Just ditched my Wagos for push-in connectors on this last job

Had a service call where the customer's lights were flickering and all the Wago connections had loosened up from the vibration of a ceiling fan. Swapped them out with the regular push-in style and the lights were solid. Anyone else skip the fancy levers for old school push-ins in certain spots?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_roberts1mo ago

Why would you downgrade like that on purpose? Those push-in connectors are disposable junk compared to the reusability of Wagos. You saved maybe 20 seconds per connection but now you've got to cut and strip every single wire if you need to change anything later. Plus those little metal clips inside push-ins can break off or lose tension over time just like the Wagos did, but at least with Wagos you can pop the lever and check the wire without wrecking it. I've had push-ins fail on me in high-load circuits where they couldn't handle the heat. Stick with the levers unless you're working on something temporary like testing.

jade2711mo ago

Thomas is right about the heat issue with push-ins. I had a batch in a lighting circuit that got warm after a few years and the clips just let go of the wire inside the box. Had to cut them all out and start fresh with new connectors. Never had that problem with lever Wagos even on the same type of load. It's one thing to save a minute on the install but it's another thing entirely to have to redo half a box down the road.

rivera.henry1mo ago

Ask @thomas_roberts what kind of load he saw the heat issues on, idk if it makes a difference but I'm curious. I've only had push-ins get warm on continuous duty circuits like lighting that runs 8+ hours, never on something like a furnace or water heater where it cycles on and off. Maybe it's just me but the constant heat seems to soften the plastic housing over time and the clips lose their bite. Had to replace a whole junction box of them last year on a commercial job, every single wire just slid right out when I pulled on it.