Which Wire Connectors Should You Use?

how's it going you guys it's scott with everyday home repairs and when it comes to diyers and doing electrical work around their house why do i say that a wire nut is the good option the ideal push-in connectors or just a push-in connector is the better option and the wago lever nut is the best option i'll review all that and we'll go through three different areas we'll start off by just looking at the construction and how do you use each of these that's a big part of the overall good better best assessment but we'll also talk about price because there is quite a range across these three different wire connectors and then we'll finish off with basically what did you say so we received over 8 000 responses five thousand came from joe's right the diy or electrician and three thousand came from quote unquote pros the licensed electricians so with those results we can see what is currently be being used right now from the diyer to the licensed electrician and are they similar or are they different so let's jump in looking at the construction of each and also how do you effectively use them so first step we'll do the wire nuts and we'll talk about the push-in connector from ideal and then the wago 221 lever nut wire nuts wire nuts have a range of wires for which they can work this is a wing wire nut from ideal and it can work from the small end which would be two 18 gauge wires to the high end which would be three 12 gauge wires here for this example we'll have two wires and they will be 14 gauge so it's right in the heart of the use case for this wireless so it's a perfect match now what this example demonstrates is an issue that i see a lot and that is where you would have romex with solid core wire so that'd be a 14 gauge solid core going to like a light fixture with string a stranded 14 gauge so you need to bring these two together this will be easier because i have the freedom of just holding the wires in my hand but usually you're on a stepladder overhead holding the light so this can be a little bit tricky and the problem is is if you put these two together and you do not pre-twist you're going to let the wire not do the twisting which usually manufacturers recommend but some people pre-twist and you lead with the solid core so if the solid core is slightly longer than the twisted pair you put that within your wire net you start your twisting and usually what you're looking for is for it to bite and then for you to get two rotations of the wire outside of the wire nut now what the problem is here and what the air can be is hopefully you're doing your pull test to test this out but a lot of people once this caps on and you felt it you felt it winding within the wire net you feel like it's good to go but if you've done this for any amount of time you know this is a pretty classic failure and what happens is that that stranded piece is not being securely fastened within there so if we were to take off the plastic and look basically within the threads inside this is what's happening that solid core is actually going through the the threads here of the wire now so this is what's internal to the wire nut if you take the plastic off and then the strands here is really just kind of snaking around and only getting one or two rotations so if i undo that you can see how weak of a connection this is where the strands are just barely on there then in the pull test the strands will pull right out even though the solid core is still the teeth of the threads here is still within the solid core holding it within there this happens all the time and and it's almost about one out of three light fixtures that i open up have a very loose connection so the wire nut can be a very effective option and it's been around for so long and it is very much proven but the main reason i'm saying this is the good option is because from a diy standpoint you're only doing one or two projects a year and there's too much opportunity for error here it's all about the installation it can be a very effective connection but there is a lot of opportunity for air so let's look at number two and that is just a push in connector with the same application now pushing connectors many of the videos many times in the past the 14 gauge push-in at the back of a receptacle i am not a fan of and i have said many times not to use that so the big design difference that makes me more of a fan for this ideal push-in is if we take our solid core wire usually stripped to about a half inch and we insert that in and we can see it's secure within the push pin then we take our our braided strand making sure that the braids are not frayed off and they're together so you might need to twist it slightly and then we can press that within there so then we also see that the strand is seated it passes the pull test so that big difference is the transparent see-through housing just being able to see the wires themselves and confirm that they have fully seated within the push-in is a huge difference comparing to the pushing here on a standard receptacle not a fan of these but these push in connectors i do think the opportunity for air is significantly less with these compared to wire nut and that is almost solely why i'm giving it a better rating compared to the good of a wire nut so for diy-ers push-ins i say would be the better option and the only other thing i'll show you is i actually did remove the internals of one of these so what this is showing you is how they secure so they're just these tabs that will be pressed out of the way when the wire is introduced and then it will that is what's holding it in it bites into the copper during that pull test and then it presses it down onto the bus bar so this bar here that goes across these three different tabs it's actually the bus bar and that's what's responsible to tying all these wires together so that's the internals of the push in ideal connector and since i know there will be comments coming in in terms of why i wouldn't like push-ins on a receptacle but i'm saying that the the ideal push-in connectors are a better option than wire nuts is because on a receptacle you have the screw terminals that i would prefer a clockwise j-hook connection opposed to using the push-in connectors and even better i prefer a commercial-grader spec grade receptacle with the plates here where