Prefab idea with "wagos"-good or bad?

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peter d

peter d

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New England
I have an idea to complete a job that I have going right now. I'm thinking about prefabbing all of the receptacles with a 6" pigtail and a 3-port "wago" style connector. The actual connector brand is Ideal as I have a box of them sitting around but I've never had the courage to use. That way, I kill two birds with one stone - pigtailing and saving time on the finish.

So when it comes time to trim, I just go around and "plug in" all the receptacles. Of course, I could just "back stab" them, but I don't want to do that. Are the wagos much of an improvement? I'm just not sure I trust them yet. Does anyone have any actual experience with them (re:encountered any failures?)
 
You think this is going to save you time, somehow? Is there a requirement that the recs be pigtailed? If not, I'm not really seeing a time savings. If there is that requirement, I still don't see much of a savings, going through the motions of both methods in my mind's eye.
 
Pete it sounds like a great idea if the only concern is speed, I have thought about doing what your suggesting.

That said IMO, the jury is still out on the 'Wagos' as far as the long term integrity of the connections.

I think only you can decide for yourself if you want to take the gamble.
 
This is a interesting thread.. The Ideal stab connectors(Wagos) seem to hold the conductors pretty well. You can see if all the wires are inserted in. If they can hold up over the years they are a boon to construction. Some companies are using them instead of wire nuts. Should elminate loose connections. My take on it is that they are UL listed. They have been tested. They make our job easier. They give the customer someone to sue if they fail besides the EC if the connection fails.
 
they are somewhat of a timesaver but............. ive seen them used in mobile homes and lights and made alot of money going back to troubleshoot when a conductor falls? out. maybe bad craftmanship factory. not that any of us have ever seen that before:grin:


but on the other hand i have a friend that swears by them, and as far as i know hes not had any problems.

as far as im concerned theres nothing like a good ol wirenut.
 
mdshunk said:
There were guys still taping and soldering in the early 80's. I'll be one of those guys still twisting on wire nuts in 2040.
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Me too, I'll still be twisting conductors and using wire nuts. People thought that UL listed aluminum wiring was great in the 70's and we know how that turned out. I've used these push-in connectors before and don't like them. Listing or not. Only time will tell.
 
mdshunk said:
You think this is going to save you time, somehow? Is there a requirement that the recs be pigtailed? If not, I'm not really seeing a time savings. If there is that requirement, I still don't see much of a savings, going through the motions of both methods in my mind's eye.
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No, there is no requirement to pigtail, but "wago" by design is very conducive to it. I normally side wrap (without pigtails) so using this method would definitely save time from sitting there and wrapping each receptacle.

Without much information about the reliability of the push-in connectors, I think I'm just going to finish the job the "old fashioned" way.
 
peter d said:
Without much information about the reliability of the push-in connectors, I think I'm just going to finish the job the "old fashioned" way.
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I had a short discussion with an electrician from Russia who said they've been using them there for 20 years with no special problems. Their preferred method, though, is to twist the conductor and apply some sort of hand held spot-weld type machine that welds the twists of copper together at the end. Pretty neat.
 
Wagos and I have had an interesting relationship. I've used them successfully on fixtures and extending wires, but for trim work, well it was close to a 75% success rate. The biggest problem was in the installation of the wago. If the tech installing it did it right, it worked just fine, if they pushed a little, it didn't work and we had to redo the box.

I would think as long as you pay attention, it will be okay.
 
I used the opposite method to check out a job that I didn't rough-in. To check the cables I used a 3 port Wago in each box to make the connections.When it came time to trimout all I had to do was plug in the devices with the tails.

No known failures in my experience with the Ideal connectors.
 
Wagos

Wagos

I switched to wagos about 2 years ago. I can rough wire a house and wago all the connections and supply lighting to the house while it's still not rocked. Installing temp power is easy and its much quicker to redo or relocate a box, (No untwisting) and they are approved for re-use, Wirenuts are not.
 
The only time i use them is in florescent fixtures for new ballasts. Whats my opinion matter though, im just an upstate hillbilly with 1 supply house:grin: ;)
 
jamesguy10 said:
The only time i use them is in florescent fixtures for new ballasts. Whats my opinion matter though, im just an upstate hillbilly with 1 supply house:grin: ;)
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Yeah, you're opinion doesn't matter. People from the country don't even have electricity. ;)

I agree, they seem fine for ballasts but I wouldn't want to use them on anything more. I'll let someone else test them out for me. :D
 
I am still gaining confidence in them. I love them pre-fabbed from the manufacturer in the recessed cans, it cuts install time in half. I am not ready to use them in circuit wiring, mainly because if I have to take the connection apart, I know I can put the wire nut back on with the same "grip." But I will confess, and this may be a contradiction to my weariness, I use them all the time for genereator installs where I have to extend existing circuits to a new panel, or swap circuits in panels when a generator is only taking on one of 2 panels. (provided I have room for the connections, don't jump topics on me ;) )

Edit to add:
BigSal57 said:
.. and they are approved for re-use, Wirenuts are not.
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Never knew that one. Is that true??
 
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BigSal57 said:
(No untwisting) and they are approved for re-use, Wirenuts are not.
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I see on Ideal's wensite where their wirenuts are listed as reusable. Where did you hear that they are not approved for re-use?
 
How do you get a wire to release from a Wago? I've never tried. I only use Wago's when the wires are too short to attach a wirenut for the pigtail. Had one about a month ago with a single-gang gem with 1.25 inches of wire with .75 inches of insulation. Could just barely get Wagos on.

Mark
 
busman said:
How do you get a wire to release from a Wago?
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I use the twist-back-and-forth-while-pulling-steadily-on-the-wire method, same as with back-stabbed devices. The greater the swing of your twisting, the fewer twists it ends up taking.
 
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