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

[imikla]

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.

[gorgorgonzales]

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.

[reubentalbott]

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 tug after installing any connector imo)

[martinvelek]

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.

[bzqp]

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

[m.cigledy]

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.

[electronron]

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.

[AtlantisArch]

- 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

[fiordhraoi]

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.

[seabeepirate]

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.

[DestinationFawked]

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

[__beer__]

In Australia we generally use screw connectors (BP connectors) but in the industrial sector wagos are becoming popular. Wire nuts have never taken off.

[treelineresearch]

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.

[randycarter]

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.

[jensschroder]

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.

[whiskey]

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!

[radtex]

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.

[randacnam]

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.

[landi]

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

[balesjo]

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!