you can do a back wire so a straight end strand of copper and then tighten that plate down and use the back wire feature so that is a little more information on why i don't like push ends on receptacles but i'm saying that these are a better option and you're just going to get a more consistent and secure install with a push-in connector from ideal if you're a diy-er that's not doing this on a daily basis compared to a wired up but there is the best option and that is a wago 221 lever nut now you might know of wago's lever nuts from the 222 model which is right here let's dive deeper and take a look at these and why i'm saying this is the best option for diy-ers doing electrical work i'm going to focus on the 2-2-1 but the 2-2-2 is a little thicker the levers are a bit harder to pull open and the most in the most important part it's not transparent so that's why i prefer the 2-2-1 for di wires with the lever net here all you have to do is just pull the levers up for the number of wires that you have and we'll do the same application where we have a 14 gauge solid core we'll insert that in until it hits the back wall close the lever that will secure the wire we'll do the same for the stranded 14 gauge close lever and just like the ideal we can see that those wires are fully seated in here so for me the 221 easily is the best wire connector because for di wires we're not doing this very often we want to do it safely and securely and the lever nut on the 221 is the easiest to operate where you're going to get consistent connections which are secure and safe within your electrical boxes now you might not have seen these because at least in my area they're not readily available at lowe's or home depot i can get them at menards which is a local home improvement store but you can also get them online so down in the description you'll see the amazon links to the 221 and also include the 222 just for your reference but be careful when buying off amazon there are a ton of knockoff brands that look like these but they are not made by wago and i don't necessarily recommend any of those even though i'm sure they're cheaper so let's talk about price so you'll see here the cost really didn't come into factor when i gave the good better best rating because the pricing is actually opposite of that your cheapest is going to be your wire nuts depending on where you get them and also the quantity that you buy you're expecting to pay between 5 and 15 cents per wire nut next would be your push-in connectors the ones we looked at are made by ideal logo also makes push-in connectors i really like a new one they got coming out in the summer which is the 2773 so look out for that one it looks pretty nice super compact the cost is going to be substantially more compared to wire nuts at 15 to 25 cents per connector and then finishing out with the wago 221 again depending on where you get them in the quantity you're going all the way up to 30 cents to about 55 cents per connector substantially more and technically a wago connector could be 10 times more expensive than a wire nut just depending on which one you're getting that is substantial but for a diy this is with the the mindset of a diy the amount of projects you're doing are limited and i think the peace of mind and safety is easily worth the substantial more cost per connector but what did you guys say in terms of what are people using currently and the two different surveys were for the diyers the joes and the licensed electricians of pros now could i be confident that only licensed electricians answered the survey for pros and only diy-ers for joe's no absolutely not and maybe in the results that kind of comes out here because we see it's pretty much a wash between the two pros versus joe's the legacy and familiarity of the wire net pulled through so 75 to 80 percent of people use wire nuts so they are still very commonly used probably because the cost and again just that legacy of being used for so long now wacko surprised me and came in number two at 12 or 13 percent of people use those and this is most commonly what do you use most commonly not exclusively but most commonly so i think waga is really getting some traction and i was a little surprised there are some licensed electricians that seem to be using wago's lever notes as well comment down below either way what are you guys currently using and why do do you follow the same thought process that i outlined here or do you have a different opinion i always welcome you guys feedback and that actually generates a lot of the new content coming out but back to the use of push-ins we're at about a six percent uh push-ins which is interesting because push-ins are very readily available you can get them at any lows any home depot they're out there everywhere so i surprised that they're actually lower because wagos are way less available so people are really having to go out of their way to get the wagon lever nuts and must really like them and then there's some miscellaneous you know two to four percent use others there's a lot of different things on the market so there are a few other things being used for wire connectors but that's it good better best wire nut good push-ins better wagos lever nut specifically the 2-2-1 is the best agree or disagree let me know down in the comments also you see in the description you'll see links to all these different connectors just in case you're interested and for the diy-er that does electrical work multiple times per year i do recommend getting maybe a multi-pack of wago 221 with two slots three slots and five slots i get i think that covers you you'll have the kit and then if you ever need to replenish that supply you just get the specific connector that you need and then fill up the kit that's my recommendation for those that are doing projects on a fairly regular basis around their house and if you haven't already don't forget to subscribe to the channel before you take off we have videos like this coming out multiple times per week to help you with repairs and improvements around your house and we'll catch you on the next one take care

Channel: Everyday Home Repairs

Views: 809,939

Keywords: ideal push in wire connectors, wago 221, wago lever nuts, wing wire nuts

Id: AWiyreFFt-Q

Length: 14min 20sec (860 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 03 2021