The Pros Are Wrong About WAGO Lever Nuts

I have received more than a few comments over the years that WAGO 221 lever nuts can't handle high loads and will melt. So, let's put them to the test!

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[samuelt]

As I've said before...
The Wagos are UL listed, and have that mark. That's good enough for me.

[cdrfc]

Perspective: There is a <10% temperature difference between the wago and wire nut for a 23-amp load.

If you are doing something simple like installing a new lighting fixture (which will draw about 1.25 amps *if* you are using 150 watts worth of incandescent bulbs, and these days you probably aren’t using incandescent), I don’t think the 10% difference at 23 amps will matter at all.

[GrassGawd]

It would be interesting to see a longer term test and where the temp tops out at. Based on your graph, the temp increased at each interval. Someone running a space heater is likely to have it running for hours, not 20 minutes.

[carystapp]

Solid wire, please don’t just put them in the wirenut without twisting.. Or actually keep doing it, I like those easy to troubleshoot service jobs. Always either a burned up wirenut from not being twisted or a Wago connection over time gave up.

[bilithic]

Did the 221 in the name come from its temperature rating?

[jme]

Where heat is involved, the higher the heat, energy transfer becomes less efficient. Both are safe to use, for safety’s sake. How efficient do you want your electrical system to be? Might be a better question.

[jeffploetner]

Do starting vs ending temperature and they’re all about the same?

[liasharp]

cool video but the recording sounds robotic and it's a bit jarring

[Dead_Aim]

Just curious if you twist the wires before you but the nut on how does that affect temps?

[johnh]

Oh so youre saying one use one time its only slightly worse for 3 times the money. Luckily copper oxide is exactly equally good a conductor so it wont get worse with time as things corrode.

Wait wait thats not true it will get worse and that limited contact area will be even worse over time due to less contact with a less good conductor. It will actually corrode faster due to the higher heat which will cause a positive feedback loop as it corrodes more. Meaning its objectively far inferior for more money.

Hey if you want i can sell you a 1998 Ford Taurus for 40K or a 2020 Honda Accord for 20K. I assume since you like to spend more to get less you want the Ford.

I am just not paying more money for a worse connection that's just stupid.

[yanwo]

Interesting that you improperly used the wire nut.

[hippo-potamus]

There is just something about that minimal connection area that from a laymans perspective does not seem as solid as the full contact across multiple twists on the marrettes.

[condor]

Who cares? My wire nuts have been in my attic for over 50 yrs and you want to convince me your expensive Wago whatever’s are better. Maybe they are but look at the requirement and the cost…. Wire nuts

[professorg]

WAGO are rated to IEC specs not UL, but they are "crossed over". The IEC rating for WAGOs is actually 85C but the UL standard is 105C or 121F. The IEC rating for a WAGO 221 is 32 amps, but the UL listing is 20 amps. The UL specs and IEC specs are considerably different because the IEC spec was create for 240 volt systems, not the US 120/240 volt system. Voltage ratings are different too. There are other differences in how IEC specs work vs UL specs. It's not really apples to apples. The table you sued was someone's test data, not IEC or UL test data.

Because heating is a function of the current squared, twice the current means 4 times the heating. In an enclosure I guarantee that the WAGO will get hotter over time. the 20 minutes is an arbitrary number but not the same as continuous. Measuring IR voltage drops indicate that brand new WAGO 221 have 3 or 4 times the resistance of a correctly made wire nut connection. What this means is that it is worse than your little test indicates.

WAGOs use a very tiny little spring clamp made of dissimilar metals and have a very tiny contact area. A wire nut has a much larger, copper to copper contact area and it is maintained by the tensile strength of the wire itself, not a tiny little spring.

But WAGOs are easy and far too many, so called "pros", really don't fully understand electricity. They are installers so it's hard to get past easy. I wouldn't even consider using these in anything but low current applications. They work OK in situations where you have 12 AWG copper tied to an 18AWG stranded wire, like in a light fixture. But that is a very low current situation. It does take some care and attention to detail, to make this connection well with a wire nut, It can be done, but it isn't completely easy to get it right. But the best, lowest resistance connection should be the goal, not what is easiest to do.

[jakwnd]

Even by your own data wire nuts perform better. Wagos are great for DC projects like running LEDs. But for an outlet in the wall, I want the best performer.

[kthwkr]

I still don't trust those things. Especially since for most of them the wires can wiggle.
My wire nuts cover up fully twisted wires. The wire nut is more just for insulation.

[aomedina]

For the first year. Then 10 years later you end up with a house fire.

[lyfandeth]

Forget temps for a minute. I'd like to know how much power is being consumed by the excess resistance in the Wago. Times 100, 000 connections, they're wasting a lot of power.

[jmorv]

I'd personally love to hear from the "code enforcers" out there to find out if say, you have a house fire and it's found that Wagos were used, if they are the culprit and thus, your insurance claim is denied. I can't find Wagos sold in retail ANYWHERE, and I am suspicious on whether they are legal to use.

[ThomasOrdon]

You're missing the bigger picture here
Even a fresh install it's hotter now figure a house should last 50 years AC vibrates blah blah blah heats up cools down with not only the environment but also the load that causes the metal and the wago to behave differently than the copper and you also have corrosion affecting the wago more than a wider nut more surface area connecting in the wire nut so over the long term you'll actually have less resistance in the wire nut and if you know anything about electricity and houses you can go tight and and electrical install a year after the house is built and every socket and outlet and switch needs to in fixture needs to be retightened or better yet go to a 10-year-old or a 20-year-old house and that flickering light that's like a loose wire combine that with oxidation etc etc etc wago sucks in my opinion I would never use it and anyone that uses it would not be on any side of mine site