[jjoonathan]

Wire nuts are easy to fuck up.

Wagos are hard to fuck up.

That's why wire nuts cause fires and wagos don't. If I had a dollar for every wire nut I've ever fished out of the bottom of an electrical box, I'd be able to buy a nice dinner for the whole family, whereas I'd leave the dollar store empty handed if someone had forced those numptys to use wagos.

[jacquesm]

> Wire nuts are easy to fuck up.

> Wagos are hard to fuck up.

This we readily agree on, but I've seen both being fucked up enough to go over the electrical system with a FLIR for any new property purchase. The stuff you find like that you won't believe, including dead rodents, completely burned out junction boxes, arcing so strong that you could smell the ozone meters away from the junction box (essentially a matter of time), wire stripped bare over ridiculously long distances and so on. Other code violations such as using only black 1.5 mm^2 for a whole installation and non in-ground approved cable buried a couple of inches under a driveway.

My advice is to use both, each for their strengths. If you're wiring up an electric motor of any sizeable power I'd definitely do that using the best connection possible, so a crimped on screw terminal if that's a possibility, a wire nut if it isn't and a Wago if there isn't anything else. But I'd check the drop across the Wago before calling it a day, just in case. Start-up currents are pretty nasty. Also: anything behind a type C or D breaker.

[bbradley406]

> Wire nuts are easy to fuck up

Can't agree on this at all. You twist the wires together in the direction the nut threads on, then screw it on. After it's done give each leg a light pull to make sure it's secure.

Where and how are people fucking this up? I could see using the wrong size, leaving stripped wire outside the nut or stuffing way too many wires into one nut, but other than that I'm baffled.

[jacquesm]

Here are some of the ways in which I've seen people mess this up:

- too small a diameter wire to properly engage the thread

- uneven insulation so only the tops get joined

- not enough twist so only the first couple of threads engage

- stranded wire cut through completely by the threads

- wrong kind of wire

(aluminum! which really needs its particular kind of connectors and is fortunately phased out but you may come across it in older installations).

- too many wires for the size nut (usually 5 is the max, depending on thickness)

- re-using oxidized wire ends because there isn't enough wire length

- wires not twisted at all before applying the nut

- leaving out the wire nut spring (!)

(presumably to make room for more wires...)

- spring upside down

- untwisting the nut and the spring, then untwisting the wires to add another splice

- bending the copper too often (metal fatigue)

- not inspected after twisting it on

- too much insulation stripped

- wire end damaged during insulation stripping

- wires twisted in the wrong direction

And so on... In comparison some of these will apply to Wagos but in general they have fewer ways of doing things wrong and adding another splice is much easier with a Wago. DIY electrical is great, it saves a ton of money. But the kind of stuff you come across can make your hair stand on end. The house I live in came with an electrical installation that was downright dangerous, I live here for 5 years now and I think I've fixed most of it but every now and then a new surprise pops up. Recently: a wall socket stucco'd over but before they stucco'd it over a piece of flex wire (twin strand) was connected through a groove cut into the wall to a brand new in-wall grounded socket of which the ground was left unconnected. Whoever made that (I suspect the previous occupant) is a complete idiot when it comes to electricity.