Debunking the Pros: Can WAGO Lever Nuts Handle Heavy Electrical Loads?

25 Replies to “Debunking the Pros: Can WAGO Lever Nuts Handle Heavy Electrical Loads?”

1. Wagos are great for lighting circuits and medium duty cycles, basically good for majority of tasks. But as a commercial and residential electrician and HVAC guy, I'll say it's not best for wet damp environments. Wago do sell a gel box for wet damp locations, but don't use em in garbage disposals, outdoor applications, bathrooms. And for the Wago 421 don't use in em in electric water heaters and AC condenser units, or any motors. Seen all wire types of wire connectors fail, due to user error, bad manufacturing, and bad luck. If you want to use Wagos do it, it's your property and money.

2. Wago are perfect. I’ll never use crappy wire nuts again.

3. Excellent test! I think more temperature testing videos would be great content. Maybe try different connectors like the Ideal push in or test the difference in temperature between things like pre twisting wire nut connections or screw terminals vs back stab terminals. Measuring the voltage drop across the connectors while loaded would give us another great data point too.

4. Great video with good info! Have heard people talking about higher resistance of WAGO.

5. My house outlets were wired with stab-in connections. The WAGO 221 has to be much safer those.

6. Excellent test! Pretty much what I expected from the resistance tests I have seen other Youtubers do- Wago runs slightly hotter, but not much. I'd personally still use wire nuts with pre twisted connections for high amperage circuits such as part of a pigtail on a receptacle circuit, but I'd have no problem at all using Wago connectors for loads of a few amps or less like a ceiling fan or light fixture. That's just my preference though, obviously both are completely viable choices.

7. What about voltage drops when it is loaded

8. It's the same type argument as the pex vs copper pipe plumbing debate… Some people are just resistant to change…and some Pros are resistant to anything that makes the job easier and more approachable by the DIYer.. WAGO connectors and Pex plumbing have been used around the world for over 50 years..

9. I actually just started using the wago lever nuts because I saw they sell them at home Depot and I gotta tell you I love them! Makes everything so much easier and faster! I won't ever go back to the twist on wire nuts unless I absolutely have to.

10. Not sure I'd use a wago for a 20 amp receptacle that gets changed once in 10 years but for lighting and such where you know it will need changing out in future, using them makes it a whole lot easier.

11. Measuring the temperature of the cover ?
    3:03

12. Or you could ask Wago for reports on their even more extensive tests. I don't doubt they have them.

13. It would be interesting to see this test at 20A since that’s a real-world max (or breaker would trip). Would the relative temps remain similar to the test at the higher amperage? Also I’m curious what this would look like at high ambient temps, like a 100F summer day… what was the ambient temp during your test?

14. 2:23 Sets up a temporary mockup test stand, still aligns the screw slots on the covers. ????
    Good job.

15. 30 amps thru 12 awg? Yawn. Maybe if buried in insulation it would be a problem, and the terminations could be an issue but Wago's are rated for that. Now repeat that with 14 awg. I expect that will exceed the 90C insulation rating if powering your resistive loads.

16. They both work well when used properly. The biggest difference is the price. Wagos are a lot more expensive than wire nuts. That's why they don't get used as much by electricians. It hurts profits.

17. What “I think” is that whomever claimed the Wagos have higher resistance and therefore heat, were guessing and not testing.

    So even though they are technically correct they remain non-credible.

    Bottom line, if it meets code and has certs, it’s fine.

18. Very nice video. It would be great to know the effect o oxidation over time on these measurements. Say, in 6 ad 12 months, i this setup could be saved. However, those of us who are professional electricians could chime in. Thanks.

19. I'd like to see the temps on a commercial quality Backwire outlet those decora outlets always seem to be poorly built with inferior parts i use regular duplex commercial grade and those clamp down terminals are very heavy duty and shaped to fit the wire even these outlets were the best connection you tested though and if things are crammed in a tight electrical box will the pressures on the wire affect the clamping spring in the wago over time pushing wires off the contact surface so that wire may possibly only touch part of the surface inside wago connector?

20. I like the wago nut. After watching your videosI know I have been using wire nuts wrong for years. I prefer wago as it seems less error prone.

21. My experience with wire nuts is that they can be a bit tricky to get right, especially if you mix wire types. The Wago do allow you to transit between just about any wire types without risk of an unreliable connection.

22. excellent demonstration

23. The Wago generates a little bit more heat but it doesn't matter, I think it's worth the ease of use and fixes in the future become quickier, totally worth it

24. I think you didn’t give the Wago connectors a fair set of data. Your graph simply shows absolute temperatures. But, by the time you test the Wago connectors you have been running almost 3000 watts of heat for 40 to 60 minutes. We need to know the ambient temperature in the room for each test. Then you can show the temperature rise over ambient. Looking at your graphs it appears the Wago has less increase over time vs the wire nut. Looking forward to round two.

25. Apparently there are Wago devices that we haven’t seen

    https://youtu.be/E2p5ZZJNp30

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