in/out. Make sure y'all use the proper size wire nut too, and the right kind if you happen to have aluminum wiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinBike Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 My issue on junction box size was typically that I had a smart light switch (wifi enabled) that was replacing a standard switch. Originally spec'd with plenty of room but the larger smart switch made it tight. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taco_junkie Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 1 hour ago, AntonioGG said: if you happen to have aluminum wiring Nuke the whole site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheX Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 5 minutes ago, taco_junkie said: Nuke the whole site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. My reaction as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 (edited) 18 minutes ago, taco_junkie said: Nuke the whole site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. My main wiring is all copper. But the wiring from the main panel to the distribution panel is aluminum (like maybe a 500mcm cable). I was concerned so I did a lot of research. The main problems with aluminum are when connecting to copper (galvanic corrosion) and not using the correct wire nuts or terminals. https://www.anixter.com/en_us/resources/literature/wire-wisdom/copper-vs-aluminum-conductors.html Edited August 10, 2020 by AntonioGG added Anixter link Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
taco_junkie Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 9 minutes ago, AntonioGG said: My main wiring is all copper. But the wiring from the main panel to the distribution panel is aluminum Yup my understanding is that this is normal but I'm not an electrician. I would mostly be cautious about older houses with full aluminum wiring and any breaker panels made by Federal Pacific. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinBike Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 Well my house is 50 years old, but we've done so much remodeling over the years that just about everything is copper. Pretty sure there is probably some aluminum hiding somewhere. Anyway I will let you know how the Wago Clips work, had to buy something from amazon so I threw a pack of them onto my order. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntonioGG Posted April 11, 2022 Share Posted April 11, 2022 How did the Wago clips work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AustinBike Posted April 11, 2022 Author Share Posted April 11, 2022 They worked ok. Hold better than a wire nut, but also take up more room in the junction box. The secret, if you are brave enough, is to cut and strip some of the existing cable. I am always hesitant to do that but some electricians leave way too much in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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